Forecast for the upcoming season in the Northwoods?
 

Just curious if anyone has heard any reports for the upcoming Grouse and Woodcock season in the Northwoods.

I have a friend who gave a less than stellar report on the hatch in Northern NH and Maine...indicating the cool, wet spring may have taken a toll on the young chicks....

Of course, whatever the forecast, we will still look forward to being in the woods in the wonderful fall weather, with our favorite dog, and favorite Parker....

Maine has reported that a very wet and cool spring may have depressed the grouse hatch. I hope not for those of you who hunt there.
I'll be back in the UP no matter what the prediction is.

I'm predicting ill take to the woods up here ,pant ,sweat , fall down,swear ...chase dogs too far away on point ,shoot ,miss, swear some more ....have a good meal tell stories, have a nice drink ....get out of bed stiff the next day - repeat

Chris, your method of hunting and mine sound pretty darned similar. :)

Just ending 10 days in north Maine woods, hundreds of miles on dirt roads and many dog miles. Zero grouse. Cold wet spring did in the hatch. FWIW

I would be interested in hearing the prospects for Northern/Upstate New York. I have not been able to get up that way this past spring/summer.

I'll be in northern New Hampshire opening week and let you know how it goes. Usually more hearing than seeing birds that time of year. My pointer pup is up there now for summer camp and is contacting birds daily.

Sophie is finding woodcock in the quail fields at myles standish here in plymouth, ma

Read a very poor report today in the Northeast Kingdom as well.

I had 4 hen turkeys in my backyard a couple days ago with only 8 poults. Not good!

Upstate NY isn't looking great. I heard one grouse drumming this spring and I'm not sure I've seen more hawks and coyotes in the past, as well as fishers. We shall see as they say.

As a New Hampshire resident I can tell you it will not be a good year for Grouse, and the turkey numbers will be down next spring. I have only seen two turkey broods all summer. One was yesterday. The poults were the size of robins which indicates the are very young and not likely to make it through the winter. Plus there were only five of them. We have had record rainfall all spring and up until the middle of July very cool temps.

For those that are not Grouse Tales members in there July/Aug newsletter they reported: Maine had a unfavorable spring. Wisconsin statewide spring drumming decreased 11% , from 2022 central -26% , driftless -14% , Northern -9% . And Minnesota drumming was up from last year and similar to recent peaks. Increases were most notable in northeast Minn. I will be heading to Northern New York Sept 20 and hoping for the best.

Maine grouse
 

As a fair note to all the Grouse hunters that come to Maine each year from away.We have had bad spring weather that has decimated most of the chicks.
That coupled with " climate change" has moved most of our Grouse population
North to Quebec. We here in Maine are anticipating the final clean up of the remnant population to begin on October 1 and finish on the forth.
Just a warning to Grouse hunters from away that this is the end in Maine.
From here on it is all doom and gloom.

Cold wet weather decimates the grouse broods more than any other factor. Pneumonia does it to ‘em every time. Those that survive have to face a host of other factors. The grouse population in Vt’s NEK was waaay up in 2007 but has progressively fallen ever since with only a very few good years.
Grouse and woodcock just can’t seem to get an even break.






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Grouse numbers are cyclic. But anytime in the woods beats watching the news.

I'd go so far as to say any time anywhere beats watching the news.:) (But time afield is still the best.)

I agree with what Andy said. Add turkeys to the list also, I have only seen one hen with chicks(3) rest of sightings have been single or double hens. Very wet spring and summer are probably the cause. As far as grouse last two years they were quite plentiful in my area of New York but this year only one drummer and no roadside or woods sightings in the normal places. Plenty of fischers, coyotes and foxes around. Guess I'll settle on the .22 Hornet instead this year.

In response to this thread and my potential trip to northern Maine (way the hell up there) in early November, I reached out to a friend that hunts up there regularly and has some local connections. He relayed that the locals confirmed that the early hatches were negatively impacted by the weather but the later hatches were good. They're expecting the road hunters to have some difficulty with grouse numbers but are expecting the guys with dogs hunting deeper in the cover to do well. That's why the call it hunting.

BINGO, well said Dan. I've had success in NY the last few years, but there aren't many folks that will put the miles in that I do. While I love reading about leisurely walks over a pointing dog in abandoned New England farms, I've always seen grouse hunting as an endurance sport not meant for the timid. Chukar out West would be good, but I've heard the phrase, "My you have big thighs and a small head, you must be a chukar hunter.." and that sounds a bit scary : )

I have setter friends in NH and ME and all are finding grouse on a daily basis. That's a good enough report for me.

I feel like a scumbag for hoping the ash beetle borer helps revive the grouse population. One of my deer stand locations on my property has shown a huge increase in undergrowth since it was primarily a 2 acre ash stand and now with the added sunlight things are changing. Of course, hunting with rotting and splitting 60ft ash trees is not the safest thing but I wonder if that changes the equation at all.

Forecast(s) be damned; I'm going anyway! See you up near Bowman Lake, Andy!

Yes indeed Kevin! Best to you and your family. Sorry I missed folks at Mikes, but nice seeing you at Binghamton.

"Endurance sport'---you're darn right Andy! Legs kill birds!

Maybe that's why I miss Harold. I've been trying to shoot them with a gun!