More bad news for PA grouse.

[Mike of the Mountain]

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.