Back in 75 I used to get a few grouse up here in NE Ohio but Ohio don't care about management unless there is $$ Tag on it. I had a state worker tell me long time ago that Ohio won't use a chainsaw and if you go up to Wisconsin or Mic you will see workers planting poplar seedlings & other plants along the " logging roads and spreading gravel" easy to walk with dog casting about and this cover & gravel holds birds. We need a hunting governor that will get some of those lazyass prisoners out there and cut the trees down, make furniture to help pay their keep and give them a reduced sentence if they stay good.
Grouse hunting in Ohio
- Thread starter GNILOP
- Start date
Ohiosam
*Supporting Member*
I’ve been told that every time they try to do any logging in the Wayne NF that the tree huggers go to court and get an injunction to stop it.
Why is it always the government that's responsible for habitat when only 3% of land is public so 97% would need to be managed by the private land owner. Government struggles enough managing their slice of pie because if they bring equipment onto it the public loses their minds as they think it should just be left alone and do what it wants to do which is not the best for habitat.
In north east ohio and much of the ag lands of Ohio the issue is the private landowner that runs the crops as close to the road as they legally can. They don't care about your grouse or anything other than getting as much money out of their ground as they can. The average landowner doesnt know the first thing about habitat development and those that care to get involved in it focus on whitetails.
Only way I see this changing are through programs like CRP programs where landowners would get paid for habitat development.
In north east ohio and much of the ag lands of Ohio the issue is the private landowner that runs the crops as close to the road as they legally can. They don't care about your grouse or anything other than getting as much money out of their ground as they can. The average landowner doesnt know the first thing about habitat development and those that care to get involved in it focus on whitetails.
Only way I see this changing are through programs like CRP programs where landowners would get paid for habitat development.
The American Indians knew how to "manage " "their " Forrest's by setting large tracts of the woods on fire and burning it down!
The first thing that comes up after a fire is Berrys and young trees & brush to keep the game. We white men only can produce college educated forrest management people and look what we have- NOTHING!
The first thing that comes up after a fire is Berrys and young trees & brush to keep the game. We white men only can produce college educated forrest management people and look what we have- NOTHING!
White man has done a lot of good for this country as well. I also believe the blizzard of 78’ did more damage to the numbers.
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What's a grouse????? Man I haven't seen a grouse in I don't know how long.... Season was closed here in Jersey this year.... To think I used to go out and shoot a box of shells a day on those speedsters around 1970... So much fun... Like everything else makes ya wonder what happened to them?? Mature forest's definately aren't ideal habitat for them, but then again I know some woods that could use a good fire to open it up and you won't find a grouse in there... Puzzling to say the least...
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Massive increase in the use of pesticides which kill their food, and herbacides which kill their habitat. Combine that with the inability to log or burn in none ag areas and the rapid response to natural fires is all a recipes for population decline.
Bigcountry40
Member
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This and welcome, whoever was in charge of the redtail hawk and turkey buzzard population needs to head up pheasant, grouse and quail management.. We would have quail, pheasants and grouse in every brush pile
Sgt Fury
Sgt. Spellchecker
Here in Jersey in the 1980’s you could go out grouse hunting and expect to get a limit every time you went out. Then it got to where you would go rabbit hunting and occasionally get a grouse as a added bonus. I can’t remember the last time I jumped a grouse here. At my property in Vinton county Ohio there is a spot that I usually jump a grouse or two every time I walk that area...but I, like Jackalope, would feel bad for shooting one given how the population is nowadays.
Does anyone know if theres been any successful reintroductions of quail, pheasant or grouse anywhere? I always wondered in the areas they do releases why they never really took and was always told it's because they use farm birds that supposedly just dont know how to survive in the wild. Whether or not that's truth, I dont really know. It makes sense though since a lot of the Pheasants Forever land they do these large releases on are prime habitat for them.
Bigcountry40
Member
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I read an article the other day about some cover crop that could secure a healthy habitat for pheasants during the winters months after the corn comes off. Farmers would plant ditches along the roads if they could, they hate nature and want to kill everything with round up, its unbelievable. I know farmers that will neglect basic maintenance on their house and buildings because they to need to clear fence rows and brush.
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I laugh my ass off when they plant too close to the road and a county worker mows down 2-3 rows for a half mile.
With that said cover crops would also go a long way towards a lot of things. The biggest being reduction of nitrate runoff that creates the gigantic dead zone in the gulf and huge algae blooms.
tracker 6
Junior Member
Grouse aren't a bird that's suitable for stocking . Too wild. blizzards aren't a big deal for grouse ,they burrow under the snow to stay warm and
Some of you know that I raised pheasants for a few years and released them around my house.
I have never seen one since releasing them but do get a few neighbors that say they see one every now and again. No way to know if it was one of mine.
From all the research I have done says that a pheasant bird hatched in an incubator will never hatch a clutch of eggs. They will not build a nest and sit on eggs. I have no idea if this is true or not. Now if some pen raised birds were able to find a wild population that may help.
I have never seen one since releasing them but do get a few neighbors that say they see one every now and again. No way to know if it was one of mine.
From all the research I have done says that a pheasant bird hatched in an incubator will never hatch a clutch of eggs. They will not build a nest and sit on eggs. I have no idea if this is true or not. Now if some pen raised birds were able to find a wild population that may help.