But What About Our Ruffed Grouse…?

[Dean Romig]

“Over the next three decades”???

What about the immediate problem in the Northeast of the radical disappearances ou our ruffed grouse? We’ve been talking about this for about a decade and such a program here would certainly be a benefit. These days I see more barred owls while hunting in Vermont than I see ruffed grouse, even when hunting with my Gracie.


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[Cold Spring]

Grouse numbers have plummeted here in PA while we've seen a major increase in land and avian predators. Chicks in particular are especially vulnerable. Hardly anyone traps anymore and hawks/owls have been totally protected for decades now. Anyone driving through PA on the Interstates when the leaves are off can hardly go one mile without seeing a hawk(s) sitting on a tree eyeing for its next meal. There was a time and not so long ago when our Game Commission called for small game hunters to shoot these “vicious predators on sight”. And that was in its official publication. Loss of habitat is total joke propaganda pushed by the RGS and PGC and methinks the WNV is at most a minor impactor. Sure, you can find a grouse or two here and there, but sorry to say I don't see any real hope for grouse recovery on the horizon.

[Steve Hodges]

Dean, this plan seems to make sense but I doubt that it will ever see implementation. I would be surprised if the tree huggers were not already calling there lawyers to begin filing suits to block it.

[Harry Gietler]

I have been saying the same thing about Hawks & Owl's for the last 40 years.
In my area there is a Hawk for every tree. Big Hawks, medium Hawks, little Hawks, & Extra large Hawks, and they have ''NO'' fear of you. At night time the Owls are out, I have seen them as early as 3:00 p.m. They come in all sizes too.
Now, no Grouse, Rabbits, and all our Pheasant's are ''GONE. And if the game birds & rabbits some how avoid the flying Killers, the Coyote's & Fisher that our
D.E.C. released in our area finish the job. Oh, did I mention that our Turkey's
are in trouble too. Their #s are way down. And just wait till the Eagle numbers
keep rising, our Deer numbers will drop.

Harry

P.S. A program to ''Control'' the Killers should be put into effect. There are way to many of them flying around !
I Just read the whole story on the OWLS ON Fox News. The OWLS MOVED IN ABOUT 30 YEARS AGO, and they want to kill 450,000 of them. They say that's just a drop in a bucket compared to how many Owls their really are.Just think how many OWLS are in our areas. After all they have been here forever. But at one time we kept them under control by the Shooting method, but not any more.

[James L. Martin]

Frank and Harry are 100% right, I have been saying the same thing for years. The real problem is hawks and owls plus other predators. The loss of habitat is BS

[Craig Larter]

Our hunting club is in eastern Wayne county NY a very rural area mostly apple orchards, row crops, mixed hardwoods and extensive wetlands. Fishers, coyotes, hawks and owls have eliminated every ground nesting bird, our turkey population has crashed. Back in the 70' the lake plains of NY were a pheasant hunting meca. . Now the ducks in our part of the flyway are in deep trouble. Mallards number are down 50% in the last few years. The wetland habitat in our area of central NY has doubled in the last ten years but duck numbers keep trending down. Why?????

[Harry Gietler]

Originally Posted by Craig Larter

Our hunting club is in eastern Wayne county NY a very rural area mostly apple orchards, row crops, mixed hardwoods and extensive wetlands. Fishers, coyotes, hawks and owls have eliminated every ground nesting bird, our turkey population has crashed. Back in the 70' the lake plains of NY were a pheasant hunting meca. . Now the ducks in our part of the flyway are in deep trouble. Mallards number are down 50% in the last few years. The wetland habitat in our area of central NY has doubled in the last ten years but duck numbers keep trending down. Why?????

You answered your own question, all the killers you mentioned, plus coons, skunks, and possum's,and Foxes. The Hawks are the worse. And even the common Crow,when it comes to killing song birds and their eggs, they don't take second place. One good thing about Coyotes, They kill Cats, I have not cut a track of a cat in over 5 years, may be more.

Harry

[John Allen]

Another factor that the fish and game people don't want to talk about is the rise in turkey populations. In the south our wild quail have all but disappeared. So have a lot of ground nesting birds like meadow larks. If you watch a flock of turkeys move through a field,they are constantly eating. A quail or grouse chick is no bigger that most insects. This plus the increase in other predators makes it hard for any ground nesting birds to increase.

[MrBojangles]

This thread certainly is an eye opener.

I don’t have the opportunity to hunt grouse—simply because they are gone. If I saw one, I wouldn’t shoot it, due to them being uncommon.

I have been brainwashed, hoodwinked, call it what you want—to believe the decline in the grouse population was due to changing habitat. Because that’s what the powers that be want you to think. Meanwhile, not a day goes by where you don’t see a bird of prey somewhere. I even saw an American Eagle within a third of a mile of my house within the last week.

Maybe it’s time they rethink policy and thin more of these birds of prey?

[Mills]

They need a program like that for hawks and eagles down here to help wild quail