Not that long ago, hearing the drumming was almost a daily occurrence through April for anybody who spent time in the woods. The grouse, or partridge, began decreasing shortly after the turkeys were brought back here, but there doesn't appear to be any direct correlation. It's not like when the house sparrows came in and took over the nesting sites of bluebirds. Turkeys and grouse, even though both are ground-dwellers and eat some of the same insects and beech nuts and fruits, are not really competitors. The turkeys like nesting in the older, more open woods and foraging in hayfields and pastures.
Grouse prefer denser forests and abandoned farms covered with brush.
When they lose their favorite types of shelter, they decrease. Of course, there could be, and probably are, many other factors involved as well. Chopping up the forest for developments and house lots could be one. So could the addition of more predators, coyotes and fishers, to the scene. Grouse already had to contend with hawks, owls and foxes, along with animals that raid nests and take eggs, the raccoons and skunks and weasels.