Fall grouse outlook is better than last year

By V. Paul Reynolds

Grouse season opens in Maine Sept. 28, which is a Saturday, and ends Dec. 31. Last fall, due to a low spring production, many hunters found the grouse hunting disappointing at best. For a number of years now, boom or bust has seemed to be the rule when it comes to grouse numbers.

But there is good news on the grouse front. Maine’s game bird biologist, Kelsey Sullivan, is optimistic about this fall’s grouse outlook. He reports: “Spring drumming counts were down, as expected after the low production we had last summer. Favorable conditions for nesting and brood rearing in much of the state and production was good this year, with large broods. I expect this year’s fall grouse population to be up from last year. Grouse hunters will find birds in good numbers.”

“Good numbers.” That is what we like to hear. Next to deer hunting, our annual grouse hunt is the second biggest draw. Not only in the Pine Tree State, but just about anywhere in the country where grouse and their habitat can be found. Why is it that this diminutive one- to two-pound game bird is popularly known as the King of Game Birds?

In his classy coffee table book “Grouse & Woodcock,” wildlife photographer and writer Tim Flanigan, writes “the Ruffed Grouse is the standard by which all other game birds are judged. It is the premier game bird of North America.”  The bird is the essence of wild. Just knowing that its ancestry dates back more than 25,000 years adds to the mystique. For the upland hunter, no matter how skilled with a bird gun, this critter is a formidable prey that flies at 35 mph. It flies rapidly and elusively, but only for about a quarter of a mile. Flanigan calls it the “drag racer” of migratory birds.

According to a University of Maine study, our grouse can survive for a few years, but the majority don’t make it much beyond a year old. Besides the upland hunter, the grouse has a lot of enemies including hawks, owls and coyotes. Believe it or not, avian predators are the greatest threat, not the vertical predator with the checkered shotgun and the high strung gun dog.

For the grouse, the good news is that the Almighty blessed it with a regal head that Flanigan calls “a marvel of sensory perception that readily detects all manner of threats.” The bird’s vision is exceptionally acute with keen dim-light perception and a peripheral vision cone of 280 degrees! Its hearing also rates as exceptionally acute, much like that of a turkey.

Lastly, as fate would have it, the grouse is distinguished by the outstanding culinary character of its breast meat. As they say, “When it comes to wild meat, there just isn’t anything quite as delicate and delectable as strips of grouse breast gently sauteed in a tad of garlic and butter.

Partridge time again in Maine comes Sept. 28. Oil the shotgun. Bang away at some clays. Get the dog tuned up for the big day, and get out there and get some birdies for the pan. And if you are feeling creative in the kitchen, try this recipe.

Geezer’s Great Grouse.

5 skinned grouse, lightly dusted with flour and peppered.

1 can of mushroom soup

1 can of cream of chicken soup

½ packet of Lipton Dry Onion Soup mix

half a sweet onion chopped fine

¼  cup of cooking sherry

1 cup of water

In a mixing bowl combine all of the ingredients except the grouse and stir well. In a big fry pan add cooking oil and braise the grouse for a minute or so on both sides. Place the grouse in a crock pot. Pour the mixing bowl of ingredients over the grouse, along with the drippings from the fry pan.

Cook in the crock pot on high heat for 4 or 5 hours, then on low for a couple more. Serve with rice and your favorite veggie, say string beans almondine or oven-roasted brussels sprouts. Make sure you pour some of the delicious gravy over the bird and the rice. A glass of a good Sauvignon Blanc doesn’t hurt either.

The author is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide and host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network. He has authored three books. Online purchase information is available at www.sportingjournal.com.