Kirkland Warbler, Wild Turkey use Audio Bait

February 24, 2019 by Charlie 8 Comments

Six years ago I wrote; How to Legally Bait Wild Turkeys. This post generates more traffic than any other article I’ve written on charlie elk, particularly as we head into a new turkey season each year. Puzzling, considering all the reads the post has garnered no one has left a comment. Something I have wondered about; Are the readers who searched about “best bait wild turkeys” or something like that disappointed? Or is it confusing and few if anyone understands my strategy of audio baiting is all about.

A quick recap. There are times the turkeys are not on land I can hunt. Does that ever happen to anyone else? In an attempt to alleviate the problem I call from the hunt-able property. Generally, my calling takes place in the evening prior to roost time. Hen cackles seem to work best, a lot of them. Think fly down cackle but we’ll call it fly up cackle. Make them loud but not screaming. Followup with some lost turkey yelps fading into contented purrs. As the sun sets, make a few gobbles listen in between for an answering tom. Most of the time there will be no answer, no matter I start the next morning’s hunt in the area which has been audio baited. Of course, it does not work every time but with wild turkeys what does? However, it works often enough that I use the tactic several times each season.

Interestingly some wildlife technicians have started using an audio baiting strategy to help endangered birds find each or inhabit some suitable habitat that is not being used.

Three examples are:

September 2018 Wyoming sage grouse hunt.

Wyoming sage grouse where teams are attempting to move the grouse away from energy-producing rigs. Btw, not just oil fields but also wind and solar developments. Activities like these are detrimental to the peacefulness sage grouse require for nesting success.

Northern Oklahoma lesser prairie chickens. WMA managers are using spring mating calls of the chickens to lure them onto WMA land where it is hoped they will have better nesting success than on the area’s working ranches.

Now in Wisconsin, we have, as Lisa Gaumnitz calls it–eHarmony for birds. In her article, A Happy Tune Kirtland’s Warbler Playback Project published in winter 2018 issue of the Wisconsin Resource Magazine Lisa describes the audio calling project of the rare Kirtland’s Warbler. Be sure to click on the above link and read Ms. Gaumnitz entire article. Following are a couple of excerpts.

Every day, three times a day for several hours, a Kirtland’s warbler belts out a love song at the top of its lungs in Bayfield County Forest. Its dawn chorus is not live but a recording that Nick Anich and collaborators are using to lure Wisconsin’s rarest songbird species – a tiny endangered bird with very particular habitat needs – to the forest.

“We’re announcing, the party’s here,” says Anich, a conservation biologist with DNR’s Natural Heritage Conservation Program. “The presence of other individuals at the site during breeding season is one cue, or way, the birds assess the habitat quality of a breeding site.”
Nick Anich

For three years he played matchmaker to Kirtland’s warblers, and it has paid off. Starting slowly but building steam, the audio playback has helped males and females find each other and successfully reproduce at sites more than 140 miles from the main breeding area in Wisconsin and more than 300 miles from the species’ core population in Lower Michigan.

Rather than trying to create and manage habitat for a given endangered species where it’s currently or has historically been found, the playback method can attract species to areas where the ownership, land use and habitat management are more conducive to their recovery.

Lisa Gaumnitz

For the most part, I think birds are birds. If audio bait works for turkeys it should certainly work to attract other birds to their own mating calls and vice versa. When your spring season arrives and you have trouble finding a gobbler to hunt try some audio baiting. However, make sure during the season you do your own calling. Calling to wild turkeys using an electronic call is not legal in any state that I am aware of. And is most turkey hunting circles it is considered cheating to use recorded turkey calls.

Shorten WI 2018 Grouse Season? Let your voice be heard

September 6, 2018 by Charlie 5 Comments

Should Wisconsin close the 2018 Ruffed Grouse hunting season early? At the end of this post is a link to the WDNR public input survey about this early closure. I urge a no vote on the early grouse season closure.

Regarding the Closing of WI grouse season early. Nov 30, 2018:

This is a copy of my email exchange with a Wisconsin Dept. Natural Resource biologist.

CE – Biologically, does it make sense to shorten the season? The studies I have read over the years conclude that 80% of upland birds (includes turkeys) are dead within two years whether they are hunted or not?

