This bird is a classic quarry for hunting over bird dogs in late summer and early fall, and with laika dogs in the late fall (the laikas tree them and attract the hunter's attention by barking, the hunter stalks and shoots). It can also be decoyed, when they gather together in flocks for the winter, or flushed from the snow holes they dig to spend the night in. The population can decrease and increase dramatically, depending mostly on three factors: the intensive agriculture with generous use of fertilizers and pesticides (the introduction of it almost wiped the bird out in 1970's, and the decay brought the bird back in the 1990's); the weather in winter (the birds spend the night in the snow, and a sudden drop of the temp. from above to below freezing point forms a shell of ice the birds can't break); the predation from racoon dogs and, surprisingly, wild pigs. Where I live, black grouse inhabits only limited areas, and is only legal to hunt in spring, on special license (only males are legal, and since the bird is polygamous, this is supposed to have almost zero effect on the population), and I've never hunted it. But around St. Peterburg blackcocks are quite numerous, and Grigory will surely be able to tell you more.
