They compete for food, and turkeys eat baby quail. I’ve seen it happen twice. Know others that have seen it also. Don’t know about eggs.
The answer is no, we hunted some not as much as we did a few years ago but it is just becoming hard to get motivated. I think total between all the hunters I know we saw about 12 birds this year. a quick search of my post history will show that I was a denier of the decline as for a long time the areas I hunt seemed insulated and bird numbers were still good. like a light switch they were gone, and I mean gone like they never existed. it’s truly sad, and we’ve got unlimited acreage of primo habitat that’s just empty. It’s not turkeys, it’s not habitat, it’s not hunting pressure, it’s not food, it’s not anything that is known in my opinion. They literally just vanished. I long for those days of 8-10 flushes and good times getting screwed over by Wiley birds. However, those days are gone, and probably forever
I cut my teeth grouse hunting around the Bath, Rowan, Menifee area. Some of my fondest memories were tagging along with my dad and following our English setters. I can remember, while not common, of getting 20+ flushes in a day. I haven’t grouse hunted for years but things have obviously changed. I get the general aversion to F&W; however, I would I encourage you all to have an open mind and participate in research where you can. Most of us can remember a time when there wasn’t a deer or Turkey to be had.now we have huntable populations statewide. So please consider getting involved. Here is a link on F&W site. https://fw.ky.gov/Hunt/Pages/Grouse.aspx
Scientists really seem to think it's West Nile: https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jwmg.21347 https://meridian.allenpress.com/jwd...-RUFFED-GROUSE-BONASA?redirectedFrom=fulltext
One thing I've noticed, is that clear cuts don't produce the regrowth they once did. Used to be 5 yrs after a clear cut, you could hardly get thru it, and that is the cover that produces grouse. I see clearcuts in Carter/Elliott/Boyd and Lawrence counties that nothing has regrown in them. It's the style of logging that causes that. They just cut next to me in about a 10 acre acre, it looks like a war zone, and I don't believe there will be much regrowth in there either. And that is sad. Do others see the same in the clearcuts near y'all?
Only ever seen one and that was in WV back in 2019. Middle of nowhere and heres a Grouse strutting like a gobbler lol
What is growing rather than what would traditionally be thick regrowth. I was curious if honeysuckle may be crowding out better habitat.
The regrowth in areas I see in area of TN -Ky border in eastern part of the states seem to come back in the typical gum/poplar thickets. The honeysuckle is there too. But Ive seen a lotto grouse come out of honeysuckle thickets back when we had some birds.
That's just it I don't see anything growing. One would expect a forest floor covered but I just see barren ground and tops of trees everywhere. I scouted through some areas F&W hack n squirted the evasives and undesireables last year in Yatesville and the growth in those areas is remarkable.