Answer: From a biological standpoint, there is not much support in the literature for shortening the ruffed grouse season. These are short-lived birds with an annual mortality of 50-70%, so we as hunters are harvesting surplus birds which would likely die of other causes prior to the breeding season. As an example, if you have 100 chicks in a given year, only about 18 would make it to the first breeding season, and of those 18 survivors, only 8 would make it to their second year. So 92 out of 100 birds will die within their first two years, whether that is from a hunter, predator, disease, starvation, getting hit by a car, or any other source of mortality. Hunting has been shown to generally not impact those survival rates. There is some limited research which suggests late season harvest can have negative impacts on a population the closer you get to the breeding season.

CE – And if someone wanted to reduce the harvest it seems to me cutting the bag limit would be more effective.

Limiting bag limit generally does not provide benefits to the population according to the research, partly for the reasons I previously mentioned, but also because we know very few hunters typically harvest a full bag of grouse.

CE – Reading the press reports made it sound like you and your department had nothing to do with the decision.

This motion was ultimately recommended by the Wisconsin Conservation Congress to the Natural Resources Board independent of the department.

CE – Land use in some of the northern prime grouse habitat has been changing rapidly in the last five years. Many of the places we once hunted grouse have been plowed into corn or bean fields; plus the maturing of timber stands; these are more likely the cause of the decrease in grouse and woodcock. Whereas in these same areas the turkey population is on the rise big time.

Habitat and land use is certainly an issue for grouse throughout their range. Here in WI, the effects of forest aging on grouse have been especially prominent in southwestern WI. The driftless area used to host the best grouse hunting in the state, but as the timber industry in the south vanished and the land was parceled out and active management declined, our southwestern grouse population plummeted. Habitat can definitely explain long-term declines we’ve seen in many places throughout the grouse range.

The Ruffed Grouse Society (RGS)

Appreciates the attention the Conservation Congress, NRB, and DNR are giving to this issue. While there was a decline in ruffed grouse drumming activity from 2017 to 2018 (despite the next anticipated peak cycle peak expected to occur around 2019-2021), such a decline during the increasing phase of a grouse population cycle is not unprecedented. Further, drumming increased in other parts of the state, and drumming was stable or increased on 22 of the 43 northern region survey routes. Finally, the number of ruffed grouse drums observed per survey stop in the northern forest region in 2018 were still within the historic range of variability on this survey.

Given the level of information available, RGS does not support the proposed emergency rule instating closure on November 30. RGS would support season changes if data suggested a pressing conservation need. We do not believe that is clearly the present case.

Public comments on the proposed early closure will be accepted now through 11:59 pm on September 12, 2018, via an Online Survey, Please see the video for background information relating to the proposed early closure.

Wild Turkey Kiev – Recipe

July 6, 2018 by Charlie 2 Comments

One wild turkey tenderloin with tendons removed. Gently flatten with a smooth meat mallet.

Place in a bowl with 1 cup buttermilk and marinate overnight or for up to 2 days.

Remove from buttermilk and pat dry with paper towel. Season to taste with salt, ginger and sweet paprika.

This is good served over a bed of rice. Cook your choice of rice per the instructions for that rice. Wild rice is my preferred rice. While rice is cooking prepare the Kiev butter.

Kiev Butter

4 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon heavy cream

1 teaspoon lemon juice

chives

dash of garlic powder

Melt butter then add cream and lemon juice stir and reheat. Add chives and garlic.

Melt a quarter cup of butter in a pan and add turkey to poach over low heat

When the turkey is done remove from the pan and place on top of rice. Pour the warm Kiev butter onto the turkey and rice. Enjoy!

Sage Grouse in Decline? Hunt them to save them.

January 2, 2018 by Charlie 6 Comments

The long drive to Wyoming required at least a short nap, it was still dark, and the front seat of the Wrangler was not at all conducive to sleep. However, shear tiredness has a way of dropping one into a deep sleep. As my groggy vision begins to clear and the colorful sunrise comes into focus highlighting a sea of sagebrush extending all the way to the distant mountains; Where, exactly, are we going to start looking for sage grouse? Never in my wildest dreams did sage grouse pop up as something I needed to hunt. Heck, before the Federal Government proposed listing them as an endangered species, sage grouse were not on or in my mind. If a species might become endangered, but still has a hunting season for them; then what is the best thing to do? Hunt them, to save their population.

