Goodbye Southern Ontario Ruffed Grouse?

[BDH]

I have seen more this year in southern Ontario than in many of the past years. I long thought the MNR was too slow at reducing the daily take to two, in reality a few years ago in southern Ontario you would be lucky to see two all season. The ones we are seeing are well educated, getting up at 60 yards ahead of you..

[dean.f]

In the past couple of years I've noticed that what I assume to be hunting pressure has really kept the birds deep in the thick away from any trails at a couple of spots I hunt. They run, they sneak, they almost never flush until on the other side of heavy edge cover. Sometimes the only way you know they are around are the tracks in the snow.

[warningshot]

predator control wont hurt

[tom gobble]

I’m just going by the areas I hunt, not one flush yet. I don’t hunt trail I get in the thickets and into transition zones and I have yet to flush one in my go to spots. There is No snow on the ground so I can’t confirm if numbers are down or birds are gone? But I’m not liking what I see.

[longpointer]

I'm in WMU 90B down near the lake and there use to be good bird hunting many years ago and many believe with the reintroduction of Turkeys is the cause of the decline but in the past few years we have spotted them back in our area. My neighbours and I have agreed to not shoot any until more and larger family groups are established.

[canuck]

im going to be hunting beverly swamp this weekend in 87D, ive seen a handful of grouse there in the last few years and even got my first grouse there a couple years ago. I will post back if I see anything.

Whenever im there and i tell people im grouse hunting they tell me there arnt any grouse in there, even had a group of guys accuse me of target shooting back in there (not allowed to target shoot there) because they didnt believe i had been seeing any grouse. they were real shocked when i puled a dead one out of my hunting vest.

they are out there, but super quick to flush. I noticed when I would wear my rain gear I would never see one, I learned it was because my rain gear was so loud when moving around that they would flush from super far, or I would just not hear them because of my gear. I switched back to my regular quiet stuff in the rain and I would be soaked but started getting flushes again.

[lazyman]

I'm a big believer in nature abhors a vacuum. When wild turkeys were extirpated in Southern Ontario ruffed grouse filled the habitat. Now the turkeys are back.

[Gilroy]

I'm a big believer in nature abhors a vacuum. When wild turkeys were extirpated in Southern Ontario ruffed grouse filled the habitat. Now the turkeys are back.

The turkeys disappeared when humans introduced the disease that killed off the local Chestnut trees. Humans were the ones to re introduce turkeys back into the Province. Humans were also the ones who logged and opened up more suitable habitat for ruffed grouse. Nature abhoring a vacuum I believe has a lot less to do with it that our impact.

[fishfood]

They say only 1 percent of life remains on earth. The other 99% of living organisms and life has come and gone.

Sent from my SM-G975W using Tapatalk

[Cass]

They say only 1 percent of life remains on earth. The other 99% of living organisms and life has come and gone.

Sent from my SM-G975W using Tapatalk

Talking percentages... a good thing to remember is whether it's birds or bunnies.... 10% of all the cover out there holds 90% of the game