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Due to habitat destruction or lack of and west nile disease the roughed grouse is going the way of the dodo bird in many areas. very unfortunate.
Geez that's a bleak forecast for a bird I love to hunt. I wonder if there's any natural resistance to West Nile? Is there any way MNR could immunize grouse in some way?
I hear many guys laughing but don't forget the MNR went to great lengths to vaccinate our raccoons in the Niagara area against raccoon rabies using airdropped food pellets. It has been a successful program.
Actually the latest study’s are showing that some grouse are building an immunity to West Nile virus. So there is some hope.
Not too surprised. In any viral outbreak in any species some % of the population gets infected, survives and kicks the disease. The survivors are than the ones that reproduce and the next generation has an even higher survival rate and so on. Population overall is certainly still knocked down but eventually stabilizes. Although when coupled with other factors like predation and habitat destruction they may never recover to the pre-West Nile days.Quote:
Originally Posted by fishhawk
Wouldn't this be more Southern Ontario? I don't think much West nile has shown up in the Far eastern or Northern Ontario as well there is still logging going on. Am I missing something?
I just had a great grouse season down here, seen more birds than on the previous years.
The cycle is definitely up on my hunting grounds. Why, I do not know...
Will be interesting to see what this spring will bring for recruitment.
Numbers where good up too Spring '17
Spring '17 was horrible cold and wet with summer not that much better resulted in few grouse contacts and the ones found were smart old birds
Spring '18 was better nesting conditions and there was a marked resurgence in numbers not as many as pre '17 but better
Hoping this spring will bring on another good hatch and be back to good numbers again
Dogs are looking forward to the fall.
UoG did some studying on WNV, has any info come out from that study?
I find the places that still hold grouse in south they are doing well and I have not noticed any ups or downs in the last ten years that I have seriously hunted them. That being said there range has differently shrunk in southern Ont. I would say the land that they use to be found on in southern Ontario has shrunk at least 60 percent since the 80's.Quote:
I just had a great grouse season down here, seen more birds than on the previous years.
The cycle is definitely up on my hunting grounds. Why, I do not know...