ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, November 4, 1996 TAG: 9611060001
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
The explosive flight of a grouse followed by the boom of a shotgun was heard with increased frequency last season when hunters in Virginia reported flushing an average of 1.5 birds per hour of effort. That was a 13-year high, according to the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
The flush rate has languished as low as 0.72 birds per hour, and while it isn't expected to be anywhere near that dismal this season, which opened last Monday, it also isn't likely to reach the near-record high of last season.
The more than 20 years of hunter surveys compiled by the game department along with data from other states on the southern end of the bird's range reveal a troublesome, long-term decline in grouse numbers. While other upland game species, particularly deer and turkey, have experienced sharp upward trends in their population, grouse have been going nowhere. And that is a mystery to wildlife biologists.
``We have some basic questions we need to answer to find out what is going on with our grouse population,'' said Gary Norman, the upland game bird research biologist for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
What is limiting grouse numbers? A decline in habitat? Hunting pressure? Predators? A natural cycle?
These are questions researchers hope to answer with a recently launched, six-year research project that involves Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland and Ohio. The first-year funding by the states totals more than one-half million dollars, and additional funds are being provided by the National Ruffed Grouse Society, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Westvaco. Tennessee and Pennsylvania are expected to join the effort next year.
Grouse, referred to as the king of game birds, have been a frequently studied species in the aspen-thick New England and Lake states, but that hasn't been the case in the bird's most southern range. Norman, who is the project leader of the new study, said he believes this is the most extensive research ever in the oak-hickory woods of Appalachia.
``The general thrust is to look at survival, mortality and reproduction,'' he said.
The five states involved in the study have been trapping grouse and equipping them with radio transmitters so their movements, their breeding success and their mortality can be determined.
One of the major targets of the research is to determine what impact hunting, especially late-season hunting, has on grouse numbers. If it proves to be a significant factor, proposals to shorten the season can be expected.
``It has been suggested that late-season grouse hunting is hurting the population,'' said Norman. ``But I will be surprised if we have high hunting mortality.''
Virginia shortened its season several years ago - it closes Feb.8 this year - but Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia still have seasons that last through February.
One theory says the grouse that survive into February are the hardy ones and likely will make it into the nesting season; therefore they should be spared by hunters.
If hunting mortality proves to be a factor, the final phase of the study will attempt to determine how seasons need to be adjusted to reverse the downward trend in grouse populations.
Many people perceive logging, especially clear-cutting, as the ultimate sin against wildlife, but one of the factors holding back grouse could be the trend in maturing forests, especially on national forest property, said Norman. Grouse appear to do best in a successional forest, where there is ecological diversity and where cuttings, fires or insect damage stimulates new growth that creates food and cover for grouse.
The study should provide guidelines on woodland practices that benefit grouse. These would be helpful to the managers of both private and public woodlands, Norman said.
``I think there is a problem with the availability of grouse habitat and the quality of grouse habitat,'' he said.
Virginia's portion of the study is a joint venture of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and Virginia Tech. Research is being conducted in Botetourt County, mostly on Westvaco property, and on the Clinch Mountain Wildlife Area, near Saltville.
``We wanted to find typical grouse habitat in the state that has some hunting pressure associated with it and has some timber management going on,'' said Norman.
Technicians, who include Scott Johnson, David Fitt and Scott Fluharty, whose work area is Botetourt County, have erected 65 traps and captured just over 30 grouse. The birds have been fitted with radio transmitters and leg bands. Hunters who kill one of the radio-equipped birds should follow the instructions printed on the radio, Norman said.
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. R.L. KIRKPATRICK. Grouse. BILL COCHRAN. 2. & 3.by CNBResearch biologist Gary Norman checks trap hoping to find a grouse
that can be equipped with a transmitter. 4. (headshot) Norman.
color.