Ruffed grouse news

I just would like to throw out some tidbits about ruffed grouse. I can remember when I was a kid in the early 80's grouse where everywhere now the only place I consistently find birds is 3000 ft and above. I'm not saying that they aren't in low elevation places but something ( imo) has happened to them there to the point that I'm not finding them the way I used to. Now I know things change like habitat and land management and those God awful turkeys but I think there's something more. West Nile seems to be the hot topic with many states taking steps to study it. Kentucky is asking for blood samples from grouse that are harvested and Pennsylvania has even closed the second season on grouse and they are also studying west nile. I would like people's opinions on this matter..... quail hunters please chime in also

I still see the occasional grouse below 3000' around my house but they are so few and far between, hunting them is a waste of time.

Most private landowners do not manage for the habitat grouse need. Most wildlife management seems to be directed to deer.

Also a lot more nest predators anymore.

I don't think hunting in a state like NC is having much of an impact so I think changing the seasons or regs like they might do in PA, would accomplish nothing.

Someone wrote that the best thing for grouse is human activity, specifically forestry activity.

We shall see what the fires did for them in the next few years.

They used to be really thick around here in the 80s and 90s, now I hardly see or hear one at any elevation. Even in places where the habitat hasn't changed, and good successional habitat. The quail disappeared about the same time.

Forestry management, development and to a small extent modern agricultural practices are the main culprits. For grouse the Ag issue is not as prevalent as for quail that Boojum mentioned but development and modern forestry practices have changed the landscape making it difficult for woodland living upland birds to succeed.

These are the guys that will possibly know http://www.ruffedgrousesociety.org/

I grew up wearing them out in VA, MD, PA with a Ithaca Featherlight...sure miss those days.

https://indianaforestalliance.org/ruffed-grouse/


Good article on ruffed grouse

Keeping successive, planned timber management out of the equation....

Look at fires in the mountains. Seems like they used to just let fires go when they popped up, and usually it was small rolling fires that would burn themselves out due to available fuel, moisture, etc. That, and a mix of cutover to slow the lines.
Next spring those burnoffs would looks like a park with all the new growth in the understory.

Now, they want to stamp out every single little flare up and let the fuel grow and grow and grow. When they finally do get a fire they can't control, it literally burns everything down to the roots. Those fires create a wasteland.
Look at the big fire in Linville Gorge about 9-10 years ago. That thing scorched the earth. Burnt every living organism out of the soil. The only thing that's come back is thick stands of yellow pine and nothing else...
There used to be grouse on shortoff, and on the western rim, but now its just a wasteland of locust trees and old pine stumps. No more grouse, and less deer than ever. The dirt literally looks like the ashes you dump out of the grill...

I will say that the fuel portion of the Gorge fire was a little more than normal due to all the dead pines left over from the infestations of the late 90s/early 00's

It takes a full on approach to keep our forest healthy for all the game. Timber management, fire, etc.

I only find birds now in natural successional habitat like high balds, young beech stands, etc. The rest of the woods where I used to find them are just acres and acres of giant old growth and no understory.

I saw more Grouse in WNC last fall than I've seen in 10 years. I saw them on nearly every outing, one day there were about 10-12 in 1 thunder and one day I jumped a total of 18 in 2 hours walking (some were the same birds I'm sure) but still it was fun. After deer season I took the shotgun and only jumped 2 grouse in several outings, and I missed.