Just in case you missed it, RGS/AWS president and CEO, Ben Jones was featured on the Hunting Dog Podcast, along with Heather Shaw, RGS/AWS regional biologist.
The two conversed with host, Ron Boehme, and BHA regional director, Jason Meekhof. Topics covered included the mission of both organizations, their unique differences as well as how they overlap and collaborate.
Don’t miss this episode of The Hunting Dog Podcast!
In partnership with Land and Legacy, RGS/AWS is running a social media contest to promote the conservation missions of two like-minded organizations.
RGS/AWS President and CEO, Ben Jones, along with VP of Mission Sustainability, Sean Curran, joined Adam Keith of Land and Legacy for episode 118 of the Habitat Heroes podcast. Topics included the unique nature and history of RGS/AWS as well as the organization’s future and how people can join the movement and become conservation leaders.
RGS President and CEO was featured on the Hunting Dog Podcast. A description and link to the episode are included below:
“Ben Jones is the president and CEO of the Ruffed Grouse Society. We talk about the decline of my favorite game bird. It’s not to late to get to save the resource that we all hold dear to our heart. Its really about all species. We need to devote our time and wallets to what is the most important to us.
Listen to the episode: The Hunting Dog Podcast with Ben Jones.
*this podcast was originally published on 10/26/2018
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.
The Grouse Camp Tour hasn’t seen the covers in Wisconsin since the inaugural tour in 2015. This fall Grouse Camp returns to Wisconsin as we invite you to join us during the first ever Grouse Camp Meet-up in Eagle River, Wisconsin, September 27th -29th.
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.
[Read more…] about PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE – Stay Focused on HabitatTIPS FROM:
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.
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.
[Read more…] about The Do’s and Don’ts of Helping Your Grouse Dog Combat the Cold“To those devoid of imagination, a blank place on the map is a useless waste; to others, the most valuable part.” ~ Aldo Leopold
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.
[Read more…] about WHY WE HUNT: Member Christian Fichtel, North CarolinaA focus on simple gateways to grouse hunting can recruit our next generation of hunters.
By Matt Soberg, RGS/AWS Editor & Director of Communications
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.
[Read more…] about GROUSE AND WOODCOCK HUNTING GATEWAYSI grouse hunt because it’s in my DNA. Surprisingly, it doesn’t have to be passed down through genetics. Take a stroll through the grouse woods and you might find it quickly imprinted in yours.
The story of grouse hunting for me starts somewhere in the Deep South . . . in a part of Georgia, oddly enough, where there are no grouse. I’m still a third generation bird hunter – Every winter from December to the middle of January, we hunt the bird every grouse hunter knows: woodcock.
At a young age I was always with the bird dogs in the kennels until I was old enough to go and watch, then shoot. Prior to grouse hunting, I had hunted quail, chukar, pheasant and woodcock. Most of my hunting was with my dad, so grouse was the only bird he had hunted that I hadn’t. He made his first trip to grouse country a couple years before I did. The bird dogs are my world, and when I found another game bird to hunt, I wanted to burst with excitement.
[Read more…] about WHY WE HUNT, Member Payton Gunby
North Carolina/Georgia
RGS chapters are striving to ensure national forests are properly managed in the Southern Appalachian Region to preserve our grouse hunting traditions for future generations.
The famed conservationist Aldo Leopold once said, “We shall never achieve harmony with the land, anymore than we shall achieve absolute justice or liberty for people. In these higher aspirations the important thing is not to achieve but to strive.” The word “strive”, being the operative, is exactly what RGS chapter volunteers are doing in North Carolina and Georgia to ensure our public lands, namely national forests, are being properly managed for wildlife.
[Read more…] about 2016 RGS GROUSE CAMP TOUR – North Carolina & Georgia
