I'm curious whether any of you who are serious grouse hunters killed a bird In Ky over a point?.. heck, tell us if you killed one over a flushing dog. ( Maybe Do not tell us if you shot it on the ground or off a four wheeler). Please don't tell us where in Ky specifically, as too much hot spotting around here anyway. I would really like to know this because I know four people besides me who are very serious bird dog guys and grouse hunters , and not one has killed a bird in S E Ky in this season and they cumulatively have spent maybe 40 days hunting them. Pretty discouraged.
I saw one a couple years ago. Usually see one or two every year, but haven’t seen one in a while. I’m sure they’re still there, hopefully!
We don’t have many upland birds in marion county. We used to have a small covey of quail but haven’t seen them in over 10 years. I’ve seen a snipe as well once, and another snipe was in my garage in Louisville last year. That’s it for birds
This is the first year in 20 years that I have not been out grouse hunting in KY. I was thinking of going this weekend, but now it is going to rain the whole time. I likely would not shoot one if I do go, unless I get up a small covey, which is about akin to finding unicorn farts.
last year my first in 60 years of hunting Ky grouse to fail....i would guess the population is five per cent of what it was 20 years ago.
I went out 3 times for grouse = zero points on grouse. 2 weeks ago I did mark 2 ( I think ) that flew into a holler. We where out during the ice storm trying to find where our outage was at
I almost wish there was a telecheck for grouse just so we could have an idea of how many were actually harvested the past couple years. I bet that total number would be shockingly low.
not sure if they still do or not. They used to, but I gave up grouse hunting a number of years ago. Not enough birds around anymore to be worthwhile.
I shot one male grouse over point this year. I could have shot a couple more but passed because they might have been part of a breeding pair in a hollow. The most I ever moved in a day was four and flew three a couple of times but most times the number was zero.I have six English Setters and usually give each pair of two an outing per week and my wife says sometimes more. These are full day hunts. I have probably hunted over 100 different hollows or coverts this year and have seen only a very few produce a grouse or point. I talked with Frank Jezioro recently and he said the situation is the same in West Virginia. Frank was the former director of their DNR and is aan advisor to Senator Joe Manchin. He also writes for the Pointing Dog Journal. We have talked about the possibility of securing funds from the Great American Outdoors Act for research into causes. Everyone has their own theories and I have mine as well and there may not be a cure but it would be nice to find the cause. I have also had the worst quail year of my life and hunted good cover where the quail have disappeared. I used to be the County Agent in Scott County and at one time had about 150 coveys to hunt but no more. Turkeys while still out there have dropped just as much when you consider what there numbers had been.I tried to organize an Upland Summit last year sponsored by the Kentucky River Ruffed Grouse Society and had some great resources lined up but the pandemic hit. I am tired of hearing the habitat angle as I have more coverts to hunt now than I have had in 53 years. Something else is going on and everyone needs to acknowledge it. I know forests are maturing overall but grouse hunting in Appalachia has always been fragmented and I constantly seek new areas. Just today I found four new hollows which were great grouse habitat and close to area I have found birds in the past but nothing materialized. I will not quit as I love the dogs and the woods too much. We also have interest from Ohio where they are reaching out to their Senator for support and I have someone reaching out to Congressman Rogers for support in Kentucky as well. If you could help in any way my email address is [email protected]. It would help to reach out to Chris Garland of Ky Dept of Fish and Wildlife to show support as well. I know this lengthy but I am passionate about trying to help. We can never have too much habitat but this is way beyond habitat. By the way, if you know one, thank a logger as they are doing much for habitat restoration in Kentucky. I know of one area where there is almost 8000 acres of successional forest but the number of birds here is almost zero as well. Everyone's help is desperately needed now.
