doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Ruffed Grouse and Woodcock hunting-MN.

After describing drumming counts of 57% higher than last year, the DNR has come out and admitted that actual birds-in-hand for typical hunters this season have fallen 30% below last year.
Further, the National Ruffed Grouse Hunt, in Itasca county, run by The Ruffed Grouse Society, has recorded not just fewer birds than last year, both ruffed grouse and woodcock, but the lowest totals ever taken for the event, period.
My take, worth exactly what you paid for it, is, the past spring was wetter, and, colder than normal. But, the previous year saw flood conditions in spring and summer, from the Iowa to Canada border, and had as much to do with what we are seeing this year, as this spring did.

It will be a tough year to be a bird hunter in MN.

Best,
Ted

It was poor hunting in MI too Ted. We all had high hopes given the MN drumming counts. Drumming counts are only a reflection of how birds fared winter, imho. I shot a weak, sickly bird in the UP. The breast was atrophied both sides. The DNR said it may be West Nile virus and to take care when cleaning the birds...too late, I found out re West Nile after I cleaned that bird.

Ted, these observations seem particularly relevant because of your widespread wildlife management areas---lands set aside exclusively for propagation of grouse etc.

Supposedly, corvids are highly susceptible to west nile, and the population of crows, ravens, whiskeyjacks, and jays showed not the least bit of decline in the areas I hunt. The DNR in MN warned us, a few seasons past, that a pile of dead corvids that was discovered was not something to take lightly. I've never seen that, however. But, I wouldn't be surprised if that is or becomes a factor.
Pheasant roadside counts are down as well. I hold off on pheasants until the corn and beans start coming out of the fields, usually most of a month past the opener.
There aren't too many dumb birds left at that point.

Best,
Ted

King,
Looking at a map of the state, with those areas highlighed, would certainly get you to think it is a hunters Shangra La, here. And, it can be. But, there are political realities that go into the state's acquisition of WMA lands, and for a long time they were simply lands that were useless for just about anything, and simply ended up in the state's ownership to get them out of county tax forfeiture status. There are many that are simply balsam swamps, that will always be balsam swamps, and are unmanagable from a hunting perspective. They are of course, open to hunting, but, to a large degree are biological deserts, devoid of game animals. There have been a few attempts to provide long term consistant funding to the MN DNR, and these have always been shot down by political operatives, from both sides, in St Paul-the lottery was supposed to be a vehicle to fund the DNR, until weasels from both parties undid that at the last minute. Any timbering, or other profitable use of DNR lands always has the money going into the general fund, to be doled out as the legislature sees fit.
Relatively few of the WMAs are actively managed with an eye toward hunting, and those that are get hit pretty hard for that use.
I have argued myself blue in the face with management staff from the DNR, that insist on regenerating native prarie plants on southern WMAs, when the primary target for hunters on these lands is an invasive species, that is highly dependant on agricuture for survival across winter-Chinese ringneck pheasants. One could make the argument that white tailed deer are actually an invasive to native prarie ecosystems as well, I imagine. They insist on planting bluestem and red dogwood in areas that once had DNR subsidised planting of small grains, left for wildlife use on these areas. I have been told that "casual users" of these areas, hikers, birdwatchers, bicyclists, anyone who in fact does not purchase a hunting license, or tax stamps that actually funds the purchase of these areas, "prefer" to see native plants on them, and the DNR has to provide opportunities for all of them. The fact is that once the native plantings are in place, nobody from the DNR ever inspects it again. They plant it and forget about it.
It is maddening.
Blue stem and red dogwood are completely useless to a pheasant, in January.

Best,
Ted

Ted, bluestem useless to pheasants in January? Well, my experience hunting Kansas, Nebraska, & Iowa for 18 plus years would say otherwise. Especially if that bluegrass borders a cut corn or milo field. Now a pretty much worthless grass for wildlife that seems to be in many CRP seed mixtures...brome.

Dustin,
Pretty sure the variety I am talking about is called blue grama, although I am not a biologist. It is short, and provides little cover, especially from avian predators, which, are doing quite well here, better than at any other time in my life.
It is less useless than, say, paved highway, to pheasants on a sub-zero January day, but, far less useful than an acre of standing row crops, that bordered woody brushland, that were removed to make way for the above plantings, during the same time frame.
They do, generally, leave the cattails, which provides winter cover, if not that much to eat.

Best,
Ted

Ted,
When one mentions bluestem grass especially in regards to pheasant cover, people will automatically think big & little bluestem and varieties of switch grasses that are used in conjunction with the bluestem varieties. Sorry, I never would�ve even thought of Grama when it comes to pheasant cover. Maybe they made a mistake when buying their seed mixture? It�s possible. I�ve seen it here out west and Ive also seen it happen to a farmer who�s land I hunted in Nebraska. The company where he bought his seed screwed up the mixture and what came up was junk. So he disked it under, bought the correct mix and replanted. In certain programs, there�s a manager (usually a state or federal biologist) assigned to manage the crp....if the cover doesn�t meet spec...the landowners are asked to replant. With all that said, in regards to bird numbers, you can have all the awesome cover and habitat in the world, but you throw a hard winter and follow that up with a shitty spring and a wet cold early summer, the birds are screwed. That�s Mother Nature, can�t do anything about that. Bird numbers in my area are down too....oh well, I�ll still get out and give each dog their hour on the ground. Even in the worst of years, I�ll still find enough birds to keep it real.

What is frustrating is how the "drumming count" is proclaimed as if it truly means something. It clearly doesn't.