ALLEGHENY WMA
Finally, another good potential public hunting area that avid grouse hunters may want to check out is the Allegheny WMA, which lies near Elk Garden. This 6,000-acre WMA already has decent grouse populations in a variety of spots scattered across its varied expanse. Most of this area was timbered in the late 1980s and 1990s. Subsequently, much of its regeneration is in the ideal age-classes that are perfect for grouse. A great deal of this terrain is steep, rocky and thickly vegetated. In other words, it is good to great grouse habitat!

I recently had an opportunity to talk to Travis Metcalf, the wildlife biologist responsible for this WMA; he mentioned that if we had a decent brood season on this area last spring, the grouse hunting could shape up to be better than average on a good portion of this public hunting area. Metcalf went on to say that overall, there's a fair number of spots on this WMA that hold grouse and woodcock and that the successional stages should be good for the next couple of years.

While at a recent Jake's Day event for the National Wild Turkey Federation in Romney, I had an opportunity to talk to Bob Smith, the former manager of the Allegheny WMA. Smith is an avid grouse hunter and bird dog aficionado. He reiterated much of what Travis Metcalf had mentioned but went on a little further adding, "If you get over and scout this area prior to the opening of the hunting season, you can save yourself a lot of unproductive time just trying to find the better patches of grouse cover."

He said that the hunting the last two seasons was off a little from what it had been, but that it was still better than what many hunters have experienced throughout the state in other areas.

The WMA has gained some additional acreage just recently, so it would be wise to obtain an updated map from the Wildlife Resources Division office in Romney. There are a number of ways to access this public hunting area, but the easiest is to come in from Elk Garden or from Beryl utilizing state Route 46.

This is an area (once you get off the top of the mountain) where you probably can hunt over the course of an average winter. Be advised, though, much of this region can be devilishly steep along with the ever-present rock escarpments, so if you are not in top physical condition, I would not consider this as a possibility.

HONORABLE MENTIONS
There are a number of other public hunting areas that were considered for this article; however, because of present hunting conditions, I've selected six that would be more representative of decent places hunters could consider if grouse were their primary focus. Some of the others worthy of mention include: Pedlar WMA near Core, Briery Mountain outside of Kingwood, the Kumbrabow State Forest outside of Monterville, the George Washington National Forest and the Dry River Ranger District outside of Brandywine.

Overall, we have plenty of prime grouse cover coming on in the state. The key is catching some brood weather that is dry and not too cool. The early portion of last spring was dry -- and that's a good thing, as bad weather during spring has been a major negative factor for the past two to three years.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that grouse finally caught a break and have a better than normal brood season. When planning a trip to any of these areas, it would be wise to check with the biologists who are responsible for these wildlife management areas. They can provide a significant amount of invaluable information and help pave the way for a trip that we hope will put you into several grouse each time out this season.