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Recipe: Ruffed Grouse with Toast and Pâté

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by Ryan Sparks Knowing how to use an entire bird in the kitchen is an essential skill for any grouse hunter. Breast meat gets all the attention, but knowing how to cook the legs slowly until the meat falls off the bone, turn giblets into rich gravies or sauces and make a delicious stock from the carcass takes far more care, knowledge and skill. Here’s a recipe to help you on your way to using the whole grouse. It includes something familiar (grouse breast) and something possibly new (grouse liver) but transformed into a luxurious pâté. This recipe serves two people but...

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The Appalachian Grouse Diet – What Do the Birds Eat and Why?

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by Nick Biemiller | RGS & AWS Forest Conservation Director – Southern Appalachians The Southern Appalachians are the southernmost extent of the ruffed grouse’s range in the Eastern United States. Appalachian grouse are different than Northern birds, in terms of both the forests they inhabit and the foods they eat. However, across the ruffed grouse’s entire range, the conservation requirement is the same: We need diverse forest habitats that provide an abundance of food options for ruffed grouse and other wildlife species. Luckily, decades of scientific evidence helps us understand Appalachian grouse and their need for habitat diversity. The Appalachian Grouse Cooperative...

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Featured Habitat Project – Downeast Lakes Land Trust Woodcock Habitat Restoration Project

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by Todd Waldron | RGS & AWS Forest Conservation Director – Northeast Did you know that, according to the Land Trust Alliance, there are 506 community-based and regionally active land trusts across the seven Northeast states? Land trusts are nonprofit organizations that permanently protect, steward and manage conservation properties. And while their focus and objectives can vary widely, there’s a great opportunity to engage key land trust partners interested in the ecosystem service benefits of forest habitat diversity and wildlife. A strategic priority for the Northeast Ruffed Grouse Society & American Woodcock Society conservation team is to expand our partnerships with...

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Opening Weekend, Lake States Grouse

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Written By: Randy Lawrence. Junction City, OH It felt more like driving the getaway rig for a jailbreak than leaving for a hunting trip.  I would pull into the Honda plant parking lot just before 11, Lyle’s dogs and mine settled in their crates, Lyle’s gun and gear stowed behind the front seats.  I’d find a spot where I could watch the main door, idling the truck, listening to late-night Reds and Bengals talk on the 50,000 watt radio station out of Cincinnati.  It was always easy to spot my friend among the second trick autoworkers.  Lyle was the...

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Go North Young Man!

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Written By: Herb Evert. Cottage Grove, WI Camped on the bank of the Peshtigo river in far northeastern Wisconsin, that stream of deceitfully quiet water between stretches of tumbling rapids, my brother and I, with a quartet of Springers between us, relax as the setting sun closes out a spectacular Indian summer day. All day we tramped the forested terrain in search of thunder chickens and timber doodles and we are bone weary. The grouse families of summer have already dispersed and the woodcock have not yet begun their southward trek so flushes have been few and far between....

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Sunrise over Sagebrush

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Written By: Seth Owens. Grand Forks, ND I’m often frustrated by that prehistoric, instinctual, fight-or-flight response that all humans have in the 21st century. Not because it was crucial to our ancient ancestors, who were constantly at risk of being preyed upon by a big animal with pointy teeth, but because of the sinking pit in our stomach that we feel when anxious or excited. Here I was, walking through a sea of swishing sagebrush, feeling like I was about to vomit, and I couldn’t tell if it was from the excited apprehension or the 2:00 a.m. gas station...

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