12/20/17
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RGS in the News
The original article Teaming up to save the Grizzled Skipper, by Kristen Beverage-Doss, The Pocohantus Times at https://pocahontastimes.com/around-the-forest/ was posted December 13, 2017.
CAT 299D, donated by RGS, in operation in West Virginia. Photo courtesy WVDNR
It won’t be long before it’s time for us to think about New Year’s resolutions. Personally, I’ve never really taken this practice very seriously, but I know a lot of people who do. I can see some value in making promises to ourselves at the beginning of every year aimed at making some change for the better or improving some aspect of our lives. To me it’s another form of goal-setting . . . so why confine that activity to just one day of the year?
[Read more…] about PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE – Pause to Reflect11/22/17
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Grush will engage Michigan chapters in fundraising and membership events that enhance healthy forests, abundant wildlife and sporting traditions.
Coraopolis, PA – The Ruffed Grouse Society and American Woodcock Society (RGS/AWS) recently hired Scott Grush as regional director to enhance chapter engagement and fundraising efforts in Michigan. RGS/AWS regional directors work with local chapter volunteers to create and host chapter events including fundraising, sportsman’s banquets, shoots, educational activities, habitat days and recruitment/youth events.
[Read more…] about RGS and AWS Hire Grush as MI Regional DirectorNEW YORK & NEW ENGLAND
2017 GROUSE CAMP TOUR
October 21 – 29
#grousecamptour
“There is an old New England saying to the effect that if you give a man a shotgun, a bird dog and a violin, he won’t amount to a damn.”
~William Harnden Foster ~
Join the Ruffed Grouse Society and American Woodcock Society for the third Grouse Camp Tour, where we celebrate habitat, membership, volunteers and the grouse/woodcock hunting experience. This year’s Tour will be throughout the New York and New England region: New York Grouse & Woodcock Benefit Hunt – Malone, NY, Vermont, Western Massachusetts and Southern Maine.
[Read more…] about GROUSE CAMP TOUR STARTS TODAY!10/17/17
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October 17, 2017
For Immediate Release
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| 460 Peterson Road Grand Rapids MN 55744 218-326-1103 www.mndeerhunters.com | 451 McCorminck Road Coraopolis, PA 15108 412-262-4044 |
MDHA AND RGS PARTNER TO PROTECT FOREST HABITAT
In 2016, the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association (MDHA) and the Ruffed Grouse Society (RGS) formed a new partnership combining the resources of both organizations to better protect forest habitat. At last week’s RGS National Grouse and Woodcock Hunt in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, the parties celebrated their joint conservation successes including the recent donation of nearly 2,300 acres of forest lands to Cass and Hubbard Counties.
[Read more…] about RGS and MDHA Partner to Protect Forest Habitat10/16/17
Media Contact:
Matt Soberg
(218) 232-6227
editor@ruffedgrousesociety.org
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October 16, 2017
For Immediate Release
Coraopolis, PA – The Ruffed Grouse Society (RGS) held its 36th annual National Grouse and Woodcock Hunt (NGWH) on October 12 and 13, 2017 in and around Grand Rapids, Minnesota with harvest results, obtained by RGS wildlife biologists, showing decreases in ruffed grouse and American woodcock harvests compared to 2016.
Participating hunters (108) harvested 124 ruffed grouse during the two-day hunt (62 grouse on day 1 and 62 grouse on day 2), which is a 30 percent decrease from the 2016 harvest of 175 ruffed grouse and a 50 percent decrease from the average harvest. Each hunter harvested an average of 0.5 grouse per day in 2017, which is low compared to the average of 1.4. The recruitment ratio was 3.33 with 45 percent of harvested birds being adults, 55 percent being juveniles, 60 percent males and 40 percent females. The color phase breakdown was 9.6 percent gray, 20 percent intermediate, 11 percent brown, 44 percent red and 14 percent split. Dry weather and strong south winds provided difficult scenting conditions for hunters with bird dogs.
[Read more…] about 2017 National Hunt Results09/01/17
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August 30, 2017
For Immediate Release
Coraopolis, PA – The Ruffed Grouse Society and American Woodcock Society (RGS/AWS) congratulate Tony Tooke for his appointment as Chief of the United States Forest Service (Forest Service). On August 21, 2017, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced Tooke’s promotion and lauded his career work for the Forest Service since age 18, most recently serving as the regional forester for the Southern Region.
[Read more…] about RGS and AWS Congratulate Tony Tooke on Forest Service Chief Appointment“To those devoid of imagination, a blank place on the map is a useless waste; to others, the most valuable part.” ~ Aldo Leopold
I’ve always believed that hunting should be difficult. The act of killing, whether avian or ungulate, carries with it a weight of responsibility that should not be forgotten too quickly. In the Southern Appalachians, the mountains in which I wander, the hunting of the ruffed grouse is, at the very best of times, an exercise in patience and effort.
Each year, my home state of North Carolina collects data from participating hunters and publishes the North Carolina Avid Grouse Hunter Survey. After a peak around 1990, the likelihood of success in our southern mountains has declined in a dramatic way. The odds weren’t good 25 years ago, and even a masochist like myself would have found past numbers sufficiently challenging.
[Read more…] about WHY WE HUNT: Member Christian Fichtel, North CarolinaBy Brent A. Rudolph, Ph.D., RGS & AWS Director of Conservation Policy
RGS and AWS are among the most passionate organizations defending the overall benefits of public lands, but we are one of the few voices working to raise awareness and prompt action regarding the poor conservation performance on federal properties with respect to providing young forest habitat.
Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in Maine
Approximately 1,459,940 comments were received in response to the “Review of Certain National Monuments Established Since 1996” (regulations.gov). You may know this better as “The Bears Ears Brouhaha,” though there’s a chance that only I call it that.
The referenced review is being conducted by Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke in response to an Executive Order issued by President Donald Trump in April. The review will assess designations of 27 national monuments established since 1996. Other than Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument (Katahdin Woods) in Maine (see picture above), all monuments to be reviewed are located in western states or are marine national monuments.
[Read more…] about Okay, so it’s public . . . Now what?A focus on simple gateways to grouse hunting can recruit our next generation of hunters.
By Matt Soberg, RGS/AWS Editor & Director of Communications
We always hear about perceived barriers to entry purportedly inherent in grouse and woodcock hunting. “There are no birds around, and it’s hard to find them. The cover is so thick, too hard and strenuous. When you do find birds, the shots are impossible. Guns are intimidating, and I don’t know how to train a bird dog.” Blah, blah, blah.
Grouse hunting is not that scary. Trust me.
[Read more…] about GROUSE AND WOODCOCK HUNTING GATEWAYS
