W.Va. hunters now have something to GROUSE ABOUT

DAILY MAIL OUTDOORS EDITOR

The more biologists learn about West Virginia's dwindling grousepopulation, the less good news there seems to be. Six years into anongoing study, researchers have learned predators end up eating mostof the state's adult grouse. To make matters worse, those birds thatremain don't eat as well or breed as prolifically as theirnortheastern or midwestern cousins.

"We're finding that it's tough to be a grouse in West Virginia,"says Tom Allen, a Division of Natural Resources biologist andcoordinator of the Appalachian Cooperative Grouse Research Project.

Begun in 1995 as a pilot study on the population dynamics of WestVirginia grouse, the project has since spread to 12 locations ineight states. Researchers had hoped to learn why grouse in mid-Atlantic and southern states didn't seem to fare as well as grousein New England or the upper Midwest.

"We're at the very southern end of the grouse's native range, andwe thought that might have something to with their gradualdisappearance over the last 20 years or so," Allen says.

Grouse once were relatively abundant in West Virginia, but thelast two decades have seen a steady decline in the statewidepopulation.

Allen says several factors - factors that directly affectsurvival and reproduction - have begun working against the species.

"For one thing, there are more predators in the woods and in theskies than there were 20 years ago," he says.

Studies of radio-collared grouse have shown that two-thirds ofthe birds eventually die at the claws of hawks, owls, bobcats,raccoons and other predators.

"Nothing really can be done about it," Allen says. "Hawks andowls are protected by law, and the depressed fur market is keepingpeople from trapping the foxes, the bobcats and the raccoons. Itlooks as if the grouse are stuck with the predator problem."

Of course, predators wouldn't be having nearly as dramatic aneffect on grouse populations if the birds were capable of betternesting success. But in the central and southern Appalachians,nesting success tends to be relatively poor.

"Northern grouse average a dozen eggs per clutch, and 11 of thoseeggs usually hatch," Allen says. "Of those 11 offspring, nineusually survive through the first five weeks, and after that thesurvival rate is close to 100 percent."

By comparison, West Virginia grouse average two fewer eggs perclutch. Nine of the 10 eggs usually hatch, but chick survival issharply lower.

"By the end of the first week, only 40 percent of our hatchlingsare still alive," Allen says. "By the end of the fifth week, whenthe chicks are big enough to make it on their own, only 20 to 30percent of those that hatched are left."

Researchers believe southern birds' difficulty in nesting may berelated to nutrition. Allen explains:

"Most northern grouse live in woods where aspen trees aredominant," he says. "In the spring, just before nesting, grouse feedheavily on aspen buds, which are large and extremely nutritious.

"We don't have aspen this far south. Our birds are forced to eatbeech and cherry buds, which aren't nearly as large and aren'tnearly as nutritious."

Because of the hardscrabble fare, biologists believe MountainState grouse enter the nesting season in much poorer condition thantheir northern counterparts.

"That could help to explain the egg-clutch sizes and therelatively poor health of the chicks," Allen says.

"It also explains why West Virginia birds seldom re-nest aftertheir nests are destroyed by predators. A turkey, for example, willsimply re-nest. So will a northern grouse. But our southern grousewon't do that."

Allen believes the birds' physical resources are simply toodepleted for a re-nesting attempt.

"Nesting takes a tremendous toll on a hen grouse," he says. "Itcould be that our birds just don't have enough reserves to have asecond go at it."

The grouse's poor reproductive rate might eventually have aneffect on the length and makeup of West Virginia's hunting seasonfor the species.

"It looks as if, with the low production we're getting, huntingmight be having an impact on the population, even though hunterstake only about 15 to 16 percent of the available grouse," Allensays.

"Right now, we're in the process of closing three areas tohunting for a three-year period so that we can determine whether thelack of hunting has an effect on local populations."

Even if hunting turns out to have a significant impact on grousenumbers, Allen doubts whether it will significantly affect thelength or scope of the season, which begins in mid-October and endson the last day of February.

"I don't think it means we'll take the season away," he says."There may be some adjustments, but we're still a long way fromdetermining what those might be."

Ultimately - and somewhat ironically - grouse hunters' eventualsalvation might come from a statewide increase in timber cutting.Grouse prefer thick early-growth forest habitat, precisely the sortthat springs up about five years after an area has been timbered.

"As timbering increases, grouse populations should increase,too," Allen says.

Writer John McCoy can be reached at 736-3585 or by e-mail atwildwordwv@cs.com.