Habitat & Numbers Update
So we’ve been out a few times in the last week, seeing birds each time and there’s been a common denominator each time: young poplars were where the birds were found every time. Now, in each case we were bumping in to broods of grouse that were still all grouped together (6 in one group today and a grand total of 12 grouse together in what I figured was two broods together a few days ago). The bird numbers are looking good, at least as good as last year.
Poplars, popple, aspen, it’s all the same to us grouse hunters and it almost always means the same thing: birds. That’s because young grouse favor the leaves of young poplars over almost all other woodland foods. Supposedly, the leaves of young poplars offer more sustenance for young grouse than nearly anything else that they find out there, so that’s why we’re seeing them in these places now.
The million dollar question is what about during the hunting season? While grouse may not necessarily be in these young poplar stands, they will surely be in the vicinity of these stands once the hunting season starts, so if you see a stand of trees with golden leaves (they look like golden coins hanging from the trees during the foliage season), head towards it and hunt around it. You may just stumble in to a bird or two!
Poplars, popple, aspen, it’s all the same to us grouse hunters and it almost always means the same thing: birds. That’s because young grouse favor the leaves of young poplars over almost all other woodland foods. Supposedly, the leaves of young poplars offer more sustenance for young grouse than nearly anything else that they find out there, so that’s why we’re seeing them in these places now.
The million dollar question is what about during the hunting season? While grouse may not necessarily be in these young poplar stands, they will surely be in the vicinity of these stands once the hunting season starts, so if you see a stand of trees with golden leaves (they look like golden coins hanging from the trees during the foliage season), head towards it and hunt around it. You may just stumble in to a bird or two!
