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The Ruffian of Our Highland Ravines

by

Bruce Ingram photo

It is a cold winter morning in early February when Andy Rosenberger, Paul Hinlicky, and I arrive at my mountaintop land in Craig County, Virginia. Wind whips at the jungle of greenbrier, blackberry, wild rose, assorted other thorny flora, and regenerating trees in front of us as Andy directs his pointing lab into the copse.

Then the delayed answer to Andy’s question: “Who wants to join Otter and me in the briar patch?” Not wanting to appear a wimp, but also not wanting to spend the evening extracting thorns from my lower body, I stare at Paul for long seconds as I know he’s as eager as I am not to enter the thicket. Finally, I come up with a logical (though desperate and shameful) response: “Paul’s taller than I am, so he’ll have a better chance getting off a shot. I’ll walk my seeded logging road and be ready to shoot if one comes my way.”

Paul frowns but realizes he’s been outmaneuvered and plunges into the undergrowth after Andy and Otter. 

Welcome to hunting for ruffed grouse in our region. Three major game birds dwell year-round in our mountains: the wild turkey, ruffed grouse, and bobwhite quail. The turkey, a big game species, is by far the most popular and is doing reasonably well. The quail, known for its preference for overgrown fields and savannah-like forests in our valleys, is virtually gone from most of our region. And the grouse, the Ruffian of our Highland Ravines—a bird that thrives in the thickest, most brier infested, hide removing habitat possible, is barely hanging on as its numbers have plummeted in recent decades. What is the appeal of grouse hunting, and why have the numbers of ruffs so steeply declined? 

Andy Rosenberger not only pursues grouse, but also is the private lands biologist for the Virginia Game Department and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). He explains his passion for the pastime.

“I guess it was just something that I heard a lot about when I was younger from my grandfather,” says the 41-year-old Rosenberger. “When I was old enough to pay attention, my grandfather told lots of stories about bird hunting and growing up hunting. However, he did not hunt much because he had some ailments that pretty much kept him out of the woods. 

“Everywhere you looked, though, in his house, there were grouse and woodcock items. His coffee cup had grouse and woodcock on it. His zippo lighter had a pheasant on it. Hanging on the wall were needlepoint images of English setters, grouse, and woodcock. The main picture/painting hanging on the family room wall (now hanging on mine) was of a grouse drumming on a log. So, despite my not doing it much as a kid, grouse hunting was always talked about as a prized activity, and it instilled in me that grouse were the king of gamebirds.” 

Rosenberger says that as a youngster, his family always possessed an English setter as a pet, but living in heavily populated Northern Virginia did not afford him much of an opportunity to go grouse hunting. So he really did not pursue upland birds other than occasionally with his uncle or cousin over the Christmas holidays. That changed when the biologist graduated from college and purchased his own setter. 

“It is kind of funny how things work out, but my interest after college rejuvenated my dad and brother’s interest,” Andy continues. “Now ever year, my dad, brother, uncle and I get together for a week of bird hunting. Since the time that I started back bird hunting, my brother has a bird dog, I have a bird dog, dad has two, and my uncle three.”

The joy of hunting with family members or close friends, as Hinlicky and I are, is certainly part of the appeal of grouse hunting as is high quality dog work as ideally a canine detects the scent of a bird, goes on point, and charges after a downed bird after its owner squeezes off an accurate shot. Grouse hunters—and their dogs—live for such glorious moments.

But this is not to say that shooting a grouse is easy. Indeed, many hunts end with empty game bags and spent shells and the reasons have to do with the habitat that grouse thrive in and the bird itself. For example, the quail’s nickname is Gentleman Bob, and old-timey sportsmen classically wore ties and fancy clothes when pursuing this gamebird. They typically arrived at their destination in horse-drawn wagons with servants at their beck and call. Everyone stopped at lunch for a catered meal. Fine Southern preserves still offer this type of outing today.

