Ruffed Grouse Management

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Ruffed GrouseManagement
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A Few Facts

• Scientific name Bonasa umbellus derived from
  Latin Bonasa meaning good when roasted and
  umbellus meaning sunshade
• Gets its name from a ruff of feathers around the
  neck

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A Few Facts

• Many subspecies (11-14)
• Nonmigratory
• Popular game bird
• Weight 18-26 oz. (exception to Bergmanns rule)
• Clutch size 8-15 eggs laid over 2-3 weeks
• Precocial young hatch in 23 days
• Female stays with young 6-10 weeks

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Habitat

• Temperate deciduous forest
• Early successional hardwoods

• Dense thickets of evergreen shrubs
• Older age hardwoods

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Roosting/Winter Cover

• Evergreens sought out but not necessary
• Snow
• Do conifers provide winter cover for grouse or
  concealment for predators?

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Nesting Habitat

• Prefer older forest stands with more open
  understory
• Nests are depressions on the ground lined with
  leaves and needles
• Nest at base of large trees, stumps, or logs

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Brood Habitat

• Openings (insects) near cover
• Forested areas with gt70 canopy cover
• Tall ground cover

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Diet

• Winter diet consists mainly of buds from
  deciduous trees
• Remainder of the year, grouse use a wide variety
  of food

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Forest Habitat

• Smaller size classes (2-4 dbh)
• Height 8-10
• Structure more important than species composition
• Pole and sawtimber stands needed for breeding
  habitat and food production

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Drumming Logs

• Used to announce territory and for display in
  breeding season
• Typically large-diameter fallen logs gt10 in
  length
• Moderately dense brushy cover in vicinity of log
  desirable

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Home Range

• 20-40 acres
• Smaller in good habitat

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Background

• Numbers declining in central and southern
  Appalachians
• In 1708, the colony of New York closed ruffed
  grouse hunting season
• Seasons decreased from 50 to 10 days and bag
  limits from 25 to 7 in north-central U.S. from
  1890-1930
• Hunting season closed in Missouri in 1905

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Populations experience normal highs and lows,
typically on a 10-year cycle
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Distribution

• Most widely-distributed Tetraonid
• Southern boundary northern Georgia and northeast
  Alabama
• Northern boundary Canada and Alaska
• More common gt1500 elevation in south
• Abundance increased with forest disturbance and
  farm abandonment

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Changes in Abundance1989-2003
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2004 Data statewide average approximately 5
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Management Concerns

• Quantity and quality of food
• Snow
• Predation
• Hunting
• Timing of these

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Quality Food

• Aspen produce a large number of nutritious buds
• Grouse can fill their crop in 15 minutes
• Grouse can also subsist on hazel, maple, and
  birch
• Aspen is a pioneer species and eventually gets
  crowded out

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Quality Food and Cover

• After a major disturbance (clearcut, fire), aspen
  can grow up to 12,000 stems/acre
• Dense cover prevents pursuit by raptors
• Optimal habitat supports 8,000-10,000 stems (gt6
  tall) per acre
• Also use dense understory shrubs

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Ruffed Grouse Management

• Historically, grouse habitat maintained by
  disturbance (fire, wind, ice, insect infestation
  and damage)
• Harvest/regenerate hardwoods in small blocks
• 10-year cutting intervals
• Minimize edge
• Intersperse age classes and habitat types

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Aerial Photo of Grouse Habitat
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Managing Habitat

• Create/maintain scattered openings for brood
  cover
• Seed logging roads/trails with shade tolerant
  grasses and legumes
• As stands progress, intermediate (8-25 years old)
  and mature (40 years) stands provide nesting
  sites and drumming logs

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Hurdles for Management

• Conversion of forest to other land uses
• Management of forests on private lands
• Fragmentation with small patch sizes
• Selection cutting
• Lack of cutting on national forests
• Availability of accurate population and harvest
  data

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WV Concerns

• Cold, wet springs in 2002 and 2003 reduced
  numbers
• Hard mast production has been high, but there are
  many even-aged forests

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Ruffed Grouse Conservation Plan

• Designed to help wildlife and habitat managers
  determine quantity of grouse habitat is needed to
  restore ruffed grouse populations to their 1980
  levels by 2025
• Developed and funded by National Fish and
  Wildlife Foundation, Ruffed Grouse Society,
  Wildlife Management Institute, and Association of
  Fish and Wildlife Agencies

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Management Points

• Even-age silviculture required to produce
  adequate stem densities
• Leave about 20 sq. ft./acre basal area
• Incorporate crop tree management when stand is
  5-15 years old
• Provide conifers
• Small group selection cuts thinning?

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Management Points

• Focus on north and east facing slopes
• Short period of rotation
• Provide coarse woody debris
• Prescribed burning
• High contrast edge
• Minimize grape vine removal
• Consider effects of hunting

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Management Points

• Encourage a variety of forest types, including
  young stands
• Involves private, state, and federal agencies
• Habitat cannot be created overnight.
  Availability is determined by disturbances within
  the previous 2 decades.
• Riparian areas are a special case

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Maintenance

• In old fields, disking may be necessary to break
  up dense sod layer
• Disk/burn/reseed openings and logging roads
• Continue rotation of timber blocks
• Monitor populations

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Other Species Benefit

• Black bear
• White-tailed deer
• Songbirds
• Fox
• Rabbit

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Conclusions

• Clearcut to create a patchwork of 4 age-classes
  in 4-16 ha blocks
• Consider effects on other species that require
  large blocks of mature forest
• Provide saplings, pole-size and mature trees
• Use regular (square or circular) shaped
  management blocks to minimize edge

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Questions
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