Another major threat to the already fragile W.Va. grouse numbers

SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Gary Foster took a deep breath and searched his thoughts as he spoke. Questions about ruffed grouse hunting required complex answers, and he readily admitted he and his agency, for now, don’t have all of the answers.

“There’s a lot of new information coming out all the time and we’re just trying to learn the best we can from the research being done to make educated decisions,” said Foster, the Assistant Chief for Game at the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources.

The ruffed grouse has struggled for many years in West Virginia largely because of a lack of adequate habitat. Nearly three million acres of old farmland in West Virginia grew up through the 60’s and 70’s and become fantastic habitat in the 1970’s and early 80’s. Since then however, the timber kept growing and is now saw timber and very little timbering has occurred. It’s left the state with less and less diverse habitat. While that’s been the number one obstacle for good grouse numbers in the Mountain State for many years, it’s now becoming overshadowed by a bigger and more sinister problem.

“Primarily in the last four or five years there is a good bit of research coming out of Pennsylvania that is showing West Nile Virus is having an impact on ruffed grouse populations,” Foster said.

The research has shown the impact to be more severe at lower elevations than in the mountains regions. The DNR’s staff is trying to determine what would be the best course of action. There is a consideration of shortening the season, but no consensus on how to do it. Foster said they will seek the opinion of sportsmen before they make a recommendation.

Those attending the upcoming Sportsman’s Sectional Meetings will find a questionnaire which asks if you have hunted grouse in the past year. There will also be a question if the season were reduced would you prefer it to end earlier, start later, or perhaps be a split season with the middle part of the current season closed.

“It is another factor coming into play here and populations have declined, so we’re going to look at the possibility of reducing the season and most of the states around us have already done that,” Foster explained.

The most recent Appalachian Grouse study didn’t recommend changing the season. According to Foster the study found it would hae little to no impact on the population, but with West Nile Virus all bets are off.

“That study was done prior to West Nile and said the seasons wouldn’t have an effect, so if you shortened a season it wouldn’t have an impact on your population, but that was all done prior to West Nile,” he said.

The agency so far has not made a proposal to reduce the season, but will ask sportsmen, particularly grouse hunters, about which part of the season the would rather lose in the upcoming public comment period. A recommendation may be forthcoming base on the answers of sportsmen and women.





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