Ruffed grouse hunters unsure how many birds to expect for opener Saturday

Perhaps more than at any time in history, Minnesota ruffed grouse hunters don’t know what to expect when they decamp to the woods on Saturday, opening day of the “ruffie” season.

That’s because in the past 10 years or so the correlation between the spring drumming counts of these birds (which this spring were unchanged from 2018) and their fall population has weakened so much that the drumming survey is no longer considered a reliable predictor of fall grouse numbers.

http://www.startribune.com/ruffed-grouse-hunters-unsure-how-many-birds-to-expect-for-opener-saturday/559983932/