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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Banner year for grouse? Not so much it turns out

Marshall Helmberger
Posted 10/18/17

REGIONAL— Wildlife officials with the Department of Natural Resources are acknowledging what most ruffed grouse hunters have already discovered for themselves— bird numbers appear to be much …

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Banner year for grouse? Not so much it turns out

Posted

REGIONAL— Wildlife officials with the Department of Natural Resources are acknowledging what most ruffed grouse hunters have already discovered for themselves— bird numbers appear to be much lower than the glowing predictions just ahead of the season.

Tower Area DNR Wildlife Manager Tom Rusch, who just returned from a week of grouse hunting in northern Wisconsin, said one hunter accused him of leaving “because I didn’t want to hear all the complaints.” But Rusch, who normally enjoys plenty of grouse action in his Wisconsin outpost, said it wasn’t any better in the Badger State than here in Minnesota.

Rusch notes that the DNR’s optimistic predictions of the fall grouse harvest were based on the results of spring drumming counts, which indicated a 57-percent increase in drumming by males. “But that’s not an indication of reproduction,” he said.

It appears that the wet summer did more to hinder the survival of young grouse than wildlife managers expected. Rusch notes that the Ruffed Grouse Society, which hosts an annual hunt based out of Grand Rapids, had the lowest success rate in the 36-year history of the hunt. On average, juvenile grouse comprise nearly three-quarters of the hunters’ harvest on the hunt, but this year, juveniles made up just 56 percent of harvested birds, suggesting that poor reproduction was a significant factor in the disappointing grouse numbers this year.

But Rusch said it may be too early to write the season off altogether, noting that it’s been a late year with the leaves holding on longer than usual, which restricts hunters ability to spot birds. “And it’s so wet there are places where hunters can’t go, so they can’t cover as much ground,” he said.

According to Rusch, all that water is likely to affect deer hunters, who take to the woods in just over two weeks. “People need to be thinking about how to avoid getting stuck. It’s going to be a problem,” he said.