Grouse and Skunks Advice
 

Visiting the farm this weekend, I had two skunk encounters thankfully neither of which left me any more malodorous than usual. One was the size of a well fed hog and I realized that the only way to get that big it had to eat regularly, like my eighteen year old youngest son - who once ironically had a similarly striped hair-do and according to his mother also posesses the other striking similarity.....

Then I also realized that my grouse sitings this year have improved. Skunks must find grouse nests and their eggs irresistible. I assume, like most members, if my greater preference is for grouse than skunks, I need to control the skunk population.......within the rational confines of local game regulations. I don't want to just take my Parkers for walks. I want to introduce them to grouse.

Any advice on skunk control or should I let nature take her course?

Take Mr. Colt for a little walk and exercise also.

These ground predators eat lots of game bird eggs and young birds. Don't be too close when you pull the trigger.

Thanks, Bruce - I will keep my distance::bowdown:

A partial list of predators that dine on ruffed grouse here in New England as well as other areas that grouse call home are; barred owl, great horned owl, several species of hawks (the goshawk being the the most deadly) bobcats, foxes (both red and gray) coyotes, skunks, racoons, weasels, fishers, feral housecats, several species of snakes (primarily eat the eggs) red squirrels (again, the eggs) wild turkeys (eggs again). Some of these predators aren't large enough to be a threat to adult grouse but will prey on the chicks and poults while others focus only on the eggs.
All this is to say nothing of the weather when if too wet at hatching time can cause high rates of mortality in the chick populations by causing pnuemonia.

Thankfully there are usually enough left to allow for some good hunting. If the count is down I will limit myself to one bird per day or not shoot at all.

Kill every skunk, raccoon, and housecat you come across. #4s do a great job. And since they are pests, there are no applicable game laws, at least in Va.

Ed,
Don't forget to add porkys to the list.
Might not do grouse harm, but they're hell on dogs.

If I go after everything I won't have time to hunt grouse......thanks for all the advice Dean, Ed and Dave. There is nothing like a dog with a snootful of quills.

Jim - You need a 12-year old boy with an itchy trigger finger. I'll generally give mine a small bounty, and yes, he has carried home a dead skunk.

Ed - let him borrow and use a camera for proof next time......:rotf:

On a grouse hunt with our friend 160frame last season in New York, my little Wirehair "started and finished" a rather beefy coon. She didn't seem to have an opinion on the coon's effect on the grouse population. However, she has a similar outlook toward house cats, feral or otherwise. She once ran a cat to the second story of a brick house. When the cat realized it had scaled about twenty feet of a sheer brick wall, he lost his grip and the race was on again.