ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 25, 1996 TAG: 9602260086
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-10 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: OUTDOORS
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
Sometimes we compare the grouse population to the ups and downs of the stock market, but maybe that's no longer accurate. The Dow Jones average has been rising steadily, while the grouse population has languished in a lengthy downturn.
It remains too early to determine if the 1995-96 grouse-hunting season was a bear or bull. That information will come when the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries compiles its annual flushing rates from reports supplied by hunters.
Some hunters are saying their hours of climbing ridges and splashing through creek bottoms this season sent more birds blasting into the winter air than during past seasons. Mike Taylor, a Roanoker active in the Virginia Mountains Chapter of the Ruffed Grouse Society, reported averaging 14 flushes per trip.
``Friday before the season ended, I had my best day - 21 flushes,'' Taylor said.
Other hunters have reported outings when not a single bird was unseated. Even in West Virginia, where the flush rate always averages higher, grouse hunting often has been lackluster.
``It has been down for about 10 years,'' said Bob Beahm, a guide who works out of Elkins, W.Va.
A decade ago, you could expect decent hunting, he said.
``You would jump 10 or 20 grouse per day,'' Beahm said. ``It wasn't like some of the old-timers talked about, but it was pretty good.''
What has happened to grouse?
Answers - unlike the birds themselves - are abundant, from predators to paltry amounts of timber cutting. But wildlife biologists in Virginia and West Virginia want real answers.
``The department has a keen interest in answering some of the questions about grouse that we have answered with the turkey population,'' said Gary Norman, upland game biologist for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
So the department is planning a four-year grouse study that could cost a half-million dollars.
Many of the research techniques that were successful in the state's recent turkey study will be used, Norman said. They will include equipping birds with radio transmitters, so ``we can see where they are going and what is killing them,'' he said. ``Nobody in the Southeast knows what is limiting grouse populations.''
Even hunting pressure will be examined.
``I personally don't see that the number of grouse hunters in the woods has an impact on grouse numbers, but we will have to wait and see,'' Norman said. ``We will be objective.''
The effort will include assistance from Virginia Tech, as well as game departments in West Virginia, Ohio and possibly other states.
The Virginia Mountains Chapter of the Ruffed Grouse Society is poised to play a role in the project. The society already supports grouse research in Craig, Wythe, Alleghany, Bland and Augusta counties.
``The Ruffed Grouse Society's objective is to produce quality habitat for ruffed grouse and the many other wildlife species that also dwell in the young, dense forests preferred by grouse,'' said Cleo Roemele, a spokesman for the society.
The effort takes money, and that's the purpose of the Virginia Mountains Chapter banquet Saturday at Holiday Inn Tanglewood. Tickets are available from Robin Leonard, 297-9299 or 297-1014.
The chapter has been disappointed with its banquet attendance. The crowds have been small compared with the number of sportsmen who attend local turkey and elk events. Ninety percent of the society's research and habitat improvement funding comes from banquets, which makes these events more than just a fun-filled evening.
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