2015 Ruffed Grouse Society Pennsylvania Forecast

HollowWatcher

HollowWatcher

Member
Pennsylvania

Woodcock populations in Pennsylvania have held fairly steady over the past 15 years, and woodcock advocates are optimistic about continued improvement according to Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) Grouse and Woodcock Biologist Lisa Williams. Populations are responding well to aggressive habitat creation and restoration ? a priority of the PGC and its partners. Although the number of birds any individual hunter encounters largely hinges on the timing of migration, in general we look forward to an average to above-average woodcock season in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania and Eastern 15-Year Trends - Singing Grounds Surveys

Last season?s grouse flush rates were the lowest experienced by Pennsylvania hunters in 50 years of monitoring (See figure ? black squares). Summer grouse sightings over the past three years have also be low (see figure ? open squares). The weather during this year?s incubation and early brood period was better than we have had in recent years, so we are hopeful that population trends will rebound a bit coming into the 2015-16 season. Overall, the prediction for 2015-16 is for an average to below average season in most of the Commonwealth. As always, best coverts will be found north of Interstate 80, where the combination of abundant food and thick cover can be found at a large landscape scale.

Pennsylvania Average Annual Grouse Cooperator flushes per hour and summer grouse sightings 1965-2014
Average annual grouse cooperator flushes/hour and summer grouse sightings in Pennsylvania, 1965-2014.

http://www.ruffedgrousesociety.org/Season%20Forecasts%202015#.VdDkrFNViko

Figures can be seen at link
 
The season can't get here fast enough..numbers of grouse are stable up at camp mostly due to great habitat but they are not what they once were.

I am looking forward to the progress being made by PGC the Grouse Management Plan!
 
I agree Hollow, let's get this summer over with!

There's always some grouse to be found at Camp and the surrounding area. It seems that I see most of them during deer season. :(

That early part of the season is real tough shooting with the foliage being what it is, but what a great time to be outdoors!
 
Hey that's a great link! i like reading up on all the other states too, even though I won't be hunting them, a ton of good information and charts! Iam going to see if I can get it printed out! Thanks!

We've been seeing plenty of grouse all year, can't wait to get after them!
 
I hope VA sees what PA is doing and takes some notes. Hopefully all goes well with the RGS lawsuit and some of the NF here gets logged as it should have been years ago.

P.S. you PA guys save a few birds so when I get tired of not seeing anything I can come up just to be reminded what a grouse looks like
 
chewi004 said:
I hope VA sees what PA is doing and takes some notes. Hopefully all goes well with the RGS lawsuit and some of the NF here gets logged as it should have been years ago.

P.S. you PA guys save a few birds so when I get tired of not seeing anything I can come up just to be reminded what a grouse looks like
Click to expand...


Don't worry Chewi, with my shooting percentage on grouse ,I'm sure some birds will be left for you! :)
 
parooster said:
Hey that's a great link! i like reading up on all the other states too, even though I won't be hunting them, a ton of good information and charts! Iam going to see if I can get it printed out! Thanks!

We've been seeing plenty of grouse all year, can't wait to get after them!
Click to expand...

I like looking at the other States as well. Minnesota is very interesting harvesting over 500,000 grouse a year it's easy to see why it's the states most popular game bird, yet they have over 25,000 Pheasant Forever members, proving that you can want it all. I think those Minnesota boys have their heads screwed on right!
 
i grouse hunted mostly Oil Creek, and a few of the SGL's around Kennerdell and Cranberry and have been noticing declining population. I guess it's been slow and steadily declining, but i guess i didn't notice it until 2012 maybe. It just kind of hit me one day, that i'd been hunting all season and only flushed 30-35 birds and killed maybe 20 of those. The idea hit me that just 10 years earlier, we could shoot a two or three man limit in a day (or get damn close). I saw grouse flush a few times on our farm in the Pittsburgh area too and while this is exciting i don't think it means that the birds are by any means "making a come back."

just my $.02...
 
For us the grouse hunting has seemed some what stable over the years, but our hunting spots have been passed down for generations. It goes up and down a little depending on the logging in the area, but we can always find a few. In some other areas people tell us the birds have disappeared completely. We used to hunt NY a little for grouse while doing some scouting for deer hunting, the birds acted and looked different than our Pa. birds. Looking forward to the upcoming season!
 
My Uncle, who just got back from doing work at our camp said he flushed a few grouse without really trying. We then talked about past grouse populations and he said in our area " Bradford County" the last cycle peak was in the mid-late 90's! I'm starting to get pumped!
 
I agree with your Uncle, 86-88 was fantastic, then again in 98-99, haven't seen numbers like that since, but there are always enough to keep it interesting.

My brother owned 60 acres in the Catskills about 1 1/2 hours away, and the same years were good for him, completely different habitat! :confused:
 
Good stuff. In some places I heard a good amount drumming during spring turkey season. In other places...not so much. However, I can report that there is a solid woodcock population this year in the places I explore in Northcentral PA. I have 2 pairs just around camp and I hear others in our distant fields right around dusk.

Do Woodcock strictly eat worms or maybe some seeds too? I should know but I don't.

Hearing their song while they perform their spiral flight at dusk on a windless, clear evening is amazing.
 
Do Woodcock strictly eat worms or maybe some seeds too? I should know but I don't.

Although most of their diet consists of worms, they'll eat almost any type of small insect, crickets, termites, spiders, ants, you name it!
 
We're heading for camp tomorrow and we are going to work a little of the grouse covers to see what's up!
I want the season to get here, but then I remember it goes way to fast!
 
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