Time to wake the curled up lump in the passenger seat, my 14-year-old grandson, who will require food immediately. Vic is staring at us with the intensity he points a bird. He slept nearly the entire 1400 miles, so his energy level is quite apparent, and by the looks of this 100 square miles of sagebrush to search, he’ll need it.

My grandson was shooting a sage grouse, while Vic watches with anticipation.

Sagebrush turned out to be more agreeable to walk through than it first appeared at least during the first several miles then without a single sage grouse rising the brush seemed to require more effort. As the sun sank towards the horizon, Vic froze, pointing intently, his first point of the day, we circled to get in front of him in a feeble attempt to “pin” the subject of his attention. Vic charged ahead, racing between us as if he was going to scatter a turkey flock and then froze pointing 90 yards on the other side of the barbed wire. My grandson eagerly raced under the fence and was quickly alongside Vic trying to get a flush. I moved to and through the gate just as sage grouse started rising. The young one fired a couple of shots, but alas, target panic set in with all those big wings scooping air around him. One grouse circled back around me to become my first sage grouse. Vic’s eyes glittered his satisfaction as he grabbed that grouse for the retrieve, oh well won’t be mounting that boomer.

The Grandson and Vic head for the top of the hill to attempt a reflush while I stayed put directing my lungs to use the scarcely available oxygen available at 6,700-foot more efficiently. Shots ring out as another covey of

Beautiful pair of sage grouse.

grouse take to wing, and a lone bird glides downhill crumpling to my broadside shot.

The eastern sky shows off all the colors of the spectrum as the sun rises from behind the snow-covered mountains, a hot cup of coffee is at its best at these moments. This morning would be completely silent if not for the snoring of my hunt companions. Surprised they didn’t wake up when I smashed the ice in the water bucket for coffee making. It’s all good and puts a contented smile on my face.

Kids will be kids, even while hunting. My grandson has a powerful urge to get into the snow; he is an avid snowboarder, and thankfully we did not pack his snowboard. Being an easy touch grandpa, I readily agreed we need to take a trip up to the snow line after all its things like this I bought the Rubicon for. I had assured myself as I plopped down the cash for what was a shiny-new Wrangler that I had no intention of rock crawling with it. Not only did we crawl over stones we did several water crossings and wallowed our way through some of the stickiest mud the earth has to offer. It was all worth it.

As we hunted our way down the mountain, Vic pointed a covey of grouse that held tight as Walker moved around to the front of Vic. With the five birds pinned they exploded straight up above dog and kid whose shot was right on bringing to hand his first sage grouse.

Hunting was good even though we were not hunting in a sage grouse core area which of course caused us to wonder if grouse hunting would be any better in a core area so as in the old saying “Go West…” we packed up and headed further west. In hunting, the experience and adventure are just as relevant as bagging the game, maybe more important.

Tired and looking forward to a restful camp; we turn off the highway and spot Rick with his old reliable English pointer. So many times stories circulate about selfish, thoughtless hunters, I believe them to be mostly false narratives repeated again and again. Rick is a shining example of the many excellent hunters. Rather than tell us there were no grouse around he took us into his sage grouse tutelage. Enthusiastically explaining sage grouse is one of the last remaining old west experiences that may soon be coming to an end. He has been hunting them for a half a century.

Rick made sure a restful camp was not coming our way until well after sunset; he took us out grouse hunting all the while explaining the subtle difference in sagebrush along with the mix of terrain sage grouse require to prosper. We entered the brush with dogs locked on

Expert advice. If you do not find sage grouse droppings, you are not hunting in the right place.

hardpoints and coveys of grouse taking off in waves, a restful camp faded to a distant memory. After all, first things first, right? My grandson shot another grouse and then another to take his daily limit. We experienced an old Western hunt complete with the smell of sage, a peaceful sunset and that welcome feeling of tiredness at the end of a good day’s hunt. Our camp was set up after dark surrounded by stars that appeared to be a mere arm’s length away. I looked forward to what the morning sunrise would reveal.

