Improving Ruffed Grouse (partridge) Habitat

There’s many things that landowners can do to promote wildlife on their properties. Ruffed grouse depend on early successional habitat and dense cover for both food and protection from predators.

[@francesamoriell5910]

Love this. Managing game habitat is so rewarding. It’s interesting trying to manage for food throughout the seasons. People underestimate how much grouse like fruit! Apples and crabapples are great, I’ve also noticed the ruffed grouse taking a lot of interest in wild grapes, so much so that they’ll get drunk off the fermented fruit and fly into stuff like our garage window! They also seem to love the berries of mountain ash, so I’ve been trying to protect these trees for more soft mast production. I’ve been planting cranberry vibernum in hopes that they’ll take interest in these fruits, I’ve also seen them taking the hips of roses during the winter. Keeping some mature hardwoods for acorns and beech nuts is important too, and we’re trying some American hazelnuts as well. It’s also good to leave them a large mature log or three for drumming :)

[@jonathanpretty3380]

Great video, good work!!

[@scottschaeffer8920]

Hand Saw? Not. Kudos to those who do? Fire-up the chainsaw- the grouse’s best friend.

[@davidhickenbottom6574]

We had a lot of partridge 30 years ago in Massachusetts I think the predators put the hurt on them. We still jump a few in New Hampshire.

[@louisstanley1163]

In Maine they are called "partridge". Right or wrong, we must always remember where our ancestors came from.

[@nicholasmacinnis1486]

Very true!

[@kenholzman3654]

Often heard in Michigan's Upper Peninsula as well.

[@sandych33ks1]

I have over 100 wild apple trees. I steadily have started pruning them little by little over the years. The trees are producing more and bigger apples. I have wild raspberry and black berry vegetation growing. Yet our Ruffed Grouse population seems nonexistant. 30 years ago we had grouse everywhere. Any time we went in the woods or our back fields we always saw or heard them fly away. The numbers are at record low levels. What's changed ?

[@nicholasmacinnis1486]

What region are you in ? Generally speaking the declines in Ruffed grouse populations is linked to changes in landscape cover… changes to forestry and farming practices for example. There are some areas in North America where grouse are being impacted by West Nile Virus.
Grouse like a wide variety of habitat types to accommodate various life stages and seasons.

[@sandych33ks1]

@@nicholasmacinnis1486 I'm in upstate NY. The Adirondacks.. As I said we use to see them everyday. We would 8 or 10 at a time out of brush piles as kids. Now I'm lucky to see one a year during deer season. Even my local ENCON officer who I was talking too had no answer but he recognized the numbers are very low.

[@davidhickenbottom6574]

Predators same in Massachusetts.

[@americansfirst1095]

SE Ohio......they disappeared about 10ish years ago...

[@DavidWhelbourn]

Thank you for the thoughts, What about planting clover around the edges of tracks?

[@nicholasmacinnis1486]

That's a great idea... clover can be planted via frost seeding in early spring so quite easy to plant.

[@DavidWhelbourn]

@@nicholasmacinnis1486 Thanks, how early can you frost seed?

[@nicholasmacinnis1486]

@@DavidWhelbourn well, I've been told that clover seed can sit in the soil for almost a century waiting for the right conditions to germinate so with that being said I don't think you can go wrong with "frost seeding" at anytime of year. Last year I frost seeded a pasture in early march and I had excellent germination in June / July.

[@DavidWhelbourn]

@@nicholasmacinnis1486 I will test it out next spring - thanks for the tip. I just might become Jonny cloverseed :-)

[@survivewithjon]

We had one on our acerage called peter the partridge... was a female tho lol
Males have a solid conected line (BAR) on tail females have a broken (BAR) on the tail

[@nicholasmacinnis1486]

Good to know!

[@JamesThompson-vs4kg]

Are you a member of the ruffed grouse society? And what kind of gun dog do you have

[@nicholasmacinnis1486]

I have been a member in the past, there wasn’t an active group in my province ( Nova Scotia) until this year. I’ll join again as a member for sure.

[@TheRichtaber]

When you’re filming you might want to look at the camera directly instead of off to the side. Good info in the vid.

[@medicja]

It’s time for people to get facts straight grouse are not partridge and partridge are not grouse . They are however a part of the pheasant family as is turkeys . So get your facts straight

[@JMcLeanMuzik01]

Right. Huns and ruffies don’t even look alike.

[@DavidWhelbourn]

True, but Brits who came across probably related them to the English grey partridge.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Perdix_perdix_Sri_Mesh.jpg

[@davidhickenbottom6574]

Ok Karen sorry.