Real Worried: Grouse population down?

[Tom A]

Folks,
Anyone out there familiar with what is going on with the Grouse population in MD? I have been on the internet trying to find info. Have not jumped a grouse in two season. Been allover the Western part of the state where I have jumped them before.

Anyone?

thanks,
T

[BarnesX.308]

Has the habitat changed? Grouse like thick stuff. As forests mature they lose their grouse appeal. A 7-10 year old clear cut is great grouse habitat.

Scott Meier
White Oak Lodge

[ruffed-grouse]

Don' t know about MD, but up here in PA, the PGC says flush rates were down last year though I didn' t notice and thought it was a decent year, but the ice storm over the winter must have been hard on them cause winters aren' t supposed to be that hard on them if they can get to the tree buds, but the real problem may be the wet spring and that may have been what really did them in this year. Flushes for me are way down in N. PA this year.

[Irish52]

grouse have a cycle like rabbits every so often the population seems to disaper. and then in a few years they seem to be every where in the woods. i read about it years ago when i was wondering myself guess its natures way of keeping the population down

[DougMD]

I have been seeing some here and there at my place in WV. I read a recent article that suggested that loss of habitat is one reason, but coyotes are another. Of course, then there' s the cycling population effect.

[babybuck]

Pa. game commision predicted a good year last year and they later said the prediction was overly optimistic. This year they predicted a sharp downturn in pop. and that seems to have been correct. Mostly blamed on cycles. Personally, I haven' t been out much specifically for grouse but have seen few while driving dirt roads or pursuing other game. The only good news is that my harvest doesn' t change much whether the pop. is high or low because they are to damn hard to hit!