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Healthy Forests, Abundant Wildlife, Conservation Ethic

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ruffed grouse

Ruffed Grouse Society | American Woodcock Society Working to Improve Aspen Management in the Huron-Manistee National Forests

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aspen-management
  • Ruffed Grouse Society and American Woodcock Society (RGS|AWS) staff are engaged in review of an exciting proposal to reinvigorate aspen management on the Huron-Manistee National Forests 
  • Comments may be submitted on the proposal by Feb 5, 2020
  • RGS|AWS public comments are included for members and supporters that may wish to provide substantive input of their own
  • We encourage comments to request consideration for additional, responsible forest treatments

The Ruffed Grouse Society and American Woodcock Society (RGS|AWS) have been engaged in discussions with United States Forest Service (USFS) staff regarding the need to address the decline in aspen harvest within the Huron-Manistee National Forests (HMNF) in Michigan. We are pleased that USFS is now accepting public comments on their Zone Aspen Project Scoping Document that outlines considerable improvements to HMNF aspen management. RGS|AWS supports the responsible management of our nation’s vast forest system and the HMNF Zone Aspen Project seeks to fulfill objectives that are true to the core principles at RGS|AWS. 

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A Winter Grouse Hunt in Wisconsin – RGS

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Winter-grouse-hunt
Photo by | Mark Parman

The sights, sounds and silence of a winter grouse hunt.

On a winter grouse hunt all is quiet, save for the creaking of my snowshoe bindings and the webbing crunching the snow underneath. Not wearing his usual Swiss bell, which would clog with snow, even the dog is quiet. He mostly walks behind me in the packed snow, occasionally stepping on my snowshoes. When Jenkins steps out of my tracks, he swims in snow as he breaks his own trail.

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Ruffed Grouse Society | American Woodcock Society and Partners Applaud Efforts to Protect Boundary Waters Habitat

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Proposed legislation to Protect Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

January 15, 2020
For Immediate Release

Coraopolis, Pa. – The Ruffed Grouse Society and American Woodcock Society (RGS|AWS) today applauded introduction of the bipartisan Boundary Waters Protection and Pollution Prevention Act (H.R. 5598), legislation that would permanently protect fish, wildlife, and the recreation industry within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area from proposed upstream copper-nickel mining development in the Superior National Forest.

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Heather Shaw featured on The Hunting Dog Podcast – RGS

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Heather-Shaw

Tune in to The Hunting Dog Podcast | Grouse Update featuring Heather Shaw

In December, Ruffed Grouse Society and American Woodcock Society biologist Heather Shaw was featured on an episode of The Hunting Dog Podcast with host Ron Boehme,

The Hunting Dog Podcast
“RGS Biologist Heather Shaw joins me to talk about the status of grouse around the great Lakes. and a few nuggets of info that you need to hear.”

Listen | The Hunting Dog Podcast – Grouse Update featuring Heather Shaw

Wisconsin Approves Ruffed Grouse Management Plan – RGS

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State of Wisconsin approves first ever Ruffed Grouse Management Plan

Earlier this month, the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board (NRB) voted to approve the states very first ruffed grouse management plan. The impetuous and need for this plan was set forward after the NRB voted on an emergency rule to shorten the 2018 ruffed grouse season. Support for this plan was extensive with 15 members from 13 different government and non-government organizations making up the planning committee. Including two familiar faces:  Current RGS Regional Wildlife Biologist Jon Steigerwaldt and past RGS Wildlife Biologist Gary Zimmer.

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Winter Ruffed Grouse Survival – RGS

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winter-grouse-habitat

Examining food and cover necessary for winter grouse survival.

In northern Wisconsin, winter regrouping of ruffed grouse starts to take place toward the end of October and the first part of November. The grouse group together this time of the year, not for security or for a social gathering, but because there is good food and cover in a single location. When in a group, grouse remain individualists. Each will flush on their own accord when pressured. It is the availability of high quality habitat and food that has brought them together.

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The Downfall of New Jersey Grouse Hunting – RGS

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new-jersey-grouse

Emergency closure of the New Jersey grouse hunting season.

On July 17th the Fish and Game Council of New Jersey voted for an emergency closure of the ruffed grouse season in New Jersey. The Fish and Game Council is comprised of three farmer and six sportsmen representatives, as well as the Chairman of the Endangered and Nongame Species Council and a public representative at large. Their purview is to “adopt a Fish and Game Code for the purpose of providing a system for the protection and conservation of fish and game” in the state.

Essentially, they advise, suggest, and oversee the regulations dictating season lengths, restrictions, bag limits, zones, and other factors relating to recreational take of game through hunting and trapping. For hunters in New Jersey, the most obvious effect of these changes are highlighted notes in the new year’s Hunting and Trapping Digest. One of those highlighted changes will affect me directly as well as any other grouse hunters left in the state.

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Winter Grouse Hunting Strategies – RGS

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Things to consider before your next winter grouse hunt.

Here in Wisconsin, the snow is deep, and the winds are howling, and we have settled in for the winter. However, winter grouse hunting is possible and there are still areas that have not seen as much snow or cold temperatures as certain areas of the ruffed grouse range.  

If I am considering going to a new area this time of year, I first do some research.  Here are some of the things that I consider before heading out:

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New Hunters Graduate From Mentored Hunt Training Presented by The Ruffed Grouse Society

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new hunters

New hunter mentor program allows new hunters of any age, young or old, to learn about upland bird hunting from mentors.

Kane Pa.:  The Allegheny Chapter (Kane) of the Ruffed Grouse Society (RGS) has completed their new hunter training for 2019.  The New Hunter Mentor Program (NHMP) allows new hunters of any age, young or old, to learn about upland bird hunting from mentors. During a day in the spring and a day in the fall, all attendees learn about shooting, habitat and GPS, bird dog care, and then graduate to an actual hunt for birds with dogs. Experienced grouse and woodcock hunters mentored the graduates for the actual hunt.

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Ruffed Grouse Hunting with a County Forester

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Mike Amman | County Forester

A day in the grouse woods with a forestry professional.

Aldo Leopold wrote in Sand County Almanac that it’s best to just tag along behind a bird dog because it knows “grouseward better than you do.” This tends to be true, but a northern Wisconsin forester, especially one who hunts ruffed grouse with a passion, is a close second. That’s why when Bayfield county forester Mike Amman asked me to join him on a hunt, I immediately asked when and where.   

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