More bad news for PA grouse.
 

I keep saying it's all about the habitat!! Only so much the PGC can do with their limited funds.


Outdoors notebook: More bad news for ruffed grouse, bird hunters
Bob Frye BY BOB FRYE
Sunday, July 24, 2016, 9:09 p.m.
The numbers are not encouraging. Worse yet, another downturn may be on the way.

Pennsylvania Game Commission biologist Lisa Williams asked hunters who harvested a grouse last fall to send her a blood samples from it for examination. The idea was to see how many birds had been exposed to West Nile virus and survived.

She recently said 26 birds, or 13 percent of those sampled, fell into that category, she said.

That doesn't sound too bad, she said, until you consider that West Nile kills in summer, and some research suggests 80 percent of grouse that contract it die. That means for every 26 survivors, more than 100 other birds were dead long before hunters ever hit the woods, she added.

There's potentially worse news.

Williams said that even with spotty surveillance, West Nile was confirmed in about 57 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties last year. Historically, she added, such outbreaks persist over several years.

That could be bad.

Williams said there seems to be a connection between the mosquito-borne illness and declines in grouse numbers. In years when West Nile is abundant, grouse numbers go down, but in years it's scarce, grouse numbers go up. The trend is “almost a perfect mirror image,” she said.

Grouse populations had been on a an upswing in recent years, she said. Increased West Nile could change that.

“That makes me quite concerned about what's going to happen with our modest recovery,” Williams said.

If there's any good news, it's that grouse populations appear able to withstand illness if there's enough good habitat spread over a wide expanse, Williams said.

“Where we have excellent habitat for grouse. They can outproduce the disease,” she said.

That offers some hope, said Bryan Burhans, deputy director of administration for the commission.

“That's got me thinking our best defense might be a good offense, making better habitat,” he said.

In the meantime, the commission may also have to scale back grouse seasons, Williams said. Hunters harvest about 35,000 to 40,000 birds annually. That has never been a big factor in overall populations, Williams said.

But with grouse struggling, she's “going to be looking very seriously” at whether seasons might have to be shortened. The post-Christmas season — though popular with hunters — “would be the logical target,” Williams said.

The commission will seek input from sportsmen before making any changes, however.

I'm going to contact the VT game commission tomorrow to ask about WNV in VT grouse.





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Mike, you are just full of cheery news. I've been watching this closely since I submitted blood samples for inclusion in the survey. While the contention that West Nile is a summer killer may be correct, the supposition that grouse are dying mid summer is just a supposition that is currently not backed by good science. However, I have a gut feeling their supposition may be correct.

If this weather ever cools down enough to run dogs it will not take long to see what kind of bird numbers we have this year. We can only hope.

I have been saying that the decrease in grouse was probably due to a viral disease for over 10 years. The various DNR's and Ruffed Grouse Society have been preaching that it was all about the habitat, and nothing more. I have always argued that it was a disease process. Before I went to optometry school, I had a masters in microbiology/virolgy, and was well into my PhD, so I have the background to voice those kind of opinions. The problem of course is now that we know the problem is viral disease, what the heck can we do about it. We cant go vacinating grouse, but hopefully the survivors can pass on resistance to their offsprings.
I have been very interested in this study.

a few thoughts
 

I was wondering about the natural selection process you mention and if the grouse population as a whole will eventually build an immunity towards the virus. I guess time will tell.
Doesn't 35,000 to 40,000 grouse a year taken by hunters seem like a very high number?

Not when you take into account those who shoot from their truck windows and folks who traditionally shoot them from trees and on the ground......





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Dean that's the way native UP'ers (people indigenous to the Upper Peninsula) do it) all the time:shock:
I read or heard tell that something like 90% of the birds die in the first year. Myself, Daisy and Gunner's gun don't negatively impact population densities:nono:

Same in most of the very rural US. My favorite state of VT is no exception. Friends I have made in and around the little community where I hunt often stop into camp to tell me the best two-tracks that I can drive and shoot from my window. I politely thank them for the information and put those on the list of where I will never visit.
It is what it is. There are no laws in VT against ground-swatting the most noble of gamebirds.






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I don't know if it's against the game laws anywhere to shoot birds off the ground or out of trees. It's against the law to shoot from a vehicle probably everywhere.

This is where hunting differs from other so called sports as there are no rules, time frames, innings, quarters, scores etc. We as hunters have our own set of moral rules that we follow without supervision. Some call it ethics. I maintain that the only two true sports are hunting and fishing the rest are games.

Daisy and I enjoy our time afield, a Grouse, Woodcock or Pheasant is a bonus.

Well said Richie!! :clap: