Grouse

StMarysDude

StMarysDude

Well-Known Member
Hello birders,
Used to live in Pembroke and lovd grouse hunting this time of year, haven't seen a feathered helicopter anywhere around St Marys, someone said over hunting and coyotes pretty much cleared out the game bird opportunities. True or are there areas within an hour of Stonetown?
 
Seen one on the road Thursday just north of milverton.
 
StMarysDude said:
Hello birders,
Used to live in Pembroke and lovd grouse hunting this time of year, haven't seen a feathered helicopter anywhere around St Marys, someone said over hunting and coyotes pretty much cleared out the game bird opportunities. True or are there areas within an hour of Stonetown?
Click to expand...
Also from St. Marys area, I’ve never seen nor heard one around home
 
Buddy seen one during gun hunt. I can remember the days when you could flush 10 to 15 birds a day and only once have ever shot my limit in southern ontario those were the days
 
Lots of grouse up north of Orillia - Sebright this year. They were down last year but seemed to rebound. I had multiple dumb ones on the trail right in front of me while riding my bike around. Hearing similar reports up towards South River area as well from deer hunting friends. Around here (southern Ont.) they seem to be gone. I know the experts disagree but I sure have seen a decline in grouse both here and down south in WV where I also hunt and used to reside. The decline coincided with the explosion in wild turkey populations in my observations. Yes the predators have to have had an impact as well but the turkey connection is hard for me to ignore. We manage our property by chainsaw in WV to encourage grouse, deer, etc., have appropriate food sources and nesting cover and its still a non-starter for the ruffies. Deer and turkeys will run you over.
 
I live south of Brantford and there is a large woodlot behind my property. There are still a few grouse in it. I hear them drumming while I turkey hunt in spring and my dogs occasionally flush them when were are out for a walk. I flushed a pair a few weeks ago. I use to hunt them very successfully in Haldimand, Brant and Norfolk in the 80's but there are not enough left that I would feel good about shooting one here now.

I get my fix each October when a buddy and I take our dogs for a few days up in Algoma area.
 
I’m in my 70’s and cut my teeth hunting partridge ( nobody called them grouse back then ) and rabbits . Still a few bunnies around but no one seems to hunt small game anymore . I have lived in Norfolk , Elgin my whole life. Presently live on the Little Otter valley south of Tillsonburg for over 30 years . The last good grouse hunting (and it was good ) was in the early 80’s. I grew tobacco and it was nothing to go out for 2 hours and flush a couple dozen birds . Had a spaniel then ,and actually shot my limit twice in about an hour and a half in fence rows choked with grapes , apples etc . Fence rows like that are long gone . That’s when they introduced wild turkeys , and grouse populations tanked at the same time . So that’s what I blamed the disappearance of grouse on , but now I’m not so sure . Logging has changed with new Regs , used to be basically clear cutting , looked like hell but for the next 15 years wildlife flourished. I live in what could be considered prime grouse habitat , and there are none . Something else is going on , and what I have read is that West Nile virus is killing the young birds .I think that makes sense , because there is still a lot of prime bird habitat that is devoid of birds .
 
Plenty of grouse from Brantford down to the lake. Not like 15 years ago, but still quite a few to be had. Keep in mind that tons of them will simply stay on the ground and run/walk away or stay still instead of flushing.

I see most when I am silently stalking for deer or sitting in a stand/blind and very few when I am busting brush for rabbits or grouse.
 
I hunted grouse around the St Williams Forestry Station mid 70's to early 80's. My partner and I would hear a flush probably at least every 10 minutes, seeing them and hitting them was another matter but I did get a limit of 5 a few times. There was 1 C.O. that was really into it as well, he would sometimes wait for us to exit the bush and check how we were doing and talk a bit, even recommended a few areas to try, real nice guy, I recall his name was Bruce Malcolm.
 
We hunted deer in the December controlled hunt around Langton doing drives. Out of 10 hunters we flushed a total of 3 grouse in 6 days but hundreds of turkeys.
 
Fence rows used to be 20ft wide and full of grapevines and undergrowth .All the fence lines have been removed by farmers who think an extra few bushels are better than wind breaks and wildlife habitat.Now land is worth 20grand an acre instead of 1500 like 30 years ago fence rows are all gone and wont be back..like the grouse in southern ontario..on the other hand Turkey hunting was a good trade minus the ticks
 
We hunted with my Brittanys south of Brantford into Norfolk county from the '70's into the '90's and had many spectacular hunts. About 20 years ago things changed. I don't think it is coincidence that when we started seeing turkeys in our covers grouse numbers declined quite rapidly. The habitat did not change much, but over a period of 4-5 years grouse almost disappeared. I don't think it helped that possums started showing up at the same time. Grouse numbers seem to get better as you travel north where turkeys might exist, but do not thrive like in southern Ontario. Also in more northern areas the proportion of woodland to agricultural land is greater, benefitting grouse. Grouse are real survivors, but I don't think they have handled very well competition and possible predation by turkeys and other critters. Hunting pressure, I suspect, has had minimal effects on the population. We end up missing more than we kill.
 
I’ve seen 10 between WMU’s 82a and 80 near my house. 9 of the 10 where in 82a where I still find decent populations. Now, at our property in unit 41, they are walking around on the front lawn and it’s all I can do to stop my younger boys from killing them with pellet guns. Our bush there is loaded with them! Plenty of varying hare as well.
 
I live up in 85A between Brussels and Listowel and I see grouse out and about quite frequently. Spooky as hell though.
 
Saw three this morning marking trees in my bush to deter trespassers
 
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