Conversely, grouse hunters—then and now—have the proverbial “lean and hungry look,” clothes torn from the thorns this bird dwells in, their dog’s footpads bloodied from that same terrain, and their game bags empty even when grouse numbers were high. For lunch, grouse hunters gulp down a candy or energy bar on the fly.

Regarding the two gamebirds, a quail flutters up after it is flushed and gives a hunter a fair chance at shooting it. On the other hand, a grouse explodes out of cover as if it were a detonating firecracker, darts erratically behind the first tree or vegetation it encounters, then flies pell-mell off into the yonder never the same way twice. I seem to always be rattled when a grouse flushes and frankly always surprised when I shoot one—spectacularly bad misses are the norm for many individuals.

A quail hunter reckons his success by how many birds he kills. A grouse hunter measures his day by how many birds he flushes. A true grouse hunting buddy does not ask you how many birds you killed that day, but instead inquires about your flushes per hour. A true grouse hunting buddy lets you bring up the topic of whether you actually downed any of the birds flushed.

Unfortunately, one of the things that grouse and quail do have in common is that populations are very low in our region. And they both require a certain type of habitat to thrive.

“Both grouse and quail live in different types of early successional habitat,” says Rosenberger. “While quail live in old fields, grouse prefer young forest. However, while they live in different habitats, they are both facing population declines for the same reasons—lack of habitat. Next time you are at an overlook, look out and evaluate how much young forest you see. It is likely to be a very low percentage of the landscape. 

“If grouse live in young forest, and there is little young forest on the landscape, it is logical that there will be few grouse.   One of the reasons that there is not a lot of young forest is that many landowners are either ill-informed or simply do not understand the differences in habitat. Many people view early succession habitat as just ugly weeds that need to be cut.”

Just what is early successional habitat? A prime example is a clear-cut. For example, the briar patch/young forest habitat I described at the beginning of the story exist because of a clear-cut I arranged in 2009. It is just now becoming a home for ruffs, but this type of young forest is also home for three dozen-plus species of songbirds in our region; birds that are suffering population declines, just like grouse and quail, because of the lack of clear cutting on our region’s national forests in recent decades. 

Among those songbirds in decline because of the lack of old field and young forest type habitat, Rosenberger lists such birds as whippoorwills, golden-winged warblers, meadowlarks, pine warblers, prairie warblers, and kingbirds. In effect, people who are against timber cutting on our national forests and private lands or are obsessive about “clean” fields are anti-songbird as well.

“We must encourage landowners to create old fields and young forest for quail and grouse,” continues Rosenberger. “Guess what, it is not only good for quail and grouse but also for deer, turkey, rabbits, bear, butterflies, bees, and songbirds. All of these species need the cover and food provided by early successional habitat. Old field and young forest provide many times more food than a mature forest or nonnative grasses in a pasture. Providing this in-between stage habitat will drastically improve the numbers and variety of wildlife on a property.

“Sure, mature tall trees are beautiful and provide habitat for some species, but every place where we do not have crops, hay, and houses does not need to be in mature trees.   Mature trees are not home to everything. We need diversity on the landscape for all species to thrive. I encourage the readers to evaluate their own property. What percentage of their property has a native vegetation structure that is between the heights of 16 inches and 16 feet? I am guessing the proportion is pretty low.”

Rosenberger adds that quail do not simply need non-forested areas, they need old field settings that are free of nonnative exotic grasses such as fescue and orchard grass. Grouse have the same problem. Many people believe that grouse simply live in the woods. While they dwell in the woods, they need more than that. Grouse need thick areas on the forest floor to hide and feed. A mature forest does not provide that. Sunlight is the key for grouse management. Where sunlight can actually hit the forest floor, the forb component thrives. These forbs grow up to provide cover and food. Occasionally we may find a grouse in mature forest, but most of this bird’s time is spent in thick areas that are hard to walk through. 

Misconceptions about Decline of Grouse and Quail

I often have folks tell me that they have quality grouse or quail habitat on their land but that the predators, especially coyotes, have eaten all the birds. This is unadulterated nonsense emphasizes Rosenberger.

