Grand Rapids, MN and The Ruffed Grouse Society Host 33rd Annual National Grouse and Woodcock Hunt

The Ruffed Grouse Society (RGS) is holding the 33rd annual National Grouse and Woodcock Hunt (NGWH) in Grand Rapids, Oct. 7 through Oct. 10. Since 1982, the NGWH has delivered a forum to promote the organization’s wildlife conservation activities, to provide an opportunity to study grouse and woodcock ecology and to celebrate the sporting traditions inherent in grouse and woodcock hunting.

The event features a sporting clays competition and outdoor festival at the Grand Rapids Gun Club, which includes professional shooting instruction, interaction with Purina and SportDOG representatives and a deluxe barbecue. Hunting will occur on Thursday, Oct. 9 and Friday Oct. 10 followed by various social events at the Sawmill Inn.

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Maine Bird hunter returns with ruffed grouse

ALLAGASH, Maine - Bernard McMahon of the District of Columbia harvested these ruffed grouse on Wednesday, Oct. 1, in the forests around Allagash.

McMahon has traveled up to the St. John Valley each year since 2001 to go bird hunting with Registered Maine Guide Sean Lizotte of Allagash.

Ruffed grouse season throughout the state started on Oct. 1 and continues through Dec. 31.

Read more: St. John Valley Times - Bird hunter returns with ruffed grouse Includes full article and photo

Michigan 2014 Ruffed Grouse and Woodcock Forecast

Ryan Vander Wagen, C. Alan Stewart and Lori Sargent

Spring Breeding Surveys Ruffed Grouse Drumming Survey Ruffed grouse drumming counts were conducted statewide from 105 survey routes during April and May 2014.

Significant weather conditions during the survey periods delayed couple route regionally

in 2014.

There was an average of 12.43 drums heard per routes statewide, a 16% increase from 2013 (10.77) average (Figure 8). Highest drumming counts were in Zone 1(Upper Peninsula; 14.86), following Zone 2 (Northern Lower Peninsula; 11.64) and Zone 3 (Southern Lower Peninsula; 4.14)

(Figure 7).

Woodcock Singing

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ground Survey Results of Michigan Woodcock singing - ground survey were based on preliminary analysis of data from 95 survey routes (Cooper and Rau 2014). There was significant changes in the woodcock index for Michigan in 2013 and 2014 were detected. An average of 5.43 and 5.20 singing males were heard per route in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

The 2013 Central Region index, consisting of information from Illinois, Indiana, Manitoba, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Ontario and Wisconsin, was significantly different from 2013 (n=408

, P<0.05). In the Central Region, there was an average of 2.70 and 2.57 singing males heard per route in 2013 and 2014, respectively (Cooper and Rau 2014).

Significant declines in the number of singing males were detected in Michigan and Central Region during 2014 - 2014. This is the first time in three years that the trend has shown a decline in the

Central Region (Cooper and Rau 2014). Michigan and the Central Region have experienced an average Long - term decline of 0.77% and 0.90% per year, respectively, since 1968 (P<0.05; Cooper

and Rau 2014).

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MN Northland Ruffed Grouse hunter shoots wolf that was threatening his hunting dog

By Sam Cook

A grouse hunter walking a trail on state land near Aurora on Sunday shot a young wolf that had snapped at his yellow Labrador retriever, said Don Bozovsky, a conservation officer with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

The hunter, who Bozovsky said wished not to be identified, was a young man. The hunter was walking a trail on state land at about 3:25 p.m. when the dog encountered the wolf on the trail, Bozovsky said. Fearing that the wolf would attack the dog, the hunter shot the wolf twice with a 12-gauge shotgun at a distance of about 8 feet, Bozovsky said.

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State, UMaine biologists embark on ambitious ruffed grouse research project

By John Holyoke, BDN Staff

At a semi-secret site deep in the woods, wildlife biologist Kelsey Sullivan spent Wednesday evening helping to gather data he expects will eventually provide the first clear picture of the life, death and breeding habits of one of state’s iconic game birds, the ruffed grouse.

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has teamed up with the University of Maine on the study, thanks in part to a $190,000 federal grant and matching UMaine funding, in order to trap, tag and fit radio collars on grouse that will be released and followed for a year.

The study itself is scheduled to last three years, but more work may be pursued after that, according to the UMaine assistant professor who is leading the research.

“This is the first very large scale investigation of ruffed grouse populations in natural history in the state of Maine,” Erik Blomberg, UMaine assistant professor of wildlife ecology, said.

Blomberg, a scientist who was first introduced to grouse by his dad, an avid Wisconsin bird hunter, said there’s a pretty simple reason why grouse haven’t been the subject of more research in this state.

“In science, we tend to only study animals when they have problems, and [consequently,] ruffed grouse have not had much attention focused on them.”

That has changed dramatically over the past several months, as Blomberg, two graduate students and the DIF&W have teamed up.

Sullivan is the DIF&W’s game bird biologist. Among the first questions he’d like to answer: How are the birds living, reproducing and surviving?

To find the answers to those questions, Blomberg, Sullivan and field crew leader Brittany Currier needed some study birds. They’ve set up two sites as midcoast and northern study areas, and will actively trap birds at both until bird-hunting season opens in October.

The BDN isn’t sharing the exact locations of those sites at the request of researchers. Blomberg said it was important to keep those sites as secret as possible to prevent an unnatural increase in the number of hunters in those areas. Normal hunting pressure is fine, he said, but the research effort is designed to track what actually exists, rather than what might exist after a particular hunting area is publicized.

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