Rick explained there is no reason to rise early for sage grouse; they roost on ridge tops and fly away as soon as they see danger coming. Then as the morning warms the grouse move down into the cuts and draws to start feeding where it is much easier to hunt them. Dogs will scent better, and the sage grouse tend to hold tighter at the dog’s point.

We spent several delightful days hunting and learning with Rick. All too soon we felt that melancholy of a season coming to a close. We bid farewell and headed off in opposite directions for our homes.

To me, this photo captures so much of what a hunt is all about.

Each day of hunting provided us delicious lunches of sage grouse, as much as we could eat. Contrary to what I’d heard sage grouse are excellent eating. They are dark-breasted birds so caution must be used in preparation not to overcook. The grouse meat is naturally seasoned with a mild taste of peppery sage.

Sage grouse do not have a significant following; this puts them in danger of remaining a low valued species. Low valued species have a long history of not being appreciated and when decisions about habitat are made those species with high value will always be taken care of first, i.e., antelope, deer, elk, etc.

We highly recommend you enjoy some sage grouse hunting.

Video of Wisconsin Wild Turkey Hen with Poults; Video added

June 29, 2017 by Charlie 10 Comments

Contributed and Written By; American Wild Turkey Hunting Dog Association

Here is another hen with her brood this morning. A beautiful hatch, despite that it has rained 15 out of the last 17 days here. Either it’s an old wives tale that getting wet will kill poults when less than 3 days old, or Wisconsin turkeys have evolved to tolerate it.
I count 13 poults. Only saw the one hen, but I suspect her cohort(s) was/were nearby. Two or more related hens will often lay eggs in the same nest, take turns setting, serving as sentinel and raising the brood, with adjacent barren hens and male turkeys announcing danger in the neighborhood.

Notice this hen has a slight beard – never shoot bearded hens.

How old do you think these poults are on June 29, 02017?

At 44.27° N Latitude in Wisconsin.

Update June 30, 2017 – Next day video

Going the other direction today. Four poults flew 3′ off the ground, by tonight they’ll roost in the trees.

To Protect the Young – Sassy Hen Sashaying in The Corn Video

June 28, 2017 by Charlie 15 Comments

Courtesy of American Wild Turkey Hunting Dog Association

Accidentally got too close to a hen turkey with poults and she didn’t like it. Flew at my head twice before the video started. Then she acted like a Killdeer with a broken wing, so I’d follow her and get away from where she told her babies to hide. She was indignant and fearless, determined to make me leave – I did! She had a slight stubble of a beard – don’t ever shoot bearded hens. Wisconsin – June 2017

Wisconsin Turkey Season Winding Down

May 27, 2017 by Charlie 4 Comments

As this is written there are only three hunting days left to Wisconsin’s 2017 spring turkey season. For the most part, the toms have stopped gobbling to tip off their locations and they have started forming their summer time bachelor groups. This is the moment some hunters eagerly wait for because when the toms are properly motivated with gobbler talk, deep sounding clucks followed by a slow raspy yelp or two. Make sure it’s just one or two yelps clearly separated and not run together.

The added challenge much like in fall hunting is finding the turkeys. When turkeys form groups there will be more areas without and the other areas will have more birds.

After sleeping in until 5:00 a, sleep deprivation is taking its toll on me; a gobbler who has irritated me since early April by consistently strutting in the middle of a field I can’t hunt. Worse, no one else has hunted him either so all he does is strut at me nearly everytime I drive by. This morning he was in the middle of the dirt road strutting as beautiful as a peacock with the rising sun glinting off his feathers. I did feel a temptation to stop and shoot him or just run him over, but clearly, those thoughts were just symptoms of sleep deprivation, I just blew the horn instead. That tom tipped me off to his roost location as he flew off. I had a good feeling the next morning I’d get him. He was clearly callable onto some land I have permission to hunt by a farmer who likes to have a lot of turkeys removed from his land.

I continued on my way to check out a hillside pocket that is only reachable by boat and since the rivers were above flood stage the turkeys should be in the “pocket”. Sure enough, I settled in called with a few clucks, noticed a black stump that looked very much like a turkey staring at me, red-headed and all. Figured it was a stump with a cardinal sitting on it. There have been a lot of cardinals and scarlet tanagers this year causing excitement here and there. Lack of sleep does that to you sometimes, so I lowered my eyelids to check for leaks. When I opened them a few minutes later the black stump was gone; I clucked and there he was not quite 30 yards standing at attention in the wide open woods staring at the lump that was me. Fortunately, my gun sling is always hooked on my left knee holding the barrel level out front and this tom is standing right in front of the gun barrel. All I needed to do was raise it up and one tag for the last season was filled.

