Maine Biologist expects 2019 solid grouse numbers to highlight bird hunting season that begins Saturday

By John Holyoke

Over three decades helping manage the state’s bird populations, biologist Brad Allen has learned a lot about the game birds — like ruffed grouse — that Mainers like to hunt.

One of the things the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s bird group leader has learned bodes well for the state’s bird hunters.

 “Grouse-hunting in Maine, I tell everybody, is always good,” Allen said. “[This year is] not going to be a boom, it’s not going to be a bust. I want to say average, but I think it’ll be slightly better than average,”

Decent weather — cool but not too cold — during the nesting season shouldn’t have hampered reproductive efforts, he said, and the population of grouse should be solid.

Read the full Bangor Daily News article for more insights and tips  

The Grouseman - Orvis Presents Video

For wingshooting guide Steve Grossman, the hunt is about so much more than shooting a limit of birds. Ever since he was a teenager, he has devoted himself to chasing wild birds and training dogs. 

He is a student of his art, constantly learning more about how the birds respond to changes in their environment and how birddogs and hunters can work together. He's become an inspiration to his children and the younger generation of wild-bird enthusiasts.

Learn more about Steve and The Grouse Lodge

Ruffed Grouse and Woodcock Hunting in New Hampshire - Live for October Video

Join Northeast Regional Director of the Ruffed Grouse Society Joe Levesque as he mentors owner of ANR Design Alex Costa on his first hunting adventure. Along with friend Zach Hein the head to the north woods of New Hampshire as they hunt ruffed grouse and American woodcock. This film explores the camp culture of New England, the future of hunting, and the critical conservation issues that the Ruffed Grouse Society pursues.

WI DNR board moves toward shortening 2019 grouse season

The state Department of Natural Resources board is moving toward shortening Wisconsin's ruffed grouse season to as the population dwindles.

The board voted unanimously Tuesday to allow the department to craft an emergency rule that would close the season across the northwestern two-thirds of the state on Jan. 5. The season currently runs from mid-September through Jan. 31 in that portion of the state.

The DNR is concerned that the ruffed grouse population is declining. Drumming activity dropped 34% from 2017 to 2018. Hunters took only 173,347 birds last year, the lowest total in 35 years of hunter surveys.

 Read the full WEAU article for more information

Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin testing ruffed grouse to gauge West Nile exposure

Under the program, now in its second year, researchers in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin collect the carcasses of ruffed grouse along with blood samples from the birds during the states' respective grouse seasons.

 Each state's DNR searches the birds' organs for signs of West Nile and sends the blood samples to the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study group at the University of Georgia for further testing.

The data collected by the group then helps researchers evaluate the effects of West Nile on grouse populations throughout Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. 

Read the full article for more info

New Jersey 2019 Grouse Season Closure Announced

At their regular meeting on July 17, the Fish and Game Council unanimously voted to close the ruffed grouse hunting season statewide. Recognizing that grouse populations in the state were declining, the season length and daily bag limit were reduced, and the state was divided into two zones, in 2005, with the southern zone having a shorter season than the northern zone. The closure takes effect immediately.

Ruffed grouse populations in the state have declined due to lack of suitable habitat (young-aged forests) which they require. Such forests now comprise less than 1% of the state's forests. Anecdotal reports of hunters seeing grouse have dwindled as forests continue to age due to lack of forest management. Although hunting is not the cause of the decline, and in fact, the number of grouse hunters has a parallel declining trend, the Division and the Fish and Game Council feels that current grouse population levels cannot support a hunt at this time.

See the NJ Fish and Wildlife Site

Missouri Restocking Ruffed Grouse

By Joe Healy

After many years of population declines, Missouri’s ruffed grouse finally may be seeing a turnaround. This past year, in a collaborative effort between the Quail and Upland Wildlife Federation (QUWF), of Buffalo, Missouri, and the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), 100 ruffed grouse were relocated from Wisconsin to Missouri’s Daniel Boone Conservation Area, in Warren County.

QUWF credits more than a decade of hard work, constant fundraising, generous sponsors, cooperative landowners and MDC personnel with the success of the effort. Craig Alderman, a research biologist and the founder and executive director of QUWF, cites in particular support from Ruger Firearms and personal interest from Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris.

According to Alderman: “Our plan this year is to capture another 100 grouse and bring them down to Missouri and release them. We have a grouse coop right now of about 110 to 112 members that encompasses about 100,000 acres, and we’ve been doing extremely intensive timber-improvement work to prepare for a minimum of a 25-year plan for the grouse to stay, adapt and grow . . . . Between the chapters and the private landowners, I’d say we’ve seen an investment of well over $2 million in timber harvest and getting lands ready.”

Read the rest of the full Shooting Sportsman article