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Gordon Gullion: Sage of the Ruffed Grouse

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Gordon Gullion played an integral role in the study of ruffed grouse as well as the history of the Ruffed Grouse Society.

People tend to take scientific discoveries for granted. There are laws of gravity, for example, that govern our world, but we don’t often think about Isaac Newton when we go about our day. When hunting ruffed grouse and scanning for the aspen trees they use as cover and sources of food in portions of their range, we’re probably not thinking of Gordon Gullion, the conservation scientist whose studies and observations enhanced our understanding of ruffed grouse and formally linked the bird’s welfare to aspen trees. Gullion’s research still has a major influence on the forest management practices the Ruffed Grouse Society promotes to benefit the bird and other species.  His untimely death at age 67 denied us the authoritative synthesis of his research, but his findings are immortal.

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Appalachian Ruffed Grouse: Ecology and Management

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A synopsis and review of the book Appalachian Ruffed Grouse: Ecology and Management

The Appalachian ruffed grouse population is like a classic, small-market major league baseball team battling the Yankees or Red Sox; the odds are against them because of a disparity of resources. Unlike their kin of the North Woods, Appalachian grouse lack aspen trees for food and cover, which Gordon Gullion, a leading expert on grouse during his lifetime, considered their prime habitat. Nevertheless, ruffed grouse are adaptable birds that have thrived in Appalachia for thousands of years. 

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Young Forest Initiative Creating Habitat for Grouse and Woodcock in New York – RGS

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Forest Management at Mongaup Valley WMA | Photo by: Gregory Cerne

Young Forest Initiative in New York Creates Habitat for Ruffed Grouse and Woodcock

Mongaup Valley Wildlife Management Area (WMA) is nestled against a part of the Delaware River that slithers between New York and Pennsylvania. In 2016, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) completed a project to create new wildlife habitat at Mongaup Valley as part of its Young Forest Initiative (YFI), an ongoing effort launched in 2015 to increase habitat within 93 WMAs for species dependent on early successional forests and whose populations are in steep decline.

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The Special Relationship Between Grouse and Aspen – RGS

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aspen-forest

Why Well-Managed Aspen is the Best Grouse Habitat

If you hunt ruffed grouse on the southern fringe of its range, aspen forest may not be all that relevant to you. But if you’re an upland hunter in the Great Lakes states or Northeast, it’s almost guaranteed that one of your favorite hunting spots includes an aspen stand. Throughout its lifecycle, it provides everything a grouse needs: dense cover and food.

Managed properly, aspen stands are excellent habitat for ruffed grouse. If you’re unfamiliar, here’s some more information about aspen and its importance for upland birds and other early successional species alike.

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Reversing Ruffed Grouse Declines in Indiana

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ruffed-grouse-endangered
Photo Credit | Steve Oehlenschlager

Up against an endangered listing, how can we help ruffed grouse in Indiana?

Ruffed grouse used to be present across the Indiana landscape, but now they could be joining the ranks of endangered species listed under the Indiana Nongame and Endangered Species Conservation Act. In October 2018, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) Division of Fish & Wildlife sought input from Ruffed Grouse Society (RGS) to add ruffed grouse to the list of endangered species of birds in Indiana. After reviewing the evidence, biologists at RGS agreed with the proposal and submitted a petition to adopt the Administrative Rule Change. Here’s how this issue all started, how we could reverse its course, and how you could play an important part in that process.

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The Importance of Alders for Grouse and Woodcock

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Exploring Our Love (and Hatred) of Alder Thickets

Maybe in your grouse hunting career, you’ve explored the edges of a tangled alder swamp while looking for birds. You’ve quite possibly shot at a grouse that flew into one, requiring you to trudge in after it. Perhaps you have even willingly adventured into one to see what secrets it keeps. No matter which of these is true, if you’ve ever had to navigate through an alder swamp or thicket, you know the misery that they can be. 

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What is Highbush Cranberry (and Why Should You Care)? – RGS

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Photo Credit | Wiki Commons

How Highbush Cranberry Could Help Your Grouse Hunting

Growing up in northern Minnesota, I was strictly warned as a child about which wild berries I could and could not eat in the forest. The only “edible” ones were the ones my parents told me I could eat. Without their approval, I was not to sample them. But how is a kid supposed to learn if they don’t at least attempt something stupid? After trying and quickly spitting out several different wild berries, I distinctly remember finding a cluster of bright red berries that looked beautiful but smelled horrible. I figured from the smell alone that it was rotten or poisonous, so I never did sample them. Looking back now, I recognize that was likely a highbush cranberry shrub.

Many people don’t recognize highbush cranberry and even fewer utilize it themselves or for hunting purposes. But it can be an important survival food for ruffed grouse and other wildlife. And it makes a really interesting jelly or syrup to pair with a ruffed grouse dinner. Here’s how you can identify it and maybe even use it to your advantage this fall.

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Ruffed Grouse Habitat | Cost Share Planting for Private Landowners

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How You Can Improve Grouse Habitat on Your Property

I’ve always loved the idea of leaving a legacy. Not for fame or glory, by any means, but for something simpler. Being a biologist and a hunter, I fell in love with the idea of bringing my in-law’s property to its maximum wildlife potential. Over the years, we’ve cleared some wildlife openings, built brush piles, planted trails and food plots, and pruned dozens of apple trees. But I wanted to take it further by shaping it into a carefully planned grouse paradise, with the hope that my kids would someday enjoy it. 

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What We Can Learn from Grouse Drumming Surveys

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ruffed grouse drumming - Steve Oehlenschlager
Photo Credit | Steve Oehlenschlager

What exactly does a drumming survey tell us…or not tell us?

There’s something special about that feeling you get in the grouse woods in springtime – that moment when you pause and can’t quite hear anything, but actually feel something thumping in your chest (besides your heart). Finally it becomes clear that it’s actually a grouse drumming from a hundred yards away. Drumming is done by male grouse as they beat their wings from an elevated log, stump, rock, or other platform. Contrary to what many people believe, they’re not hitting their wings against their breast – it’s actually caused by the vacuum of air left behind from their rapid wingbeats. Scientists use this behavior to conduct drumming surveys each spring.

Most hunters keep tabs on drumming surveys when they come out each summer, and get excited (or dismayed) about the results. The surveys have been used reliably for several decades. But in recent history, there seems to be somewhat of a disconnect between spring drumming counts and fall harvest numbers/observations. So what is their purpose and what can we still learn from them?

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