There's great news for Minnesota's 100,000 ruffed grouse hunters: The state's grouse population is up a whopping 43 percent statewide.
And grouse numbers are up 44 percent in the bulk of the grouse range, which extends from Lake of the Woods to Chisago County and includes the entire Arrowhead region.
Hunters could experience some of the best ruffed grouse hunting in years as the grouse population appears to be peaking in its 10-year boom-to-bust cycle. The increase is based on spring "drumming" counts by the Department of Natural Resources, released today.
"Counts have been increasing steadily since 2005, but this is the substantial annual increase we've been hoping for," said Mike Larson, DNR research scientist and grouse biologist. "Drumming counts this year are as high as counts during recent peaks in the population cycle." Those peaks were in 1978, 1989 and 1998.
Ruffed grouse populations are surveyed by counting the number of male ruffed grouse heard drumming at stops along established routes throughout the state's forested regions. This year observers recorded 2.0 drums per stop statewide. Last year's average was 1.4 drums per stop. In the so-called northeast region, the bulk of the grouse range, officials recorded 2.4 drums per stop. The northwest increased from 0.9 to 1.9 drums per stop. Counts of 1.1 drums per stop in the central hardwoods and 0.5 drums per stop in the southeast were similar to last year.
During peak years, hunters have harvested more than 1 million ruffed grouse. In comparison, in 2007, hunters killed fewer than 300,000 birds.
DOUG SMITH
