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The Ruffed Grouse

Grouse are never abundant, dense in any area. They range over no more than 50 acres. On a 500-acre tract you'll never have more than about 30 birds. An annual harvest of about 12 on such an area is maximum. Having reasonable expectations - a clear view of an objective - is the first step in serious wild animal population management. Objectives may be a composite of:

• Increase the average annual abundance or density (hold the most birds every year).
• Reduce the variation in numbers among years.
• Increase grouse sightings per hour spent.
• Increase the number of people sighting grouse.
• Increase the number of people sighting grouse for the first time.

We'll not list "increasing the number of grouse taken" since this is a function of time spent, shooting/hunting skills, and the quality of hunting dogs and rarely included as part of the manager's objectives (or accountability). A modest objective: "At least one meal of a grouse each year" or "a grouse on the observer's list during one out of three walks."

Where They Live . . .

The conditions are, generally (1) above 2,000 feet elevation (there are some interesting exception in the piedmont), (2) they wander with broods over 40 to 100 acres. They tend to roost on the mid and upper slopes and move down in the morning, up in the evening and night. They are sensitive to local microclimate. The better the conditions, the smaller is the area used. In general, the better the conditions, the more birds there will be. Hunting under the law does not influence long-term grouse population levels. In "good "areas(and do not forget this first condition or assumption), 40% of the population can be taken each year and the population will be the same the next year.

The Conditions . . .

Just what are the conditions best for grouse?

1. Forested areas
2. Usually above 2,000 feet elevation (but there are a few places in the Virginia Piedmont where they live)
3. Dense stems (about 1,200 per acre on average which means about 5 to 6 feet apart)
4. Thickets (for example, rhododendron or laurel)
5. Young forests or near small clear cuts or group-selection removals within the past 10 years
6. A forest with 15% in stands 3-15 years old (when managed on an 80 year rotation)
7. Permanent water (a spring, pool, or seep) within each 50-acre area. (Needed in critically hot summers that occur occasionally. Plans are needed for these peak periods.)
8. Edges - between forests and cutover lands, thickets, and berry bushes. They nest at the base of 6-10 inch trees near these edges.
9. The key - great conditions for the broods. The chicks are key. Tend them. The adults can handle a variety of conditions.
10. Plenty of insects (a variety of small ones for the brood, well scattered over the area and close together).
11. Nesting is within 100 feet of forest openings (within the edge zone).
12. Predation (often unbalanced due to human) needs to be controlled to protect the chicks. House cats, especially those gone wild,and feral dogs are serious predators. Predator control is critical only for the month of most chicks, June.
13. There must be four food factors at work all at the same time:

    quantity, quality, availability, variety

    Failure in any one of the 4 can cause a population failure in a year and limits to population numbers over many years.

14. Adults need foods of the type in the following Table.

    Spring Foods	Summer Foods	Autumn Foods	Winter Foods
    sumac shadbush strawberry insects laurel birch catbriar(Smilax) clover	blackberry mulberry hawthorn cherry dewberry jewelweed raspberry partridge berry	apple beech birch acorns hawthorn huckleberry/blueberry dogwood viburnum sumac grapes	birch apple clover hornbeam acorns sumac grapes greenbriar laurel teaberry honeysuckle

15. Adults need foods of the types in this Table. They eat over 300 kinds of food so are not particular. Some people call them "generalists." There is no magic food supply.
16. Drumming sites (where males display for females) are needed (hollow logs or the Rural System's "Drum"). These should be 100 feet from openings in forest, on raised ground, under dense growth, 2 per opening where openings are about 1/2 acre in size usually created by "group selection" forest practices.
17. In clearings are needed grasses, clovers, and insect-producing plants for the chicks.
18. Wild grapes (supplying dried grapes or raisins on the ground) are a key food. Vines need protection, even fertilization.
19. Winter is tough on the birds (and all animals but easily spring may be worst). Winter cover to reduce winds (energy drains) is needed. Evergreens (for example hemlocks, pines, and rhododendrons) are needed as part of the mix. Minimum groups are needed in hardwood areas.
20. Carefully prescribed burns (only in winter when soils are moist) can improve ground cover for grouse.
21. Fruit trees along roads or at edge of permanent openings when managed can produce abundant food for adults. Details of roads and roadside management are available.
22. To have a stable population, you have to have stable conditions. If you have 120 acres, for example, you need to create 4 one-fourth-acre openings each year (using tree harvest or cut-and-let-it-lay). In this brief example I assume a 120-year area-regulated practice, one that returns to the same area for another harvest in 120 years.
23. Don't even think about stocking birds. None are readily available and it doesn't work. Fast-food philosophy does not apply for the grouse. Develop the conditions (stabilizing them year after year is the "trick") and these wonderful wildland birds will be present.