Tongue Teaser call brought em in again.

That left two tags in my pocket for Friday. The determination to bag that most irritating strutter in the county rose to an obsessive level. That is, until Friday morning, when I forced myself out of bed, shooting that poor turkey did not seem as important as it did yesterday.

At 6:10 am I found myself laying back in a grassy field wash using the folds of the field to hide me. Lying back when you need sleep is not conducive to remaining alert. However, the chain gobbling that answered my first tongue teaser yelp sure did get my full attention and when that yelp was followed up with some walking clucks and a single yelp to be answered by near constant incoming gobbling from two sides—sleep just slid way down the priority list.

During late seasons my Willow Ridge Tongue Teaser – Gobbler Pine Box is the call I turn to, Scott made this special for me to use in the fall for calling in gobblers. It works whenever, the need to make gobbler calls arises.

In about 20 minutes the five toms converged on my location, marching as if on a mission to either recruit the lonesome gobbler (me) or kick his butt. I do not which it was, for they did not get any time to explain. At mid-gobble my gun commanded silence from the first one at 15 yards. The other four turned around marching away single file when a single cluck stopped them and turned em around for the gun to silence the second one mid-gobble at 30 yds filling my last two tags for the final season.

Late season turkeys are challenging to find, but when you do it might be double the fun.

You’d think, the season would end there… Not in Wisconsin, there are still thousands of OTC tags left and two of those are now in my pocket. Heck, sleep is overrated, I have all summer to catch up on it.

How Many Syllables are in a Gobble?

May 12, 2017 by Charlie 11 Comments

As I sit in turkey setups I ponder “How Many Syllables are in a Gobble? Thanks to a text I received the other day from my buddy treerooster. Just what I needed as if I didn’t pay close enough attention to gobbling before this question was planted in my inquiring mind. Now the old ears are trying to feed every note upstairs for analysis. And it seems to be a depends on what the gobbler is seeking to communicate or how aggressive he is feeling. Some gobbles are short with few notes or syllables, while others are quite complex with short and long notes and syllables.

It’s a real legitimate question to which nearly all other turkey hunters have not thought about very much.

Please list your thoughts and observations in the comment section.

The Rain Bird

May 10, 2017 by Charlie 2 Comments

The Rain Bird

by FirstBubba

It’s April 13th and so far, turkey season has been a bust! I’m seeing birds but my every attempt has been thwarted! Soooo…I’m up early this morning to try again!

A gusty north wind greets me at the door. Lightning to the northeast provides brief illumination as I scurry to the truck with my shotgun. I almost turn back, but forge ahead into the gloomy morning.

Parking at the gate, the one ton Dodge rocks and rolls as the blustery wind buffets it broadside!

Again I think, “Why don’t you just go home?”.

At 6:45 AM, daylight is breaking through the gloom. I gear up and head across the soggy pasture to my ” spot”. Thirty-knot wind gusts and 58°! It ain’t fittin’ weather fer man nor beast! After fiddling around a bit, I get my gear spread out and set up.

Buffing the surface of a slate call, I send a few yelps into the gale. That won’t be heard until it reaches the next county over! Oddly, I get a reply from across the creek to the east! Cross a creek? In a rain storm? R-I-G-H-T!

I settle back and wait.

The spot is comfortable, but the wind is miserable. Especially since it’s beginning to spit rain. “Just what I need!”

Lo and behold! Out of the storm, I see a jake cautiously approaching. I get my gun up but a small hackberry tree blocks my shot. A little shift and lean to the right and I get him lined up, but it also spooks him and he’s having none of it! He scurries off in a trot.

The rain picks up.

Minutes later, what appears to be a rain-soaked tom gingerly approaches from my left. I suppose it’s because of the rain, but this is one scroungy looking bird!

The rain picks up.

Approaching dead on, I’m having a hard time detecting any “tom” features like beard or fan. One or two tail feathers seem to be dragging the ground.

