Author: Grouse Hunter

2019 brings a new factor, Eastern Equine Encephalitis. EEE was detected in grouse sampled in Minnesota this year, the first year such test were conducted. Meanwhile in WI somebody will declare it’s not an issue here (was there any testing?) and we should restore the season to the decades long closure dates of late January.

Others continue to prattle that the only way to restore the glory years is to restore habitat to the levels seen 70 years ago. Here’s a hard fact, it isn’t going to happen. At most we will stop further loss of young growth forest or make small gains. Meaning at least in my lifetime and that of the next generation, what we have today is about as much net habitat as we are likely to have. Fortunately our states and counties are more agile than the fed’s when it comes to progressive forestry practices. Eventually the Federally managed lands in the Northwoods will either be managed correctly, or they will burn. I suspect the latter.

While new factors are being described, existing ones are slowly understood. Hunter harvest constraints are coming. Shortened seasons are now codified into policy and bag limits are being tweaked. Very, very few hunters are impacted. At some point, reducing daily bag limit from 5 to 3 becomes meaningless when flushing 5 grouse is impossible. Still, a 3 or even 2 bird / day bag limit is reasonable for most regions. For those that would otherwise miss dog work opportunities after a bird or two is bagged, show some real restraint; carry a blank pistol in your pocket for flushed birds, use these opportunities to train. Bob Wehle of Elhew pointer fame was an advocate of training on wild birds, and coined the term “dry-hunting”. Still, please carry a firearm for porkies and show them no mercy!

I trust you also had a good 2019 season.

“Between 1956 and 2004, 2,795 wild trapped birds were released at 185 sites around the state. Wild turkeys now exist across the state and now several generations of citizens throughout the state can now see or hunt wild turkeys for the first time in their lives in a state where a little over a generation ago wild turkeys did not exist. Spring density over most of the turkey range in Indiana is one to six birds per square mile with some estimates as high as 25 birds per square mile.”

And so in 2018 Indiana puts Ruffed Grouse on their endangered species list.  Similarly, Ruffed Grouse are virtually eliminated from the southern half of WI.

Changes in habitat and climate are said to be the main driver of the wild turkey success and decline of Ruffed Grouse – but is something going on here?  Ruffed Grouse once flourished in Missouri and Indiana. Even with climate change we can presume southern WI today is at least no warmer than Missouri and Indiana when the birds flourished 50 years ago, right?

There’s considerably less trapping these days with skunk, raccoon, opossum, and fox populations flourishing due to furs being virtually worthless.  I’m told raptors were shot without hesitation 50 years ago.  Marginal habitat and high predator populations have certainly put extreme pressure on Ruffed Grouse.  It seems almost certain the downward trend will continue, with lower peaks and even lower valleys in grouse cycles.

I for one like wild turkeys (and Wild Turkey once in a while for that matter) and enjoy hunting them. Their reintroduction is an amazing story and I’ve spent countless hours pursuing them. with great family memories.  I hope to never have to choose between these two supreme game birds.  I also hope to not see Ruffed Grouse on the endangered list in any more states.

The old favorite spots seem to hold few grouse but still attract grouse hunters. These classic coverts visible from the road have nice well beaten parking pads, and usually few birds.  A buddy hunted one of these spots in the afternoon after another hunter from our group went thru in the morning. The afternoon hunter moved seven grouse in two hours, a good hunt. The earlier morning hunter moved one, go figure.

You’ve seen the “Habitat” / “Hunt Here” sign declaring an area of intense grouse management. I tend to avoid these too. One soggy day I needed a quick, easy trail hunt to finish the day. It didn’t look like it had been hunted in a day or two by the lack of truck tracks, thought I’d explore.  A dozen grouse flushed in ninety minutes and I had reached my self imposed daily limit of three birds, with several solid points and nice retrieves to hand.  A hunt a few days earlier had me on another well beaten trail late in the day. Although another hunter was in this spot that morning it’s such a large and consistent spot I had to give it a try.  Plus I rationalized or hoped he was hunting with a fatlab, golden, weim, or one of the other less productive breeds that like their owners, don’t leave the trail. A few hundred yards in, my youngest dog efficiently brought to hand a true “report pair” of well pointed grouse. All that sporting clays practice came together in one moment! High point memories for sure.

It’s encouraging to see about half of my birds bagged are young birds of the year. A few birds are truly pint size, perhaps from a second clutch. Maybe all the doom and gloom about rain and West Nile are overstated, for now.

While I can find plenty of great looking cover where grouse aren’t, they might be there tomorrow. I can’t predict where to find them next, so I try to spend about 1/3 of my hunts scouting new coverts. There were fewer grouse hunters most days, and many times it’s a mile walked per bird flushed. That you kill grouse with your legs not your gun, is true as ever. I don’t see many folks capable of putting in ten mile days or having the dog power to keep at it either. But off the beaten path, after a spell of tough weather, and sometimes in the “too” obvious spots it’s possible to put up a number of grouse without tearing up an extreme amount of boot leather.

