http://gearlist.proguidedirect.com/RegistryDisplay.cfm?cid=602&id=15265

There are more photo’s and video’s available to see on Franchi’s website. www.franchiusa.com

&

Grouse and Woodcock Hunting Seminar

Little Moran Hunt Club, Staples MN

Steve Grossman Field Consultant Purina Pro Plan – Grouse Guide and Grouse Dog Trainer

Orvis Endorsed Wingshooting Guide

2 Day pointing dog training seminar, for beginners and advanced dogs

Seminar will focus on obedience/foundation training, field work – bird work – released and wild

E-collar conditioning, bells, beeper collar introductions, grouse hunting & habitat

Fee includes 2 nights lodging, meals, training and seminar instruction:  $350.00/handler

Lodge/office: 218-894-3852,     Steve’s Cell: 218-341-2826   email: steve@doublegunbirdhunts.com

www.doublegunbirdhunts.com     www.orvis.com/doublegun

South Dakota and Montana updates, it continues to grow. We’ve recently put together our “Signature Upland Hunt” together for those wanting an upland experience second to none. The combination hunt starts in Montana with 3 days of bird hunting along the Big Horn River. The 4th day is a 5 hour travel day to the South Dakota Ranch along a very picturesque stretch between Hardin Mt and the South Dakota border.

Arriving at the SD ranch for 3 more days of world-class upland hunting on thousands of acres of native prairie, a contrast to what we’ve hunted in Montana. Both locations provide unmatched beauty and great upland hunting. It really is a great experience.

I’ll be finishing up dog training in SD the month of August, guiding from September 1st thru the 25th or so, then heading back home to start the grouse camp around October 1st.

We have over 150,000 acres in South Dakota and 80,000 acres
in Montana. Our South Dakota properties we have 78,000 acres of our own deeded
land and over 100,000 acres of our neighbor’s properties that we lease. All of
our neighbor’s property that we lease is Cheyenne Sioux Tribal Territory Land.
The vast amount of this land prairie grass and rolling hills, creek bottoms and
unbelievable beauty. The South Dakota properties cover four counties, Potter,
Sully, Dewey and Ziebach in central South Dakota.

You will see allot of Sharp Tail Grouse, Some PrairieChickens and Hungarian Partridge and a great number of Ring Neck Pheasant. All natural and all wild!

Our Montana properties total 77,000 acres with a large part
of our property that runs close to eleven miles of the Big Horn River. This
property is so beautiful. Everywhere you look you see snowcapped mountains.
This land has many coulees that hold a good number of Sharp-Tails, and
Hungarian Partridge. We also have some flocks of Sage Grouse on our Fly Creek
property. The state limit on Sage Grouse is two a day a day and four in
procession. We only allow one Sage Grouse per Person. This bird is basically a
trophy bird and is not a good eating bird. These species of birds have been
struggling in numbers and we are trying to get that population back. We have a
creek bottom that runs through our farm for nine miles that has cattails and
plenty of Ring Neck Pheasants to end our day.

The seasons for 2012 in Montana & South Dakota are as
follows;

Montana License

Sharp-Tail Grouse    September 1st thru January 1st     4 Birds Daily / 16 Birds in Possession

Hungarian Partridge   Same as Sharp-Tail Season        8 Birds Daily / 32 Birds in Possession

Sage Grouse            September 1st thru November 1st      One Bird

Pheasant                  October 6th thru January 1st     3 Birds Daily / 9 Birds In Possession

South Dakota Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal License  (Estimated Dates As They Haven’t Set the
Dates Yet)

Sharp-Tail Grouse / Prairie Chickens      Sept 1st thru Dec 22nd     3 Birds Daily / 15 In Possession (Combined)

Hungarian Partridge        September 1st thru December 22nd    5 Birds Daily / 15 in possession

Pheasant                        October 13th thru December 22nd      3 Birds Daily / 15 in possession

