Better tune up your pointer, your retriever or your four-wheeler. It's likely to be another good fall for ruffed grouse hunting in the North Country. Wildlife biologists had expected the grouse population to begin falling this year as the species heads toward the low end of its 10-year population cycle.
Spring drumming counts did decline in northern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin, but only slightly.
And with an excellent nesting season this spring and summer, the prospects for hunting are good. The season opens Saturday in both Minnesota and Wisconsin. Last fall's harvest of 700,000 grouse was down about 200,000 from the fall of 1998 simply because of that storm, Berg said. Rick Horton, forest wildlife biologist for the Ruffed Grouse Society at Grand Rapids, also predicts a good season. I'm pleased that we're going to get another good year.