What do Regional Grouse Biologist do (2003)...? Responsible for the advancement of the Ruffed Grouse Society's goal-related objectives, including programs designed to develop and enhance early-successional wildlife habitats. Work in concert with other RGS staff to coordinate local chapter involvement in regional forest management policy initiatives, youth education, and other goal-related activities. Interact directly with resource management agencies, representatives of the forest products industry and nonindustrial private landowners to promote the conservation of early-successional forest communities. Provide technical expertise during the development of forest management policy. Increase public awareness of the ecological and social benefits of forest wildlife habitat management. Position will be responsible for Michigan/Ohio/Indiana/Kentucky. Master's degree in Wildlife Ecology or related field of study or a Bachelor's degree with substantial experience is required. Strong background in forest ecology and forest management. Significant travel required. Dan Dessecker, Senior Wildlife Biologist, Ruffed Grouse Society, P.O. Box 2, Rice Lake, WI 54868; 715-234-8302

Feedback and Corrective Action...

Systems need feedback, monitoring, and then adjustments. Grouse records need to be kept. Numbers seen, time spent, distance walked are usually tallied. The greater the amount and quality of work, the greater will be the grouse - or at least the numbers will be more stable.

• Record the time spent.
• Record the money spent.
• Record people who visit to see/hunt your birds.
• Record fees paid to visit/hunt.
• Work on an analysis of extra or new birds (or hours) per dollar or per hour.
• Make adjustments to increase or stabilize benefits and reduce costs.

In the springtime when the mayapples are out of the ground but not yet open (pick a condition like this to use as the time to start each year - examples would be when the fern fiddleheads are up or when the serviceberry have fully bloomed - to standardize the count) go to the area one-half hour after sun-up and listen for drumming males. Record the number each year; plot the number per 50 acres on a graph. Management will tend to make this number increase and hold it there over time.

Brood sizes are difficult to determine. One study suggested that every chick observed should be multiplied by 1.915 to obtain the proper number of chicks present. About one chick is lost every 10 days from date of hatch, so further adjustment can be made by considering the number of days into the brooding season when the observation is made. The original brood size is S is found from

S = (1.915)(hicks observed) + ((days from probable hatch) / 10)

For example, you observe 3 chicks 20 days into the brooding season.

S = (1.915)(3) + (20/10) = 8 chicks in the original brood.

Twelve chicks is common.

Feedforward...

Like feedback, use feedforward. Predict the coming changes in hunting, land use, interest of urban folks in the outdoors - then modify your current practices to get ready for your best-estimate of the future.

Rural System offers a program for owners of small tracts to join together in a cooperative program of ruffed-grouse management. Management is generally infeasible for tracts of less than 50 acres, but when adjacent landowners develop cooperative arrangements, great success is possible.Developing parts of the program include:

1. Create a probable or likely grouse habitat map
2. Modify Giles' stem density estimate procedure
3. Sell Rural System's "Drums" constructed drumming "logs&quo to be placed in the forests
4. Sell brochures on grouse
5. Sell "Grouse Marks", plastic markers to mark where grouse were seen (for later GPS site coding)
6. Provide computer maps for grouse copses (soft-mast, fruit, dust, limestone grit, and avian predator protection) that day-light and add limestone units to forest roads
7. Provide customized grouse management plans for select areas
8. Start the Rural System "Grouse Log", a club (with national affiliation) to promote and enhance interest in the bird (meetings, webpage, tours, advice, contests, area drumming count surveys, spring tours, hunter and hiker insurance, reduced costs for consulting and supplies and equipment)

General recommendations are about as meaningful for grouse as they are for human health problems. In general they are no good. Every tract, like very person, is unique. Wildlife managers of the Rural System are experts in ruffed grouse management and can provide unique, specific prescriptions for managing the bird resource.

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This Web site is maintained by R. H. Giles, Jr.
Last revision July 8, 2004.