Bad news for PA grouse hunters

[ROMAC]

Read this today. No late season next year because of West Nile Virus.

http://lancasteronline.com/sports/outdo ... user-share

[Mike of the Mountain]

It's not that bad of news. It is a temporary halt to the late season. They are finding that more mature breeder birds are killed than young birds. The idea is that the young are dying from WNV and the breeders are showing they have the anti-bodies for WNV. If the breeders are able to pass that gene on to their broods, then we would have a major change in the population. PA is being proactive. The biologists are on top of this. I spoke with Lisa Williams a few weeks ago. I will see her again Saturday evening and will be looking at some habitat projects with her on March 8. Don't panic.

[ROMAC]

Here is a recent interview/video with Lisa from last month. It is informative.

https://protect-eu.mimecast.com/s/M2EFBVE60qbhz

[DSizemore]

Mike is right. This is great news for sportsmen who care about the health and future of grouse populations in Pa. Good for her and the Commission! I'm confident they have met with plenty of opposition.

[vaturkey]

It is an interesting development. I fear that something (and maybe its WNV) is impacting Grouse populations throughout the SE and Pa and WV. I've been doing some checking and most people this year have been killing old birds. Very few young ones. As I recall the weather during hatching wasn't awful last spring/early summer, so something is impacting the populations. I know avian predators and habitat are all a factory, but some folks in WV for example are hunting great cover and killing birds and there are no young ones being taken. Sad to say, but it may be folks in these areas are just going to have to plan on taking more trips to the NE and to the upper midwest to chase the King. FWIW, 20 years ago in Va, it was nothing without a dog to flush 15 to 20 per day. Now we don't flush 15 in a year and that includes having some pretty decent dogs.

[fullchoke16]

We flushed at least a dozen birds on deer drives(rifle season) until about 10 years ago. Have not flushed a one in the past 2 seasons. Spring drumming used to be common. I haven't heard any in the past year. If the Game Commission didn't stock pheasants I'd unload some of my upland guns. The turkey flocks at this end of the state are also declining in recent years. This may also have something to do with WNV. Just a guess.

[Foxnut]

Very interesting research and video. Hats off to PA for undertaking this research. I will have to go through MI's info to see what they have done on the WNV impact. My grouse hunting was light this year so Idont have any anecdotal info to provide.

[Mike of the Mountain]

Regarding New England and Upper Mid-West populations, Lisa told us they also have WNV in their populations. The difference is the habitat is outstanding and contributes to healthier birds therefore healthier bird populations. Lisa also said that if it was not for WNV we would have the highest populations of grouse in PA since the 1950s. More info to come.