The bird finally turns far enough to his left that I can detect a decent beard through the rain, thunder, lightening and wind.

The safety snaps to the off position and he approaches dead on. At 20 yards, he stops and stares at me through the rain. (did I mention it was raining?) The recoil is unexpected and he collapses in a pile of soggy feathers.

FINALLY! This was my first bird since 2011!

I retrieve my bird and begin to pick up my gear as the cadence of the raindrops increases.

Two toms appear out of the storm from the east! They had to be the birds gobbling at me from across the creek earlier. I’m in a “2 Tom” county, but they’ve seen me move and all the soft clucks and purrs won’t bring them in. They skirt around me at 70 to 80 yards and head west across the rain-soaked pasture.

I get my gear picked up and reach over to a broken limb to grab my hanging camera. The two toms that came from the east are coming down the fence line from the west…..in the rain!

When I step out into the open, 8 to 10 birds gathered under the pecan trees scurry across the pasture and the two stragglers join them!

I’m covered up with birds! I’m soaked! I’m cold! I’m elated! I’m going home!

Old Rainy 22 lbs. 9-inch beard and .75 inch spurs

This bird only had 7 tail feathers! It appeared that maybe a predator had shredded his tail. Five feathers on the left. The two on the right hung loosely and drug the ground!

I tried several times to pose him for a picture or two. Nothing worked! I finally just snapped a picture of him lying in the mud! It WAS raining, you know!

As the diesel roared to life, I realized that water was still pouring out of my rain-soaked”Boonie” hat and had to laugh! My dad used to tell me, “Son! It was raining so hard, water quit running IN my boots and started running out!” I knew exactly what he was talking about!

Wisconsin Hunting and Trapping Forecast

September 5, 2016 by Charlie 4 Comments

Wisconsin DNR’s annual Wisconsin Hunting and Trapping Forecast is published and available.

The downloadable PDF is here:

2016 Wisconsin Hunting and Trapping Forecast

Download Wisconsin 2016 Hunting & Trapping Forecast

Some of the highlights inside include

Find a place to hunt in Wisconsin

Pocket Ranger App has been downloaded 210,000 times for Apple and Android phones.

Places to hunt

Deer registration locations

Rules and regulations

License and permit information

Safety communication tool

Advanced GPS mapping features

Trophy Case, join a community of anglers and hunters

News and alert feature.

Public Access Lands (PAL) Atlas

Finding Open Lands – A mapping tool shows the approximate location of all MFL–Open and FCL lands in Wisconsin – here, you’ll find landowner info, acreage, and enrollment information.

Voluntary Public Access VPA and Habitat Incentive Programs HIP

Provides financial incentives to private landowners who open their property to public hunting, fishing, trapping and wildlife observation and improve wildlife habitat.

FFlight the Fields and Forest Lands Interactive Gamebird Hunting Tool

Features available within the program will help hunters locate DNR public parking areas, overlay township descriptions, and provide access to maps and aerial photos of prospective hunting areas.

Deer District Forecasts

West Central
Northern
Northeast
Southern

Migratory Game Birds

Ducks
2016 Changes
Canada Geese
Mourning Doves
Woodcock

Upland Game

Wild Turkey
Pheasant
Ruffed Grouse
Sharp-tailed Grouse
Bobwhite Quail
Rabbits & Hares
Gray & Fox Squirrels

Furbearers

Raccoon
Coyotes
Gray and Red Fox
Beaver
River Otter, Muskrat, and Mink
Fisher
Bobcat

Black Bear Forecast

Northeast District
Northern District
West Central District

The folks at WDNR did an excellent job producing a thorough overview of the upcoming 2016 fall hunting and trapping seasons. I highly recommend you download this document; there is lots of useful information. You will not be disappointed. Good hunting.

Grouse 2016 Wisconsin Outlook; Ruffed Grouse Drumming Survey

July 24, 2016 by Charlie Leave a Comment

Audubon painting

Excerpts from 2016 Wisconsin DNR Ruffed Grouse Drumming Survey

Wisconsin statewide ruffed grouse population indices increased 1% from 2015 to 2016, based on the number of drumming grouse heard during roadside surveys. Changes in breeding grouse populations varied by region and the statewide mean number of drums per stop were not different from 2015 to 2016. Drummer densities on the Sandhill Wildlife Area in Wood County showed an increase of 2%.