Our Signature Upland Hunt A combined upland hunt in Montana and
South Dakota ; is four nights / three days hunting on our ranch
in  Montana, leave early on the fourth
day for a five hour drive to our South Dakota Ranch and have four nights and
three days hunting on our South Dakota Ranch. All inclusive package, travel,
meals & snacks, soft drinks and open bar, bird cleaning and packaging,
lodging, professional guide and professional dogs and shotgun shells. $7,200.00
per person, plus tax and gratuities. Additional days can be added for $1,000.00
per day per person. (You have the opportunity to harvest 39 Ring Neck
Pheasants, 46 Sharp-Tails, 62 Hungarian Partridge and One Sage Grouse if you
were to hunt four days in Montana and fill out and five days in South Dakota
and fill out your possession limits. An opportunity at 148 wild upland birds of
5 different species in one hunting package! Provided you purchase The Montana
License, South Dakota License and The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal License) No
other Upland Bird Outfitter Offers This Type of Package!

Montana Upland Hunts: is four nights / three days
hunting on our ranch in Montana. All inclusive package, travel, meals &
snacks, soft drinks and open bar, bird cleaning and packaging, lodging,
professional guide and professional dogs and shotgun shells. $3,600.00 per
person, plus tax and gratuities. Additional days can be added for $1,000.00 per
day per person.

South Dakota Packages: is four nights / three days
hunting on our ranch in Montana. All inclusive package, travel, meals &
snacks, soft drinks and open bar, bird cleaning and packaging, lodging,
professional guide and professional dogs and shotgun shells. $3,600.00 per
person, plus tax and gratuities. Additional days can be added for $1,000.00 per
day per person.

Additional packages can be added to these hunts at 70% of
the total price of that package. Example; Waterfowl Hunting, Prairie Dog
Hunting, Fishing, Deer Hunting, etc.….

Dates are filling up as we have only 17 spots available for
our Upland Packages. We will not over hunt our properties and jeopardize the
quality of our hunts. Remembering these are all wild birds. We are only a
double barrel gun outfitter, no more than three hunters per guide. Although you
have a great opportunity to harvest your possession limits, Browns Hunting
Ranch is all about the overall experience and not just about killing birds!

We require a 50% deposit to hold your dates. Credit card or
personal check is accepted. Visa, MasterCard only.

We are hopeful to come and enjoy this incredible jewel with
us. It is much more than a hunt; it is truly an experience you will remember
for your entire life.

For me, It’s an unbelievable opportunity to be part of such a great place with so much potential, I so look forward sharing it with you.

Point on the Prairie

West River in South Dakota is still the true west. When
crossing the Missouri River/Lake Oahe you will find a whole new world, one of
vast prairies, wild horses, and total wilderness. The Cheyenne Reservation
stretches many hundreds of miles taking in thousands of acres full of wildlife
beyond ones imagination. The last frontier? Indeed it is. Last fall was my
first year guiding at Browns Hunting Ranch, which was their inaugural season.
The ranch had about 30,000 acres with lots of sunflower, corn and small grains.
You’ll find draws and coulees full of pheasants, potholes full of ducks, but
native prairie was limited, very little to actually hunt. The sharp-tail we did
find were difficult to pin due to the type of cover we found them in…Sunflower
and corn stubble, but the birds are…where the birds are.

With it being our first year there were some growing pains,
but the tenacity of Browns became very apparent as we discussed improvements
and plans for 2012. One of which was to acquire more native prairie to fill
that avoid. So as of January 1st they added another 88,000 acres perfectly
located all within a 15-30 min drive from our closest hunt to our furthest hunt
west river.

I was out to the Ranch in mid-January to tour a new ground
of 88,000 acres and the “West River Lodge”.  The new property is all native prairie, along
the bottom and bluffs of the Moreau River.
It’s a sea of prairie, Taylor made for prairie birds, huge whitetail,
turkey, prairie dog and coyote hunting. Here you’ll find a life time of cover,
it’s a true sportsman’s paradise.

