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Featured Habitat in Michigan: Pigeon River Country State Forest

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Roger Moore RGS & AWS Chapter forged ahead with a key habitat project despite 2020 challenges and delays

By Glen Blackwood, Eastern Great Lakes Director of Regional Development

Originally published in Spring 2021 issue of Covers Magazine.

“Conservation is NOT canceled” has been the overriding mantra of RGS & AWS, our chapters and membership during the past year. While the pandemic’s impacts caused fundraising and other chapter events to be postponed, our work on young successional forest management and wildlife habitat creation continued in 2020. Through everything, RGS & AWS members and staff forged ahead, ensuring that conservation remained a priority. One such project occurred in the northern region of Michigan’s lower peninsula; an area best known as the Pigeon River Country.

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Put Me In – Summer 2021 President’s Message

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President’s message from Ben Jones, RGS & AWS President & CEO – originally printed in Summer 2021 issue of Covers Magazine

As I write this, it’s mid-April, the sun is out, but it’s damp and chilly. That has me reminiscing about heading to the Pittsburgh Pirates opener at Three Rivers Stadium every year with my dad: The emerald green field as we emerged from the concourse, the smack of the ball hitting gloves during warmups and the cutting chill posed by the spring air and all that concrete in the old stadium. I still love baseball, although my own playing time was cut short with the realization that it impeded on trout fishing and spring turkey hunting.

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This Too Shall Pass – Things my Hunting Dogs Ate and Other Light Off-Season Reading.

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By Keith Schopp

Content warning: This post includes detailed descriptions of foreign object removal.

I was washing the truck while the five dogs played in our fenced yard, glancing over occasionally to ensure all was in order. That’s when I noticed Stella, my dominant one-year-old German shorthaired pointer, chewing on the collar of Emma, my three-year-old Labrador retriever.

My first reaction was that it was kind of cute. I decided to break it up, and upon closer inspection, Stella was chewing on Emma’s flea and tick collar! In fact, she clearly had chewed off a good chunk. I called the other dogs over and noticed that the flea collar on Lena, my nine-year-old German shorthaired pointer, was completely GONE!

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Get the Picture: How to Capture the Spirit and Success of your Hunts

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By Nancy Anisfield

Originally published in Covers magazine – Spring 2019

Get creative with your photos! For example, interacting with dogs can show more than a typical pose. Photo: Nancy Anisfield

Many of us have been seduced by the convenience of cell phones and pocket-sized digital cameras. Unfortunately, we take our smart phone cameras for granted and as a result, we snap away without careful thought. We end up with a few blurry shots of a dog’s head, lots of empty skies, a skanky grouse hanging off a post or a grainy indoor photo too dark to see who’s who. We also forget to ask if a picture will pay tribute to the real spirit of the moment. It can be hard to develop an image that tells its own story.

Here are some tips to improve the quality and composition of the photos that capture our special moments.

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Featured Member: Perry Seitzinger, Indiana Chapter of RGS & AWS

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The future of our forest wildlife depends on dedicated conservationists and chapter leaders like Perry

“If grouse hunters and foresters aren’t ever-vigilant in advocating for active science-based forest management, it can very quickly have dire consequences on woodland wildlife like the near extirpation of the ruffed grouse in Indiana.” – Perry Seitzinger

The RGS & AWS family of volunteers represent a diverse group of individuals that at the core, deeply care for young forest habitat and the wildlife that benefits from these woodlands. Today, we’re recognizing Perry Seitzinger as a featured member of that work.

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Jon Steigerwaldt promoted to oversee forest conservation across Lakes States and Midwest

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RGS & AWS activity in Midwestern states will increase with Steigerwaldt’s expanded capacity

The Ruffed Grouse Society & American Woodcock Society announced today that Jon Steigerwaldt, Forest Conservation Director for the Great Lakes and Upper Midwest, will now oversee work in both the Lower and Upper Peninsula of Michigan in addition to Ohio and Indiana.

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Tackling Ruffed Grouse Habitat in Southern Appalachia

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grouse-habitat

Checking in on Southern Appalachia’s Grouse Habitat Projects

Steeped in history and rich with grouse hunting culture, the Southern Appalachian Mountains have long been associated with ruffed grouse habitat. Landowners and hunters in this area may fondly recall hunting ruffed grouse in the area many years ago, but have noticed their growing absence and watched prime grouse habitat disappear. This has spurred a real sense of urgency for Ruffed Grouse Society and American Woodcock Society (RGS & AWS) and its members in this region. In this article, we caught up with Nick Biemiller, Forest Conservation Director for the Southern Appalachian region (GA, KY, NC, SC, TN, and VA) to discuss what’s going on in this neck of the grouse woods.

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Public Land Provides Pandemic Remedy

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Public land hunting is often synonymous with ruffed grouse and woodcock hunting here in North America. We are incredibly fortunate to have free and easy access to a multitude of public lands rooted in the foundation of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. Established on the recognition that wildlife and wildlife-based recreation are an inherent public resource, this system ensures that wildlife and habitat will be managed and used for the benefit of the people.

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Grouse Camp 2020 | Visits Minnesota and Wisconsin

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Countdown to Grouse Camp 2020

Highlights from Grouse Camp 2019

History

Since 2015 RGS & AWS members have followed along with our annual Grouse Camp Tour. From the organization’s roots, in Monterey, Virginia, to the far northern covers of Maine, the Grouse Camp Tour has traveled the country celebrating our beloved hunted traditions alongside our devoted membership.

This fall, Grouse Camp returns to Wisconsin and establishes a second location in Minnesota. We invite you to join us for the second year in a row at our Grouse Camp Meet-ups in Eagle River, Wisconsin, September 25th – 27th and Breezy Point, Minnesota, October 2nd – 4th (MN EVENT CANCELLED).

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RGS & AWS announces Forest Conservation Director to lead forest wildlife conservation efforts in the southern Appalachians.

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Nick Biemiller

With funding donated specifically for the purpose, the Ruffed Grouse Society and American Woodcock Society (RGS & AWS) have moved forward with a new Forest Conservation Director position in the Southern Appalachian Region. The generous gift, from a donor who wished to remain anonymous, was placed in a restricted account late in 2019 as recruitment ensued. The Society announced today that Nick Biemiller was selected for the role from a highly qualified group of applicants. In the newly developed position, Biemiller will build and manage a network to achieve forest wildlife goals across several states. The region includes northern Georgia and South Carolina, western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia, and Kentucky.

“Having a dedicated person in the southern Appalachians has been a priority since my first day at RGS/AWS. Ruffed grouse are hanging on by a thread and we have to put our best foot forward. With his deep understanding of forestry and wildlife conservation, Nick is the right person for the job,” said Ben Jones, RGS/AWS President & CEO.

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