DULUTH — The number of male ruffed grouse heard drumming in April and May as part of their spring mating ritual was up again this year in the Northland, signaling a continued higher population, but a soggy June may have reduced this year’s crop of young grouse on the landscape.
A male ruffed grouse “drums” or beats its wings on its chest to attract a mate in spring. The 2024 drumming count across the ruffed grouse range in Minnesota was the highest since 1972, but a wet June may have reduced the number of newly hatched chicks, which will impact the overall population. (Courtesy of the North Dakota Game and Fish Department)
That’s the word from the Minnesota and Wisconsin departments of natural resources, along with other biologists and grouse enthusiasts who have spent time in the woods this spring and early summer.
The spring drumming counts, conducted before the rains came hard, showed that a good portion of last year’s thriving population of grouse managed to survive over a winter with little or no snow.
That lack of snow could have been a disaster because grouse usually burrow in deep snow at night to escape cold temperatures and predators in winter. Instead, grouse had to nest in trees, but were not subject to much extreme cold and apparently survived just fine
In Minnesota, the drumming survey — where biologists stop at predetermined locations across the grouse range to listen for male grouse beating their wings — hit 2.3 drumming birds per stop across their entire range, up from 2.1 last year and way up from 1.3 in 2021, now believed to be the low year of the bird’s mysterious 10-year cycle in Minnesota.
This year saw the highest drumming count in Minnesota since 1972.
Northeastern Minnesota saw 2.7 drums per stop, compared to 1.6 in the central region. But northwestern Minnesota has been seeing fewer ruffed grouse of late, with just 0.66 drums per stop this year, down from 1.5 in 2023 and 2.9 in 2022. Charlotte Roy, Minnesota DNR grouse research biologist, said it’s unclear why the northwestern grouse population is declining while it is increasing elsewhere in the state.
In Wisconsin, the 2024 drumming survey was up a startling 60% in the north from 2023 and up 41% in the central regions but down 56% in the southwest where declining habitat has been a problem for decades.
In the north, the 2.32 drums per stop heard this year was up from 1.45 drums per stop in 2023, the highest since 2011. In northern counties, 34 routes saw increases in drumming, eight saw declines and 10 were unchanged from 2023.
Last year, biologists and hunters in both states agreed that grouse had perfect nesting conditions with a warm and dry spring that spurred high survival of young grouse. That’s especially important for hunters because surveys show nearly two-thirds of all grouse that hunters shoot each season were hatched that same year.
“The late spring and summer of 2023 were abnormally dry, which resulted in prime nesting and brooding conditions for ruffed grouse,” said Alaina Roth, Wisconsin DNR ruffed grouse specialist. “This is likely the most influential factor explaining the increase in the number of drumming grouse this year. We are also likely entering the ‘up’ phase of our 10-year population cycle, which may be an influencing factor, too.”
Ruffed grouse, for reasons still not fully understood, typically follow a 10-year population cycle.
Wisconsin biologists believe their cycle peaked earlier, dropped and is now on the rise again, set to peak by about 2029. Minnesota drumming counts show a continued rise in drumming for several years, with no recent drop yet.
For more information regarding grouse hunting or managing habitat for ruffed grouse in Wisconsin, visit dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/hunt/ruffedgrouse.
Heavy rain tough on chicks, but some have survived
Many ruffed grouse enthusiasts were concerned in June when multiple heavy rains hit much of the region, more than 3 inches in many areas and up to 9 inches in one downpour across parts of Minnesota’s Arrowhead.
A wet June, when grouse hatch and fledge, sometimes means that grouse chicks perish from exposure, drowning or other complications. Biologists say some of that probably did occur, but maybe not as bad as expected. Many people in the woods say they are seeing at least some grouse chicks that persevered.
Roy said she had been concerned that the rains were too much for small grouse but that she has been hearing “decent brood reports, too, so hoping that continues.”
“While ruffed grouse drumming counts are high in the core of ruffed grouse range, indicating a strong breeding population this spring, drumming counts are not an accurate way to predict the birds that will be present during the fall hunting season,” Roy said. “Nesting success and chick survival during the spring and summer are among the factors that influence the number of birds present in the fall. These factors can be reduced by heavy rain during June when nests are hatching and chicks are young.”
Bailey Peterson, a grouse hunting enthusiast and Minnesota DNR wildlife manager, said she didn’t see as many young grouse early in the summer as expected considering the non-winter and early spring.
“But I did see a brood of teenagers two days after the 7.5 inches of rain fell here, on a road that was closed for a washout, so I take that as a decent sign of hope,” she said. “A few co-workers have seen broods of short fliers in the last week. It’s not going to be outstanding but it’s not a total failure of a brood year either at this point.”
Mike Amman, a forester for Ashland County and a grouse hunting enthusiast, said the spring and early summer have been incredibly wet. But he said the high drumming counts showed there were plenty of birds to start the year.
“I am assuming we lost a decent number of chicks to the wet weather, but having said that, I am still seeing broods of grouse. Most are one-third-to-half grown already,” Amman said. “I haven’t seen a ton of broods but … when I have been out, I have seen some … averaging about one to two broods a day in decent cover.”
Greg Kessler, Wisconsin DNR wildlife manager in Douglas County, said several upland bird species may see fewer chicks survive the heavy rains, including grouse, turkey and woodcock, which may stall or even reverse what had been a few years of population increases.
Debbie Petersen, grouse and woodcock expert who has spent a lot of time in the woods this spring and early summer conducting breeding bird surveys, said she has seen some decent-sized broods, although that was before the most recent round of heavy rain.
“I saw the most broods up by Wirt (in Itasca County). I had one half-mile stretch of trail there where I encountered three separate very young broods. Each had six to 10 chicks,” Petersen noted.
Minnesota sharptails up in northwest, east-central regions
Minnesota’s northwest sharp-tailed grouse population is higher this year than last year and the highest it’s been since 2009, according to spring population counts conducted by the Minnesota DNR and cooperating organizations.
A male sharp-tailed grouse dances in the spring of 2019 on his mating territory, called a lek. The number of sharptails seen at leks was up in 2024 in Minnesota. (Steve Kuchera / Forum News Service)
The number of grouse seen per lek, or dancing area, hit 15.9 birds this year in the northwest, up from 12.4 last year.
The population level remains low in east-central Minnesota, including Pine, Carlton, Aitkin and St. Louis counties, but is up from crippling-low numbers a few years ago. This year, 11.8 grouse were counted per lek, up from 8.0 in 2023 and considerably higher than the lowest-ever count of 4.8 in 2012. Sharptails were counted at 25 areas in the east-central region, down from more than 80 areas in the 1980s and hundreds in the mid-1900s.
The Minnesota DNR closed the sharptail hunting season in the east-central zone in 2021 due to chronically low numbers compared to a half-century ago. The season will be closed again this year.
Lower population levels in this area in recent decades are thought to be driven largely by changing habitat conditions. The birds require vast areas of 1-3 square miles of open grassland and brushland, without crops or trees, so managing their habitats often requires cooperation between multiple landowners.
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