Wisconsin grouse hunters logged nearly 850,000 days afield last season and harvested more than 493,000 grouse. Photo by Ron Sinfelt.

Dust off the upland boots, sort those low-brass shells and dig the shooting gloves out of storage! Grouse season opens this month, and all indications point to a banner year — very likely the best in a decade.

Most grouse biologists believe the next peak of the 10-year cycle in Wisconsin will occur next year, although there is a possibility that the grouse population will peak in 2009. Either way, there will be plenty of birds in the coverts this fall. Most of them will be naïve juveniles, a boon to gunners and dogs alike.

If predictions about the grouse cycle prove true, this might be the year to start a new grouse dog. A young pup needs plenty of encounters to learn how to handle the king of game birds. Grouse are pretty skittish, and a dog that crowds them will bump more birds than one that knows just how close to get to them.

LAST FALL’S HUNT
Last year, the number of small-game hunters declined 0.7 percent from the previous year. This was the sixth decrease in license sales in the last seven years. The number of people who bought small-game, sportsman, senior citizen, non-resident small-game, five-day non-resident small-game or conservation patron licenses decreased from 276,603 in 2006-07 to 274,582 in 2007-08. Those hunters spent approximately 2.8 million days in the field during the 2007-08 small-game season. The total number of days spent pursuing small game decreased by 1.8 percent during the 2007-08 season from previous years’ totals.

About 53 percent of upland bird hunters use dogs. The most popular breed was a Labrador retriever, but various pointers, setters and spaniels also ranked high. Dog owners spent an average of 49.7 days training dogs and hunting with them. The mean annual bill for dog maintenance was $586.69. Those numbers are comparable to last year’s.

As in past years, 37.8 percent of hunters hit the woods in pursuit of ruffed grouse, more than those after any other small-game species. They spent more time at it, too, logging 845,390 days afield. They shot an estimated 493,637 grouse, up a whopping 25 percent from the previous year. That comes out to about .59 birds per day. The top grouse harvest counties were Price, Sawyer and Forest.

Anecdotal reports from biologists, most of who hunt, confirmed these numbers. Brian Dhuey, who compiles the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ wildlife surveys, hunted in North Dakota more than Wisconsin last fall, but on the few trips he made up north, he saw plenty of birds.

“I also saw a lot of non-resident hunters,” Dhuey says. An abundance of trucks with tags from Kentucky, Tennessee or other Southern states is usually another sign the grouse population is up.

Dhuey also reports seeing lots of snowshoe hares last fall. These critters follow a cycle of abundance and decline similar to that of ruffed grouse. Biologists believe the hare cycle precedes the grouse cycle by a year or two.

Ron Eckstein, a WDNR biologist stationed in Rhinelander, reports that hunting in the northeast was better last fall than in 2007. “Hunters reported seeing more birds in Oneida County,” he says.

Over in the northwest, Todd Naas has a similar report.

“Some hunters said they flushed as many grouse last season as they ever have,” Naas says. “In other areas, however, reports were spotty. Overall, though, last year was a great improvement over 2007.

In central Wisconsin, WDNR biologist Wayne Hall says there were definitely more birds in the coverts last fall.