For the past few years the west river hunts had been part of
“Double A Outfitters”.  At one
time the ranch took in over 300,000 acres for prairie dog and big game hunting,
but had been limited to other types of hunting and fishing opportunities.
Here’s where we come in from the Browns point of view. Through Browns we will
add the upland, waterfowl, turkey and the fishing part of the operation that
Double A could not put together. The big game, prairie dog, and coyote hunting
will remain; it’s a great opportunity for everyone.

The lodge has private bed rooms / baths, large dining room
and lounge giving you a taste of the Wild West and a step back in time. There’s
no question the lodge and the west river hunts will be a huge asset to what the
Browns Hunting Ranch already has.  The
old west lodge is much closer to our west river hunts cutting our drive time
down to a minimum giving us much more time in the field. Hunting West River
we’ll find more sharp-tail, prairie chicken, and huns there are pheasants, but
not in the huge numbers you’ll find east river.

In comparison to last year, our early season will begin
September 1st on the reservation hunting prairie birds and the SD state wide
upland (sharp-tail, prairie chicken, and huns) season begins September 8th. In
hunting both reservation and private land it allows us a generous daily bag of
6 sharps-8 huns a day; however both licenses must be purchased. Last year we
began November 1st, the pheasant season had opened giving us a 4 species mixed bag;
however the sharp-tail and huns had changed their habits moving from prairie to
crop land. In listening to the older “locals” it seems as though the
sharp-tail have begun to “migrate” from the prairie to the crop
stubble later in the year after a couple hard frosts. From what we experienced
last fall it seems true, there is no shortage of food in the crop stubble, the
birds are huge. This fall however, when opening September 1st the birds should
still be scattered throughout the prairie feeding on bugs and weed seeds, it
should give us plenty of young birds. This, in my opinion is the “game
changer” for our SD hunts.

One thing also to keep in mind is the great late
summer/early fall walleye fishing on Oahe. What a perfect way to spend the day.
Bird hunt morning’s walleye fishing late in the day….priceless!

I’ll be back and forth from SD the rest of the winter and
spring learning the new land, training etc. My fall will start September 1st
then return home later in the month for the grouse season then back in November
for a mixed bag hunt of sharp-tail, waterfowl, pheasant, and huns. In truth,
Browns is a sportsman’s oasis, we have most anything a sportsman can want.  I’m betting the farm on this new land and the
west river hunts. It’s my hope you take the time to spend part of your year
with me on the South Dakota prairie. There’s no place on earth like what we have
west river.

Our Double Gun Bird Hunts will assure you a great hunt, good
dog work, lodging, meals and the personal service you have come to expect at Little Moran.

“Where we pride ourselves in not just taking game, but a reverence in how the game is taken”

Bill and "Grouse Creek Mack"

The Minnesota Ruffed Grouse season ended January 1st, with numbers much less than expected. This was my 24th year guiding ruffed grouse and woodcock hunts in Mn. We hunted a few less days last fall, but had more “hunter days” than ever before.

The season comes in the 3rd weekend of September running through December 31st.  We’ve kept a yearly flush rates for the past 21-22 years and are seeing more of a constant in numbers with only one real “peak” that was back in 1989-1990. Over that time period we had been fortunate to host most of our hunters for a 20+ year period, and for that we can’t thank you enough. The grouse camp has become far more like hosting family, it’s the most special time of the year.

As with everything time changes all. Our covers have changed, however Minnesota still does a great deal of clear cutting and timber management which is the most important key for strong grouse and woodcock populations. Even though there are changes, most are for the good. The same holds true for our string of English Setters. We’ve had some of the best grouse dogs a man could hope for and still have a couple old smart grouse dogs, we are however in a rebuilding stage with a host of young dogs knocking at the door. Those of you who have had great grouse dogs know how important bird contact is for the young ones to become “grouse dogs”. This year was tough, but we’ll get there.

