Choose Us For Your Next Grouse Hunting Adventure

Start your own tradition of Minnesota grouse hunting at Back O’ The Moon Resort. Minnesota is the top ruffed grouse-producing state in the U.S. No other state harvests as many ruffed grouse each fall or provides as much public hunting land containing ruffed grouse.  We’re located in the heart of Ruffed Grouse country, and year after year successful hunts are the norm at the resort.

The ruffed grouse is a native woodland bird about the size of a small chicken. The bird is noted for its fan-shaped tail marked by a broad, dark band. Some ruffed grouse–called red-phased birds–have chestnut-colored tails, and the gray-phased birds have gray or slate-colored tails. The bird also has a concealed neck ruff that the male puffs out during courtship displays.

Male ruffed grouse make a well-known drumming noise that sounds similar to a distant lawnmower engine. He drums by beating his wings in the air, starting slowly as a series of thumps, and then, as beating speeds up, the sound resembles a drum or engine. The drumming occurs on logs, boulders, tree roots, or other elevated sites known as “drumming logs.”

Minnesota Grouse Hunting Season

  • Ruffed Grouse, Spruce Grouse & Hungarian Partridge Season – Sep. 17, 2022 – Jan. 1, 2023

  • Sharptailed Grouse Season – Closed in Itasca County for 2022

Grouse and Woodcock Hunting Tips

Our location makes Back O’ The Moon Resort a perfect place to start your grouse hunt or woodcock hunt as the forest provides great cover for these fowl. A beautiful walk through recently logged forest ground is a good area to start your hunt. The forestry trails and roads will also produce a good harvest. Pay attention to fallen trees and brush where the birds like to hang out and be prepared for the startling flap when you least expect it!

Not counting a sturdy pair of boots, a blaze orange hat and vest and a shotgun, all you need to hunt grouse in Minnesota is a valid small game license. Hunters seeking woodcock must be HIP-certified (done when you purchase your Minnesota license) but do not need state or federal migratory bird stamps. Shotguns may not hold more than three shells unless a plug is used.

Call us today at 218-326-8648 to reserve your next Minnesota Grouse Hunting trip.

NOTE: Completion of a Hunter Education/Firearms Safety course is required to purchase a hunting license for anyone born on or after Dec. 31, 1979. Click here for the full story: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/safety/index.html