Grouse hunters have hopes

[Lee Borgersen]

Grouse hunters hope bird numbers are on the rise

9/14/16

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On a trail in the woods west of Hill City last week, a family of ruffed grouse burst into flight as an ATV crawled past. The birds — perhaps half a dozen of them — flushed in every direction as a bear hunting guide passed by.

That’s what grouse hunters hope to see plenty of starting Saturday, when grouse season opens in both Minnesota and Wisconsin. Woodcock season opens the following Saturday, Sept. 24, in both states.
“I think we’re definitely looking at an upswing in the (grouse population) cycle now,” said Ted Dick, forest game bird coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. “Don’t get me wrong — it’s up from the lows — but it’s a positive sign, a reason for optimism.”

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Spring drumming counts were up 18 percent statewide in Minnesota and 16 percent in Northeastern Minnesota, according to the DNR. Biologists believe they’re seeing a genuine upward trend in the 10-year grouse population cycle. The last peak occurred in 2009, and hunters have seen some lean years since.

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Last year, hunter numbers dropped to 79,000, and those hunters took just 268,000 grouse, the lowest harvest in the past 10 years.

Early-season hunting is tough, with lots of leaves remaining on the trees and grouse still clustered in family groups. A clearer picture will emerge as the season unfolds, grouse disperse and leaves fall.

“I hesitate to say what the season will be like until October,” said Meadow Kouffeld-Hansen, regional biologist for the Ruffed Grouse Society in Minnesota and the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan. “But I certainly have been hearing good reports of larger broods and lots of chicks mature in body size.”

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DNR grouse project leader Charlotte Roy, who supervises grouse research in Minnesota, also believes Minnesota grouse are in the ascending phase of their 10-year cycle.

The DNR’s Dick said he’s also heard reports of some young broods, perhaps the result of grouse that had to re-nest.

“We’re hoping it’s a decent year,” Dick said. “I think it will be. Looking at the (drumming count) graph, we’re about halfway to a normal peak year. Compared to the last five years, I think this will be the best one in that five.”

For Dick, who will go afield with his 17-month-old English setter this fall, every grouse season offers plenty of action.

“Grouse season is always good,” he said, “even when (the population) is low. Fewer hunters are around in those years.”

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Even last year, despite a low harvest, Dick and his 5-month-old pup had 650 flushes of grouse and woodcock, he said. Part of the reason the harvest was low last year is that relatively few hunters went afield. The number of hunters last fall was the lowest in the past 10 years, Dick said. Hunter numbers typically increase in years when grouse numbers are high.

In Wisconsin, spring ruffed grouse drumming counts failed to take the leap that those in Minnesota did. Drumming counts were up just 1 percent statewide and 4 percent in the north, according to the Wisconsin DNR.