While grouse populations ebb and rise on a nine to eleven-year cycle, a longer term downward trend can be noted for the Wisconsin Grouse population since the inception of this survey. Grouse highs are not as high as they have been in the past and the population seems to be slower to recover from cyclic lows. The long term aging of Wisconsin’s forest are likely playing a role in these changes. Not all regions of the state see these changes in forest aging occurring at the same rate, with the more commercial forests of the Northern and Central regions aging at a slower rate than the more privately owned forests of the Southwest and Southeast regions. It is likely this trend in grouse numbers will continue to occur until our forests reach a stasis in their aging process.

Early spring conditions were above average for temperature with most of the snow melted before the start of the survey in the spring of 2016. No major weather events should have affected surveyors during the survey period, but more typical weather returned during the second part of the inquiry period and may have reduced surveyor’s evaluations. Overall survey conditions were “excellent” on 45% of transects run, while 65% rated the overall conditions as “excellent” in 2015. Conditions were rated as “Fair”, the lowest available weather condition rating, 5% of the time in 2015 and 7% in 2016. Survey conditions do influence drumming activity and may cause grouse numbers to be over or under estimated.

View the complete 2016 Ruffed Grouse Survey here 2016 grouse drumming survey Survey contains drumming locations, charts, and graphs of the drumming data.

Update September 9, 2016; Wisconsin’s 2016 brood counts. The following excerpt provided by WDNR.

Statewide, ruffed grouse broods seen per observer hour were down 17 percent compared to 2015 and 43 percent below the long-term mean. Ruffed Grouse production was down in two of the three regions that compose the primary range: Central (11.1 percent decrease), northern (14.2 percent decrease), and Southwestern (43.3 percent increase). Ruffed grouse brood size fell from 4.2 young per brood in 2015 to 4 in 2016.”Breeding grouse numbers were up slightly this spring, while brood production in the primary ruffed grouse range showed a decrease,” said Dhuey. “Several severe rain events likely caused declines in brood survival in the areas they occurred — while there were losses in these areas, these events were not wide-spread, and it is probable that brood production in Wisconsin is patchy, with areas of good and poor brood production and survival. While some areas of the primary ruffed grouse range will be better than others, it appears that ruffed grouse numbers will be similar or slightly worse than last year.”

Ruffed grouse are currently in a cyclic low population cycle. While an increase in breeding grouse is a positive sign, it will likely be a few years until Wisconsin returns to the birds’ cyclic high. (courtesy of WDNR)

Wisconsin Grouse Drumming Survey 2014

June 15, 2014 by Charlie Leave a Comment

Update August 2016: Grouse 2016 Wisconsin Outlook; Ruffed Grouse Drumming Survey

Wisconsin Ruffed Grouse wintered well. Ruffed grouse are designed for survival in deep fluffy snow which northern Wisconsin had a lot of during 2013/2014 severe winter. The 2014 Drumming Survey is complete and indicates only a 1% decline in spring drumming activity statewide.

Excerpts from 2014 Wisconsin Ruffed Grouse Drumming Survey

Wisconsin’s ruffed grouse population indices decreased between 2013 and 2014 (Table 1). This is the third decrease in the ruffed grouse indices since 2011. Survey indices show a decrease in drumming grouse in two of the four regions of the state (Fig. 1-6). Statewide, overall changes in results were not significant (P= 0.93) between 2013 and 2014. Transects completed in both 2013 and 2014 were compared to detect population changes. Transects were considered to have changed from last year if the change was greater than two drums per transect. The number of transects with decreased drumming outnumbered by 26 to 23 those that showed increases, with 65 transects unchanged.

Breeding grouse and grouse brood production were down during the spring and summer of 2013. This probably set the stage for a decline in breeding grouse numbers in 2014. Wisconsin’s primary grouse range, the Central and Northern Forest regions, showed mixed results. The Central Forest had a decrease in breeding grouse of 23.5% this spring, while the Northern Forest had a small increase of 3.1%. Wisconsin is well past the peak in the grouse cycle and appears to have settled into the bottom of the cycle; it is likely that declines in breeding grouse numbers will continue for a few more years until we start to see numbers go up till the next grouse high.

