Dead grouse

[nwmn]

So yesterday my dad and I checked on the cabin to make sure it was still there( excuse to get out of town) and I noticed a brown feathery object on top of the snow. Mind you this is nw mn so it's cold, and this bird was still flaccid so it seemed to have been recent. The cabin is more or less in the open, not near any brush or cover of any means. Anybody else see this? One eye was bloody, the other was starting to glaze over from the cold.

I thought it hit a window initially, but the screens didn't show any sign. Never seen a grouse in the yard before either. Strikes me as odd.

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[John-W-WI]

I think he ran into something.... Window or otherwise.

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[nwmn]

Kind of what I'm thinking. The casualties of a never ending winter...or just dumb critters and Darwinism taking effect :)

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[Red Picqua]

looks like a spruce grouse??

 

[Bucks&Ducks]

Grouse get really stupid this time of year. The berries they eat begin to ferment and these incidents are fairly common.

 

[H20fwler]

Yep, tree branch or even a hawk or something that you may have run off and not seen.

I would have cleaned it right up and saved the tail!

Wish we still had enough of them to hunt, used to chase them in southern Ohio. We have been on a down cycle for fifteen years.

 

[Shedder]

looks like a spruce grouse??

sharp tailed grouse

 

[chummer]

I think it is your neighbor sending you a message.

 

[Red Picqua]

sharp tailed grouse

super cool. never seen one.

 

[alldaysit]

We get them that hit the house also. All of a sudden you'll just hear a super loud thud. Yep it's another grouse honey!

Supposedly another thing they do is, fly into the snow pack to sleep. If there isn't much snow, they become kamikaze grouse.....


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[nwmn]

super cool. never seen one.

This is a ruffed grouse. We get plenty of sharpies though too. Had 30 flying around my stand during rifle season.

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[j-bird]

Grouse numbers here have declined to the point hat the DNR has closed the season entirely. I have never seen one in the wild that I am aware of.

 

[Tap]

Grouse numbers here have declined to the point hat the DNR has closed the season entirely. I have never seen one in the wild that I am aware of.

We used to have a stable population of ruffed grouse here in my part of Pa. I haven't seen one or heard one drumming here for at least 10 years, and I have great grouse habitat.
East Central Ohio had an excellent population 6 or 7 years ago but they seem to have disappeared there, too.
What are the biologists saying about the decline?

 

[rocksnstumps]

Could try talking with a Ruffed Grouse Society biologist to get a opinion. Basically if you have good bunny habitat, grouse should find that good too.

Ohio - Eric Ellis
Erice@ruffedgrousesociety.org

New England states
Andrew Weik
Andyw@ruffedgrousesociety.org

 

[Tap]

Could try talking with a Ruffed Grouse Society biologist to get a opinion. Basically if you have good bunny habitat, grouse should find that good too.

Ohio - Eric Ellis
Erice@ruffedgrousesociety.org

New England states
Andrew Weik
Andyw@ruffedgrousesociety.org

The rabbit population is booming here. Grouse...zip. They don't exist.

SW Pa

 

[Natty Bumppo]

The rabbit population is booming here. Grouse...zip. They don't exist.

SW Pa

Grouse numbers here have declined to the point hat the DNR has closed the season entirely. I have never seen one in the wild that I am aware of.

I wonder what's going on? Grouse up here in NW Mass. are like squirrels...they're everywhere.

 

[rocksnstumps]

Another consideration is that habitat may be great in your small pocket but grouse need connecting areas to keep up a good breeding population. They have to have areas they can disperse to. Young males on average move 1 to 2 miles while females average about 3 miles. Not uncommon for them to move up to fifteen miles. Grouse are also not really creatures of edge habitat. In fact edge and more open areas really help the predators, humans too be more successful but really are not required by the birds. They are just as happy in the middle of a big patch of young forest growth and good ground cover.

 

[nwmn]

The rabbit population is booming here. Grouse...zip. They don't exist.

SW Pa

At least minnesota has something going for them

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[Bowsnbucks]

Grouse numbers in N.C. Pa. are down too. I've read for years they go in cycles. We have good habitat around camp, but drumming has been scarce and sightings have been really down. A few years back ( 10 ) we had grouse everywhere. On a deer drive in a clear-cut area that was growing back, we put up 23 grouse - one right after the other !! That's how we got a good count. Now - not so many grouse. Re-bound on the way ........ can't be soon enough.

I never saw a grouse fly into a window or building. Had a saw-whet owl fly into the cabin window one night. It sat on the back of our porch glider ( after crashing into the window ) for about 1/2 hour looking in the window at me before flying off !!

 

[j-bird]

We used to have a stable population of ruffed grouse here in my part of Pa. I haven't seen one or heard one drumming here for at least 10 years, and I have great grouse habitat.
East Central Ohio had an excellent population 6 or 7 years ago but they seem to have disappeared there, too.
What are the biologists saying about the decline?

DNR claims it is a loss of habitat. I am not familiar with grouse habitat so I don't know. I will have to do some reading. I struggle with deer habitat as it is so grouse are out of the question on my place.