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Healthy Forests, Abundant Wildlife, Conservation Ethic

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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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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE: What are “Healthy Forests”?

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Pres Msg

            “I have read many definitions of what is a conservationist, and written not a few myself, but I suspect that the best one is written not with a pen, but with an axe. It is a matter of what a man thinks about while chopping, or while deciding what to chop. A conservationist is one who is humbly aware that with each stroke he is writing his signature on the face of his land.”

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EDITOR NOTE: GIVE ME A WINDOW . . . That’s all I need . . .

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Nagy Illustration

By Matt Soberg, RGS & AWS Editor & Director of Communications

Now is your window to help RGS & AWS create healthy forests and increase the voice for  the future of grouse and woodcock – New member drive ends April 1!

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I was flying to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, home of the Ruffed Grouse Society headquarters, watching a movie on my smartphone through the GoGo entertainment app offered by Delta, when I heard a character say, “Give me a window, that’s all I need.”

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE – Stay Focused on Habitat

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RGS Mag Pres Msg Fall 2017

When I hunt grouse and woodcock next fall, I want to better clear my mind of all things occupying my thoughts . . .  I want to stay focused on what I’m doing . . . I want to stay focused on hunting, and when I do, I pick up little cues from the surrounding habitat, I pay closer attention to the dog work, I react to flushes better and shoot straighter, and I’m quite sure you’ve made a similar observation. Staying focused helps us enjoy all the hunt has to offer and gives us a much more fulfilling and satisfying hunting experience regardless of whether we bring back any birds at the end of the day.

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The Do’s and Don’ts of Helping Your Grouse Dog Combat the Cold

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TIPS FROM:

Basic CMYK

The Do’s and Don’ts of Helping Your Grouse Dog Combat the Cold

Although the 2017 ruffed grouse season is winding down, it’s important to stay vigilant about keeping your hunting dog safe in chilly conditions. Cold weather can be harmful for a dog. It can affect his or her immune system, making the dog prone to disease and injury. By following these tips, you can help reduce disease and the risks of hypothermia, a dangerous drop in body temperature, and frostbite, the freezing of tissues caused by exposure to very low temperatures.

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DO Know Your Dog’s Limit

Pay attention to your dog’s tolerance of cold weather. Keep a close eye on puppies and senior dogs, as they cannot withstand wintry weather as well as a dog in his or her prime. A good rule of thumb for limiting outdoor exercise during winter is that if it’s too cold for you, it’s too cold for your dog.

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE – Pause to Reflect

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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?

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GROUSE CAMP TOUR STARTS TODAY!

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NEW YORK & NEW ENGLAND

2017 GROUSE CAMP TOUR

October 21 – 29

#grousecamptour

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“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.

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WHY WE HUNT: Member Christian Fichtel, North Carolina

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“To those devoid of imagination, a blank place on the map is a useless waste; to others, the most valuable part.” ~ Aldo Leopold

Christian Fitchel photo (2) (940x1280)

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.

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GROUSE AND WOODCOCK HUNTING GATEWAYS

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A focus on simple gateways to grouse hunting can recruit our next generation of hunters.

By Matt Soberg, RGS/AWS Editor & Director of Communications

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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.

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