Despite a late arriving spring with much of the north with snow cover for the month of April, survey conditions for 2014 were similar to those in 2013. Surveyors rated the overall survey conditions as “excellent” on 56% of transects runs, while 58% rated the overall conditions as “excellent” in 2013. Surveyors rated the conditions as “Fair”, the lowest available weather condition rating, 6% of the time in 2013 and 7% in 2014. Survey conditions do influence drumming activity and may cause grouse numbers to be over or under estimated.

Table 1. Ruffed Grouse drumming results 2013-2014, drums per stop (routes run), %

change, and some routes with a change of greater than two drums per route from 2013 levels.

Region	Drums/Stop 2013(routes run)	Drums/Stop 2014(routes run)	%Change	# of Decreasing Routes	# of Increasing Routes	# of Routes with No Change
Central	0.85 (26)	0.65 (27)	-24%	8	3	15
Northern	1.70 (41)	1.76 (43)	3%	15	18	8
Southeast	0.01 (30)	0.02 (30)	100%	0	0	30
Southwest	0.21 (17)	0.19 (17)	-10%	3	2	12
Statewide	0.84 (114)	0.83 (117)	-1%	26	23	65

Ruffed grouse numbers entering downside of population cycle

June 12, 2012 by Charlie Leave a Comment

Updated at: Grouse 2016 Wisconsin Outlook; Ruffed Grouse Drumming Survey

WDNR Press Release

Weekly News article published: June 12, 2012, by the Central Office
MADISON – Ruffed grouse populations in Wisconsin appear to be entering a downswing, according to a recently completed roadside ruffed grouse survey.

Ruffed grouse populations are known to boom and bust over a nine- to 11-year cycle, according to Brian Dhuey, wildlife surveys coordinator for the Department of Natural Resources. The index that Wisconsin uses to track ruffed grouse decreased 25 percent between 2011 and 2012.

“While this is a bit of bad news for grouse hunters, it should not be too big of a surprise,” Dhuey said. “We were overdue for the expected downturn.”

The Wisconsin roadside survey to monitor the number of breeding grouse was conducted by staff from the DNR and U.S. Forest Service, tribal employees, and numerous grouse enthusiasts and volunteers since 1964. Surveyors begin 30 minutes before sun rise and drive along established routes, making ten stops at assigned points and listening for four minutes for the distinctive “thump, thump, thump” drumming sounds made by male grouse. Results from this survey have helped DNR biologists monitor the cyclic population dynamics of ruffed grouse in the state.

“Spring arrived early in Wisconsin in 2012, and conditions for the survey were rated ‘excellent’ by 60 percent of the routes, this was about the same as last year’s 62 percent and above the long-term average,” Dhuey said.

The number of drums heard per stop was down 25 percent in 2012 from the previous year. Both of the primary regions for grouse in the state, the central and northern forest areas, showed declines of 21 and 26 percent respectively. The only area to show an increase was the southeast, where grouse exist in only isolated areas of suitable young forest habitat and are not common.

The number of routes that showed a decline in the number of drums heard outpaced those that showed an increase by better than 2:1 margin. Results from the survey matched declines seen on two research areas, with the Sandhill Wildlife Area showing a decrease of 11 percent and the Stone Lake Experimental Area showing a decrease of 18 percent. Complete survey results are found on the DNR website (search Wildlife Reports).

“This drop in breeding grouse was not unexpected, as grouse populations tend to be at their peak in years ending in a 9 or 0 in Wisconsin. Last year we had an increase in grouse and were probably at the cyclic peak, a decline was inevitable,” Dhuey said.

“Early weather conditions are excellent for nesting and brood rearing, if we can stay normal or above for temperatures and have a bit of dry weather, we should have a pretty good brood year. I would expect that hunters will see a decline in the number of birds they see afield this fall, but areas of good cover should still hold birds. In years with lower grouse numbers, hunters who find success are those willing to explore new coverts, as grouse will tend to occupy only the best habitat available and may not be found in the same areas where hunters found them in recent years,” he said.

For more information search for ruffed grouse hunting on the DNR website.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian Dhuey – 608-221-6342) or Scott Walter – 608-267-7861