Researchers will now examine chick survival with the goal being to answer the question of why reproduction is not as high as it should be and once was. This study should yield some fascinating results and will involve the dispersal of grouse come autumn. West Virginia University will conduct this study.

When the research project is finished, biologists should have a better idea of population trends and more knowledge on survival, mortality, productivity and home range. The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (DNR) will then be better able to manage our fool hens.

BIOLOGIST'S PERSPECTIVE
Chris Ryan, a wildlife biologist for the DNR, offers this perspective.

"Our biggest issue is lack of habitat," he said. "Grouse thrive in second-growth timber, 5- to 10-year-old clearcuts are good for grouse, while 10- to 15-year-old ones are much better. Generally, after a clearcut is 15 years old, you can just about forget it as a place to hunt for birds. For grouse, the stem density of trees is prime when those trees are 10 years old.

"Selective timber harvesting is OK for birds, but not as good as a clearcut. I want to emphasize that this second-growth timber is not only good for grouse, but also for a lot of songbirds such as towhees."

Stem density, continued the biologist, is also an important factor in terms of escape cover. Grouse need the right age of clearcut to hide, especially in the winter, from various predators.

Ryan added that a good rule of thumb for stem density is what the old-time bird hunters used to rely on. Their conventional wisdom was that for grouse hunting, trees "should be from the size of a pencil to anything you could get your hand around."

Ryan agrees with the grouse study in regard to the major problem recruitment has been. In recent years, grouse chicks have been hatching out in many areas of the state when late spring temperature drops and cold rains have occurred -- a double whammy for the birds. This is the same reason that turkey numbers have decreased in much of West Virginia, as the poults likewise have entered this world under inclement conditions. In the Mountain State generally, grouse eggs often hatch the last week of May, while turkeys typically hatch the first week of June.

Interestingly, in the study, the largest clutch was 14 and the average was just under 10. When only one bird on average out of these broods is reaching adulthood, no wonder we are experiencing grouse population problems. Everything, it seems, from weather to habitat has been conspiring against the birds. (Cont'd)

QUICK TIPS
Biologist Chris Ryan offered these quick tips for today's West Virginia upland bird hunters.

• Know your West Virginia grouse foods: acorns, beechnuts, autumn olive, grapes, multi-flora rose hips, black haw and many species of berries.

• Buy a good pair of hunting boots and be prepared to walk for long distances. Flush rates have not been good in recent years, and we have to partially make up for that by walking more.

• Search out private and public lands where timbering or some form of land disturbance has occurred in recent years. That might be cutting on private land or coal company property or clear-cutting in the national forest or on state wildlife management areas.