The big jump in ruffed grouse drumming counts (nearly 50 percent statewide) announced this week by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is reason to cheer. Mysterious as these birds are in their habits and choice of habitats, they are even more so in the cyclical rising and falling of their population.
So, an apparent increase in numbers — whatever the reason — is good news.
Yet until hunters in the field this fall actually see that grouse are more abundant, I wouldn't get too excited. Something seems to have been affecting grouse in recent years, as increases — granted, none has been as significant as the most recent hike announced by the DNR — in drumming counts haven't seemed to materialize in higher bird numbers.
Various explanations are possible.
One is that the rising and falling of the ruffed grouse population is so steeped in mystery that tracking these birds definitively — whether by drumming counts or any other method — essentially is an exercise in guessing.
Obviously, availability of habitat is important over the long term. The late grouse researcher Gordon Gullion stressed the importance of "edge'' cover that exists between and among aspen forests (especially) of different ages.
On that front, changes are difficult to track, even in Minnesota, which arguably (actually, it's beyond dispute) offers the best ruffed grouse hunting in the nation.
(Reasons are twofold: Lots of public land, and generally widespread availability of grouse-friendly forest cover.)