Ruffed Grouse

[DNicolson]

I have just acquired a Ruffed Grouse skin, some very nice feathers.
I have heard that the feather stems can be a bit on the thick side.
There are some feathers that might look good on a NZ Killer style fly,
but that is really for elsewhere.
Any views on the Ruffed Grouse???

[Mike Connor]

Large variations in these birds, grey to red or brown phases or "Morphs". Some general info;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruffed_Grouse

http://www.ct.gov/dep/lib/dep/wildlife/ ... grouse.pdf

I have a few skins and they are useful for some things, but to be perfectly honest I obtained these because I wanted to collect them not because I had any specific use in mind. Useful where lightly mottled hackles are required. can be dyed of course, otherwise relatively similar to partridge feathers in many respects. Not being native ( to the UK etc) there are no"traditional" patterns which use them, and as few people will have bothered to obtain the skins there are not many newer patterns which use them either. Quite a few American patterns, but none really well known.

The feather stems can be thick ( again somewhat similar to partridge feathers) but varies a lot. I have only seen and handled a limited selection of skins, ( perhaps fifty all told) and I have three skins which vary a lot, so my information is of necessity limited.

TL
MC

[letumgo]

I am a huge fan of North American ruffed grouse. My father gave me a bag full of feathers which had been plucked from a bird he harvested one year. The body feathers are very nicely marked (rich redish brown with black barring) similar to English Grouse. The center of the body feathers have a light colored mottled gray section. The base of the feathers are quite thick, but once you strip away the fluffy stuff, the stem gets quite thin near the usable section of the feather. I do not remember having any issues with the stem thickness, even when I tye in by the stem. If you use a tip-tye method, you should have no problems at all.

Unprepared ruffed grouse body feather

Stripped and prepared feathers

Feather prepared for tip-tyed method

Grouse & Orange Soft Hackle


One of these days I'd like to buy a full ruffed grouse skin, but I still have some of the ones from my dad.

[JohnP]

Beautiful flies, Ray. I am still kicking myself for not keeping the skin from the last grouse I shot. It has been a while since I have done any hunting, but I may try to get out this fall.

[DNicolson]

Excellent Ray, very nice flies. I appear to have one of the grey 'morphs',
which suites me fine, as 'Red' grouse (lagopus scotica) are very common here
and skins are easily obtained.
BTW what are the hooks you are using?

[skunkaroo]

I like grouse (in all it's many forms). I too have bags of feathers and "chunks" of pelts given to me by a few family members and friends that like to hunt upland game birds.

I find they are softer than Hungarian partridge which is nice for slower water presentations. I also find they tend to marry a bit when wet so I keep them very sparse when tying. A pattern I like for small light coloured mayflies is a primrose silk body with a rib of x-fine silver wire and a single turn of grouse hackle, tied down to about an #18. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of that specific pattern, but here's an "Orange and Grouse" showing the sparseness of the hackle...



This one's a good beaver pond pattern.

Aaron

[Jerry G]

Aaron as in your example (very nice tie by the way) do you strip barbs from the side of the feather that is wrapped against the hook?

Regards, Jerry

[tie2fish]

That grouse spider is simply lovely, Aaron.

[skunkaroo]

Aaron as in your example (very nice tie by the way) do you strip barbs from the side of the feather that is wrapped against the hook?

Regards, Jerry

Yep, and thanks.

Aaron

[DOUGSDEN]

To Aaron and Ray,
You guys make me want to melt! The photo's you two presented are priceless. So well done and so beautiful to the eye. Aaron, the sparsness of your pattern is beyond words. Ray, I love the way you combine the common things in tying (scissors, spools of silk, etc.) with the feathers shown. I guess what I am trying to say is the "composition" of both of your photos Ray and Aaron) is really appealing to all of us.
Our hats off to you both and all the others of this forum that do such a great job in creating such classics!
In total awe of it all,
Dougsden

P.S. When I was a teenager and on into my mid to late twentys, we had grouse aplenty and hunting them was great fun! Lately however, there are practically no birds to be found in our locale. I managed to flush a double during deer season last year and I gave out a war-hoop as the second bird left its covert. It brought back such great memories that I had to stop and say a prayer of thanksgiving for that briefest of moments when the Ruffed Grouse was once again king of the air and true joy to behold! Short of habitat improvement, there doesn't seem to be much we can do to bring back the king of birds. I know that their numbers are cyclical and I have witnessed this many times thur the years. But now, they seem to be at an all time low. This worries me! If I had a nickel for every grouse skin I dumped in the trash before I cared about or realized their worth as a great soft-hackle source...I'd have $7.25!
D.D.