Northern White Rhino (NWR) are walking dead. The last living male died in March 2018. Two females remain in captivity, neither sufficiently healthy to  carry a full term pregnancy. If the species is to be saved it will be at the hand of science. While science thrives in the hearts of brilliant and dedicated people, it takes money to apply it and make it work, a lot of money.  In the case of the NWR too little money was spent protecting them from the ravages of illegal poaching and habitat loss. In the 1960’s they had dwindled to a population of 2000 but assuredly they would be saved.  The world relied on inept or corrupt governments and far to too few dedicated, but underfunded  conservationists. It didn’t work. Their return is far from certain, even unlikely, requiring science to go where it has never gone before. We as sportsman and conservationist are not exempt from blame. We could have done more. What happens on the Dark Continent reaches around the world. Get used to it.

And so we speculate if West Nile Virus (WNV) might impact Ruffed Grouse populations. We debate if shortening the season will help while blathering on about insufficient data and discussing traditional factors such as of loss of habitat (real), uncontrolled predators (real), turkeys (probably but who knows), weather (sometimes) and the list goes on. Some suggest it hasn’t been found in enough wild grouse, advocating delays in taking action. Meanwhile for those paying attention, WNV has been killing corvids and raptors across the region for over fifteen years. Raptors and scavenging birds become infected from mosquitoes or by consuming infected birds. Think hard about this next part; how are those mosquitoes becoming infected and what birds are those raptors eating? Shouldn’t a reduction in raptors benefit grouse populations?

The reason there’s so little information on WNV in WI and MN in Ruffed Grouse is simple, nobody was really looking. The susceptibility of Ruffed Grouse to WNV was clearly established more than a decade ago.  It’s unreasonable to conclude anything other than Ruffed Grouse populations are  being affected. The full effect on wild Ruffed Grouse populations will take time to sort out.  It took several decades to explain Ruffed Grouse population cycles and the wave from West to East, and still not everybody agrees. Don’t expect fast, black and white answers on WNV.  However it is an immutable fact that West Nile Virus is here and mortality is likely 100% in infected birds. In the interest of science and logic, killing fewer late season Grouse when populations are low makes sense. Is it enough to make a difference in the face of everything else? Nobody knows. It’s better to error on the side of conservation than continue with the same policies that have led to the current situation.  

We need sportsman and conservationist to support on faith for now, reasonable management changes. They need to come together to donate time, raise money, and support research that seeks answers, develop sound management plans and habitat initiatives. Too many will sit on the side, second guessing biologists and game managers, complain, bring in politics, or just passively trust others to manage the problem. Like the Northern White Rhino, actions today can set the trajectory for the next 50 years.

 

On Wednesday June 27th, the Wisconsin DNR Resources Board voted to abbreviate this fall’s grouse season in the northern “A” zone (most of the state). Look for a November 30th closure vs. the standard Jan 30th once the DNR invokes an emergency rule. The decision lacks definitive science based justification and alone may not make much difference. Pennsylvania’s Game Commission took the decision last fall to eliminate their Jan 2018 hunt and continue with abbreviated seasons.

Watch for reduced bag limits at some point. Until then consider some self restraint on how many birds you strive to put in the bag. In parts of MN, WI and MI heavy rains, mosquitoes and WNV could significantly limit grouse recruitment this year.

 

Heavy rains have fallen over the Northwoods of MN, WI and the U.P in the past few days with reports totaling more than 10″.  Many roads and bridges are washed out or heavily damaged.  June rains last year are reported as the primary cause of low grouse and woodcock recruitment across the region. Time will tell what these events mean but it certainly isn’t helping.

14 Day precipitation summary as of June 19, 2018

Link to the interactive NOAA map. 

Grouse annual drumming survey results from the WI DNR report an overall statewide decline of 34%. The Northern Zone index declined an even greater amount, 38% to 1.28 drums per stop.  Weather conditions were rated better for this survey over last year, adding to the concern.  This Grouse Hunter noticed a sharp decline in flushes per mile walked last year with very low apparent recruitment. Others observed the same and indeed the RGS national hunt results in Grand Rapids, MN last fall produced a record low harvest measured in birds per hunter hours and also revealed low recruitment. The 2018 drumming survey affirms these observations. As a suspected contributing factor and wild card, West Nile Virus will get further study this year and we can look for officials to ask Grouse Hunters to provide samples.

More information can be found in this article from the Wi DNR website.

And this article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal 

 

I’ve reserved this small corner of the web to share thoughts, observations, and engage in conversation on grouse and upland bird hunting oriented topics.  We’ll see where this goes.  As with most things grouse hunting, it’s best to be flexible and keep expectations in check, lest one be humbled yet again.

I look forward to your comments and suggestions, and invite you to reach out to me via the contact Grouse Hunter page or respond to a post. Thanks for visiting.

Chris, a Grouse Hunter