A 2025 grouse tour? Minnesota has more options than you might realize

Grouse season is just around the corner. Maybe, like me, you’ve already checked your ammo supplies. But have you given any thought to where you might go to hunt? Do your usual spots leave you feeling like you’re in a rut?

For more than a decade, my brother and I and sometimes others have annually embarked on our “Grouse Tour.” Sometimes we’re on the hunt for ruffed grouse, sometimes not. Most of the time, two or more species are on the menu, and in new-to-us territories.

Because northeastern Minnesota gets plenty of attention, we tend to gravitate to locations elsewhere.

Here are a handful of in-state grouse-hunting destinations that might be new to you as well. Any one of them could provide several days of hunting. Put together, they could spice up the entire season. Even better, you might devour them all in an unforgettable two-week grouse-hunting adventure.

MORE UPLAND BIRD COVERAGE FROM OUTDOOR NEWS:

High-volume, low-regulation, big fun… we’re talking pigeon hunting

2025 Great Lakes Region ruffed grouse forecast

Patrick Durkin: Unpacking what Wisconsin grouse, pheasant numbers look like by region

Drummers in the Driftless

If you’re itching for new scenery, have you considered Minnesota’s southeast ruffed grouse territory? Despite being part of the DNR’s annual drumming survey, this region is off the radar for most hunters.

Based on our experience, grouse density is admittedly lower than elsewhere in the state. For that reason, hunting there is perhaps more about the experience than anything else.

Part of the adventure is finding the birds’ preferred haunts – you just gotta put on some miles. Timber harvest isn’t what it once was down that way, and young forest cover can be hard to find. Still, it’s there, even if not in obvious clear-cut areas. While you’re searching, a dog will be invaluable in helping to discern the difference between doesn’t-hold-grouse and slow-down-and-pay-attention areas.

If you have access to private land, great. Otherwise, Richard J. Dorer State Forest lands will comprise the bulk of available acreage. Some will say there are a few birds in the Whitewater Wildlife Management Area.

Wherever it is, drill down and mine the cover where you contact them. Work for multiple flushes if you don’t connect at first. Simply shooting your gun can feel like an accomplishment sometimes, so a Driftless grouse can be a true, hard-won trophy.

Sharptails and bandtails in the parklands

If you’ve never hunted the aspen parklands, it might be time that changes. Wedged between Canada to the north, the Agassiz valley to the west, and the big woods to the east, this patchwork of trees, brush, and prairie hooked me deep the first time I hunted it.

Topography there is subtle, often with mere inches of elevation difference between upland and lowland cover. Aspen groves hold ruffed grouse, while grasslands hold the sharp-tailed grouse – or so they say. The reality is that you never quite know what you’ll find when you step off the road.

Sometimes sharptails hunker in the shade of a small, isolated grove of trees. Mostly, they’re scattered in grasses, sedges, and brush. On one nasty day, we kicked them out from deep in the woods, where no serious sharptail hunter would think to look.

The opposite is fairly true of ruffed grouse. They’re most likely to be found in the thick stuff, where aspens meet the prairie. Or they could be anywhere on small “islands” of trees in larger grassy areas. I once bagged a memorable grouse in the wide open, possibly looking for acorns among the scattered oaks.

The parklands is an area with few population centers. So if you don’t plan to camp, accommodations could be hard to come by.

The good news is there’s plenty of public land available for DIY hunters. And camping is allowed in designated areas on some of the larger WMAs – something you don’t find elsewhere in the state.

Ruffs and spruce between the lakes

Another favorite area of mine is in the northwest, roughly between Red Lake and Lake of the Woods.

Hundreds of thousands of acres of state forest and WMA holdings offer more land than a hunter could walk in a lifetime, much of it managed favorably for grouse. Look on the map for Beltrami Island and Pine Island state forests, and Red Lake and Moose River WMAs.

If you’ve never taken a spruce grouse, this is one of the best areas in Minnesota to do so. Both my daughter and I scored our first fool hens in Beltrami Island. It was the most highly-recommended part of the state when I asked around in 2018, in terms of numbers. In fact, ongoing spruce grouse studies are based there, and we donated a carcass to the effort a year ago.

All that is not to say this area isn’t a good ruffed grouse destination, however. Forest age and composition vary greatly along the miles and miles of dirt roads.

You’ll see lots of signs of recent forest-management activities such as clear-cutting, selective cutting, brush shearing, and more. Numerous hunter walking trails provide easy access points. And even if you’re a dedicated bushwhacker like me, they can help you access productive areas well off drivable roads.

Prairie chickens, by invitation only

Finally, there is the crown jewel of Minnesota’s grouse hunts: the draw-only prairie chicken chase.

With huntable populations roughly from Breckenridge to Red Lake Falls, our Greater prairie chicken (pinnated grouse) is fair game for about 125 resident hunters each year.

Licensed prairie chicken hunters are allowed to take sharptails, too, although the prairie chicken zones are mostly outside the open sharptail area. I was lucky enough to score that mixed bag the last time I hunted there.

Unless and until you draw that license, you might as well work first to accomplish the Minnesota trifecta: ruffed, spruce, and sharp-tailed grouse. In some places, including Lake of the Woods County, you could get all three in one trip. Or even in one day, if lady luck smiles upon you.

After that, taking your tour to prairie chicken country could earn you the Minnesota Grouse Grand Slam.

Are you game?

Heilman is a Minnesota writer and outdoorsman whose favorite game bird is the sharp-tailed grouse. Catch up with his recent shenanigans at neveragoosechase.com.