Grouse hunters--and I proudly count myself among the 75,000 of us living in the Empire State--tend to be a bit eccentric. How else can you describe sportsmen who actually look forward to swinging their shotguns at nearly unhittable winged targets, instead of filling their freezers with less elusive aerial dodgers such as ring-necked pheasants, bobwhite quail, mourning doves and various species of waterfowl?

To appreciate the grouse's legendary ability to fly untouched through sprays of number No. 7 1/2 shot, visit the New York Department of Environmental Conservation's Web site and check out the report on the state's ongoing grouse research.

According to the study supervisor's summation of 2007 diaries that nearly 300 dedicated grousers turned in, chasing Ol' Ruff is "among the most challenging of sports."

Hunter diaries revealed that the average grouse addict produced about 1.2 flushes per hour and managed to kill only one bird per 10 flushes.

Can you imagine pheasant hunters tolerating that many missed opportunities? I can't, and I'm an ardent rooster-rouster, too.

Of course, as an individual hunter, you may improve on that flushing rate, depending on which thickets you like to plow through on a crisp autumn morning. Finding gold-mine grouse coverts is a secretive, lifetime occupation. But until you accumulate a catalog of private hotspots, why not hone your wingshooting skills on some of the many public hunting grounds in New York--including state forests and wildlife management areas--which hold serious potential for upland gunning?

The following five places are among the Empire State's best for grouse hunting this fall:

ALLEGANY STATE PARK
If not for the Adirondack and Catskill forest preserves, Allegany State Park in Cattaraugus County would be New York's largest public hunting grounds. Most of its 65,000 acres are open to law-abiding sportsmen, and are well worth exploring for ruffed grouse. They are common in the park, though to find them consistently, you must do some serious walking.

Most of the park's grouse will be found in the steep backcountry, away from major access roads or in the alder thickets along beaver ponds that lend character to local trout streams.