Good grouse cover usually has about a 20 year life and then the second growth grows into trees and the grouse numbers diminish in most areas. Many of those old great grouse coverts were the result of overgrown orchards, farms and areas that had been logged in the past. If the area is selectively logged, the grouse cover remains. If not, it goes to forest. The key is to find areas with a lot of second growth, thick cover and most importantly, vegetation that provides a lot of food such as bayberries and fox grapes in the east.
Grouse congregate in these areas and you don't have to walk a mile for a shot such as you have to in less viable areas.
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