The year started out terribly slow. It was one of the driest Septembers on record and combined with high temperatures it was some very tough hunting in late September. We found a few local woodock and a few grouse, but looked very dismal. There were reports of better bird numbers north of us so we loaded up the trailer and took off. In spending a few days we found little to no difference in numbers while taking in a pretty big swath of covers along the way. As we were heading back home a front came through with some much needed rain and cooler temperatures, and yes that was the game changer. We started finding much better bird numbers, both with grouse and woodcock. We had only a few broods and most of those had dispersed early. The ratio of young to old birds was below average, about 35-40% it seemed that brood size was small.

Of course we were hoping for a better year, but it did end up average to a little below average in comparing the last 20 years. There were some very good days, a few average and some poor days in the mix. We had more guides afield this year than years past. there was a total of 53 guide days and 106 hunter days with-in a 28 day period. The following flush rates are records from last fall and past years’ for comparison. If you are interested in seeing more comparisons please let me know.

Things are still very exciting here, in KS and SD. Am heading out to SD Jan 20th for a long weekend to look at 88,000 acres that the Browns just leased together with another lodge out in west river. This new land will be much more user friendly for travel time between properties. The whole 88,000 is on tribal land and is all native prairie. Being on tribal land the season opens September 8th with the state wide season opening the following weekend, which at that time hunters can take a double limit of birds, totaling 6 sharp-tail and 8 huns.

For those of you interested in a combination waterfowl hunt the application for the state wide license must be in by July 15th. We are in both counties that offer an over the counter waterfowl license but are only good for 3 days, but like the state upland license you can buy as many of them as you would like to. More on the SD hunts coming up soon, look for  SD pictures and information in the next couple weeks.

Thanks again to all our hunters for spending time with us. We look forward to seeing you again this fall.

All my Best

Steve
steve@doublegunbirdhunts.com, www.doublegunbirdhunts.com, www.orvis.com/doublegun

Grouse / Woodcock flush rates 2011

Guides: Travis 15 days, Sandy 6 days, Doug 6 days, and Steve 26 = 53 guided days

Days Hunted   =    28                                           Hunter days   =     105

Guided days  =      53 (2 guides/day average)         Hunters per day = 4

GROUSE INFO                                                        WOODCOCK INFO

Grouse Flushed  =  730                                            Woodcock Flushed  = 903

Grouse Shot =      127                                             W/C  Shot             =  202

Flushes per guided day  =  14 (13.7)                         W/C Daily Flushes per day / guide = 17

Flushes per day / hunter = 3.5                                  Flushes  per hunter  =      4.2

Shot per day / guide  =  2.3                                      Shot per day / guide =       4 (3.8)

Shot per hunter = 1                                                 Shot per day/per hunter = 2

% of grouse shot per flush = 16%                             % of w/c shot per flush =  22%

Combined
Flushes  = 1633                                                     Birds shot per day/guide  = 6

Daily flushes /guide = 30                                        % shot birds to flush  = 20%

Combined Kills  = 329

2010 Grouse and Woodcock Hunting Summary

Flush and Harvest counts

October 2010

*******************2006             2007           2008           2009           2010          2011

Days Hunted                37                35               30                41             30           28

Hunter Days                 86               111              94                93             96          105

Hunters/Day                2.3               3.1               3.1               2.3           3.2          4

Grouse Fl                     701             1198           1123             1123         831          730

Daily Flushes               18               34.2            37.5              27             27.7         14 / guide

Flushes/hunter/day      7.8              11.1            12                 12            8.6           3.5

Grouse Shot                84               146             167               127          109          127

Shot/Day                    2.2              4                 5.5                3              3.6          2.3

Shot/Hunter                1                 1.3              1.7                1.3           1.13        1

% Shot/Flush              11%           12.1%         14%              11%        13%          16%

Woodcock Flushes   1023          896              777              706           805   ***      903

Daily Flushes            27.6           29.8             25.9             20             26.8            17 / guide

Flushes/Hunter/Day   12              9.9               8.35             8.6            8.3             3.5