“Many people look at habitat as two types: trees and no trees or forests and field,” he says. “The problem is we cannot look at the problem that simply. Most landowners I encounter think that they have bird habitat (but really do not) and blame the lack of birds on a multitude of issues from disease, predators, and turkeys competing for the same resources. 

“For example, turkeys do not stomp quail and grouse nests; you name it I have heard it. I agree, predators, disease, and nest predation are all reasons that an individual quail could meet its demise. However, Mother Nature has dealt with and solved this problem eons ago. Quail were doing just fine before humans ever invented firearms and foothold traps to remove predators. What Mother Nature was not able to do was protect birds from humans and their ability to change the landscape/habitat. Take all the reasons contributing to the demise of quail and grouse and put them in a pie chart. The reasons most landowners believe are the problem are only small slivers of that pie. The biggest slice by far is lack of habitat.” 

What We Can Do

To improve wildlife habitat for grouse and songbirds in our region, here’s what Rosenberger recommends.

Available Programs

Rosenberger emphasizes that one of the best programs for both grouse and songbirds is the Working Lands for Wildlife’s Golden-Winged Warbler Initiative (GWWI) of the NRCS and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Thanks to cost-share funding by these agencies, I was able to implement the GWWI on two of my Craig County properties, including the one mentioned earlier. With those funds, I hired James Hancock, a professional wildlife habitat manager from Daleville, Virginia.

Before Hancock started working on the property, I conducted three small clear cuts in 2004 and 2005 (averaging about seven acres) and a 15-acre cut in 2009. Under Hancock’s guidance, a seven-acre cut was implemented in 2015 and when it was completed, the land manager over-seeded the road and skid trails with Virginia wild rye and Durana clover which benefits grouse and songbirds as they can search for bugs there. The rest of the cut was allowed to regrow naturally with the exception of planting some native warm season grasses such as Little Bluestem. Both of these projects created superb cover- and feeding areas - for birds of all kinds.

With a backpack sprayer, Hancock also attacked invasive species such as ailanthus, paulonia, Japanese barberry, and multiflora rose—a process that needs to be repeated for several years. In the future, the manager plans to manage hardwood regeneration through spraying or by controlled burns and the judicious use of herbicides.

The Result of Habitat Improvement

On the day Rosenberger, Hinlicky, and I spent on my Craig County mountaintop, we were afield under three hours and flushed eight grouse—an outstanding success rate. Modesty compels me to admit that my reflexes were too slow for me to attempt a shot at any of the octet, but good journalism requires my reporting that cohorts Rosenberger and Hinlicky misfired six times at the whirling ruffs—a not unusual occurrence for any upland gunner. We can have great grouse habitat again, but not without creative thinking and habitat management.

Note: a new NRCS initiative for creating grasslands and savannahs for quail is Working Lands for Wildlife program, detailed on the NRCS website.

The Appeal of Grouse Hunting

Bill Holbrook of Bethel, North Carolina explains the appeal of pursuing ruffs.

“Fifty-six years ago a man by the name of Nelson Van Hook of Candler, North Carolina, took a 14-year-old boy grouse hunting and I have been hooked since then,” he says. “One of the most enjoyable and rewarding thing about grouse hunting is the relationship I have with my English setter bird dogs.  I get a high when I see a dog start working the scent of a bird then go on point.  If I am lucky enough to shoot a bird, have the dog find and retrieve it, all that dog expects is for me to praise him.  It has been a blessing for me to have had several dogs over the years that could do that.”

Holbrook agrees with Andy Rosenberger about the need for more habitat management.

“We do need more young growth forest and clear cuts.  I’ve been hunting in Northern Wisconsin for 17 years.  There they really have the clear cuts where we can flush many more birds per day than in Western North Carolina.  Here, this is the worst year I have ever had in the number of birds flushed per day.  In the 60s, 70s and 80s, you could flush 10, 20, or more birds a day.”

Those days will only return if habitat management takes place.

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