Michigan Ruffed Grouse Society hosting annual shoot on Aug. 15

Cory Butzin | cbutzin1@mlive.com 

Shooters and steak lovers have until Aug. 9 to register for the Ruffed Grouse Society Albert A. Smith-Saginaw Valley Chapter's annual Invitational Fun Shoot. The event is held at the Saginaw Gun Club, 9549 Gratiot Road in Saginaw on Thursday, Aug. 15 and gets underway at 4 p.m.

According to Ron Heatley, registration for the shoot and “grill your own steak dinner” is $25. Attendees also have an opportunity to shoot skeet or sporting clays at there own cost.

Proceeds from this event will be used to support the annual Harry Danz Scholarship Fund.

For more information and/or directions call Heatley at 989-860-4874.

Established in 1961, the Ruffed Grouse Society is North America’s foremost conservation organization dedicated to preserving our sporting traditions by creating healthy forest habitat for ruffed grouse, American woodcock and other wildlife. RGS works with landowners and government agencies to develop critical habitat utilizing scientific management practices.

Information on RGS, its mission, management projects and membership can be found on the web at: www.ruffedgrousesociety.org

See the complete MLive article

With birds on the low end of cycle, opportunities for grouse hunters scarce in Minnesota

Written by Glen Schmitt

The Department of Natural Resources has monitored the ruffed grouse population in Minnesota for more than 60 years. Part of that process involves driving established routes in the forested region and counting the number of male grouse heard drumming each spring.

Those drumming counts are used as an indicator of the ruffed grouse breeding population, which tends to rise and fall on a 10-year cycle. Results from this year’s survey showed that drumming counts were down for the second consecutive year and that ruffed grouse numbers are likely at the low end of that natural cycle.

In the northeast, which is considered the state’s premier ruffed grouse range, drumming counts dropped from 1.1 to 0.9 per stop. Counts in the northwest dipped from 0.9 last spring to 0.7 drums per stop this year, while drumming counts showed little change from a year ago in the central hardwoods and southeast with an average of 0.9 and 0.4 drums per stop, respectively.

According to Charlotte Roy, DNR grouse biologist, the decrease in drumming counts this spring was not unexpected since the ruffed grouse population is still in the declining phase of its cyclical pattern.

“We’re near or at the bottom of the cycle and I don’t think there’s anything to worry about,” Roy said. “Historically, you can see that it takes three or four years to rebound so it wasn’t surprising to see the counts down this year.”

Counts vary from about 0.8 drums per stop in years when grouse abundance is low and as high as 1.9 drums per stop when the grouse population is up. Drumming counts spiked last in the spring of 2009.

The peak of spring drumming efforts usually occurs somewhere during the first few days in May. The median date this year was later, around May 10, likely the result of lagging cold and snow in the state’s core ruffed grouse range.

Roy pointed out that she asked DNR officials and volunteers that were counting drums across the 117 surveyed routes to do so when they thought drumming was at its peak. Most of them indicated that drumming peaked later than usual.

Read the rest of the St. Cloud Times article

PA 2013 Ruffed Grouse Hunting Season Dates

RUFFED GROUSE: Oct. 19–Nov. 30, Dec. 16 –24 and Dec. 26 –Jan. 25 

Please check the PA Game Commission website for updates

NY 2013 Ruffed Grouse Hunting Season Dates

Check the NY DEC website for updates and the original map

WV 2013 Pheasant Hunting Season Dates

Ruffed Grouse October 12 - February 28

Please check the WVDNR website for updates