W/C Shot                  189           193               160             136           173    ***    202

Shot/Day                  5.1            6.4                5.3               3              5.7     ***   4

Shot/Hunter              2.2            2.1                1.7              1.5            1.8              2

% Shot/Flush            18%          21.5%          20%            19%         21.4%          20%

Combined Flushes     1724        2094              1900           1829        1636              1633

Daily Total                 46.5         59.8               63.3            45            54.5             30 / guide

Flushes/Hunter/Day    20.2         9.9                 20.4            20            17               15 / guide

Total Shot                  273          339                327             263           282            329

Shot/Day                    7.3           9.6                 10.9            6.4            9.4            11.7

Shot/Hunter                3.1           3.1                 3.5              2.7            3              3

% Shot to Flushes     16%         16.6%           17%            14%         17.2%          20%

In reviewing the numbers please keep in mind the number of days hunted and hunter days. This is where the averages are based on.

Grouse Creek Kate

The new reprints of Steve’s “Back Yard Basic’s” is once again available. The Pointing dog training DVD walks you through the “whoa” training for young bird dogs. The approach is simple and easy to use in teaching such an important command. DVD’s can be purchased at the farm, or can be sent. The best part of this is if/when you have any questions you can just call Steve and he’ll walk you through it.

This training method has been used by Steve since training for Burnt Creek Setters back in 1985. There are other methods which work fine, however this one is very user friendly and will get results. It combines teaching the heel command along with the whoa.

I recently returned from Medicine Lodge ( Jan 4th-14th) scouting and quail hunting. Last summers drought really hurt the quail numbers throughout South Central and South Western Kansas. From the sounds of it from other hunters the Oklahoma panhandle was hurt as well. We chose to shoot no birds, only moving a few coverys each day.  I was able to spend alot of time on the leases which will be great providing the spring hatch is good and the drought ends. I’ll be back for a few more weeks to finish work on our house and to finalize additional property. At this time we’ve got approximately 12,000 acres in KS. We are working with Busters Outfitters in Sun City KS, please go to www.bustersoutfitters.com.

The KS quail season comes in the 2nd weekend of November, but we are located in huge trophy whitetail areas where deer hunting comes first. The archery season ends Dec 31st, which will then give way to our quail hunts. Again the KS quail season ends January 31st, and Oklahoma Feb 15th. The open winter we are having will more than likely bring us back to MN and Little Moran in Mid February, however the winter can get very long yet as we come into the snow months of Feb and March.

Along with the grouse hunts, the South Dakota hunts and our Kansas hunts we have been battleing health issues again with Gayle.

In mid October Gayle was hospitalized again for her liver disease, this time as the other’s was very serious. The difference was the fact that Dr’s confronted her about the liver disease being due to alcohol. Gayle’s health was on the edge, to a point where treatment was the only avenue for her to recover. Even with alcohol treatment her health will remain gaurded. Josh Travis, Stacy and Ashley and myself all intervened about getting Gayle the treatmment she needed, she went very willingly and has been doing much better since treatment began. It’s been difficult for her, but she has a loving family, great faith and is very strong willed, those three things and more Angels than one could ever imagine have been the driving force for her recovery.

Things could always be worse, we are very blessed! The Angels in our life is unbelieveable, the kindness, the well wishes, and giving have truely helped us through this difficult time. The good news is Gayle is recovering very well, she has a great frame of mind and is determined to get well. Josh, Trav, Stacy, and Ashley have all been so strong and so helpful, it’s been wonderful!

Gayle will be home Dec 23rd, what a great gift that will be. We’ve got a long road ahead of us, but all our Angels help every day. Thank you to each and everyone of you. I’ll keep updating Gayles recoverey  here on our blog, it’s very easy that way.

From all of us it’s very hard to find the words to thank you properly, we too will keep you in our prayers, just as you have kept us in yours.

Merry Christmas

Steve,Gayle, Josh/Ashley, Trav and Stacy

And the entire staff at Little Mo