HARRISBURG – The Pennsylvania Game Commission expects ruffed grouse hunting to be good – at least as good as last year – for the more than 100,000 hunters who annually pursue these challenging game birds.
The opening day of the state’s three-part grouse season is Saturday, Oct. 13, and runs through Nov. 24. The season reopens Dec. 10-22, and then again from Dec. 26 to Jan. 26. Participating hunters must have a valid Pennsylvania hunting license and follow the regulations that govern this often rugged and occasionally fast-paced sport.
“Last year, hunters saw more grouse than they had the previous year,” said Bill Palmer, Game Commission grouse biologist. “In fact, the grouse flushing rate for hunters increased about 25 percent over the past two winters. We expect grouse numbers to stay relatively high and that our hunters will have another fine season.”
Last year, grouse flushing rates increased in all six geographic regions of the state. Those regional rates equaled the statewide sum of 1.41 grouse flushed per hour. The 2006 rate exceeded the previous year’s 1.07 rate by a substantial margin. It was the best rate posted in five years by the participants of the Game Commission’s “Grouse Cooperator Survey,” which uses information recorded in hunting logs by volunteers.
The state’s Northwest Region unseated the Northcentral Region as Pennsylvania’s top grouse flushing region in 2006, with a rate of 1.76 grouse per hour (1.36 in 2005). In the Northcentral, the rate was 1.65 (1.46); Northeast, 1.30 (0.91); Southcentral, 1.22 (0.78); Southwest, 1.21 (0.97); and Southeast, 0.79 (0.70). The Northwest has lead the state in flushing rates for four of the past five years.
“Hunters have reported seeing more birds in many areas around the state, wherever decent amounts of good habitat could be found,” Palmer explained. “It is a good feeling to know that grouse can bounce back – even from five-year tailspins – despite facing obstacles, such as less acreage of prime grouse cover than at any other time during our lives.”
Many Game Commission employees reported encountering grouse in their travels afield this past summer in a game and furbearer forecast they complete annually for the agency. Interested hunters – and trappers – can see these updates on-line at the Game Commission’s Web site. Dozens of reports – from every county in the Commonwealth – are available. Just click on the “Field Officer Game Forecasts” link found the homepage.
“Based on the observations of employees, we anticipate the upcoming statewide grouse numbers will be as good as last season’s, and possibly higher,” Palmer said. “Ohio, New York, Virginia and West Virginia all seem to be experiencing grouse population increases. The same appears to be happening here wherever good cover is found.”
The average annual flushing rate for the more than 40 years the grouse cooperator study has existed is 1.42 grouse per hour. The 2006 rate was nearly identical, and substantially more than 2005, when the rate was 1.07. In 2004, the rate was 0.95. The state’s best year for flushing grouse occurred in 1995, when hunters established a 1.74 birds per hour rate.
The statewide grouse flushing rate is developed through information provided by grouse hunting cooperators, who keep a log of their hunting activities. In 2006, 292 hunters participated in the program. Participants were afield an average of 32 hours, had 45 flushes and took a total of 3.2 birds. Hunters who take part in this important program are updated on yearly results through an annual newsletter.
Hunters interested in participating in the Game Commission’s annual Grouse Cooperator Survey are asked to write the Pennsylvania Game Commission, Bureau of Wildlife Management, ATTN: Grouse Cooperator Survey, 2001 Elmerton Ave., Harrisburg, PA 17110-9797.
Grouse hunters are reminded to wear at least 250 square inches of fluorescent orange clothing on the head, chest and back combined at all times; limit hunting parties to no more than six individuals; and plug shotguns to three-shell capacity (magazine and chamber combined). No grouse hunting is permitted on a 2,800-acre tract of State Game Land 176 in Centre County, where the agency is conducting a long-term study to determine the impact of intensive habitat improvement efforts on the grouse population. However, other hunting and trapping are permitted on this parcel.