Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 64
A Grouse Smorgasbord
M
ANY BOOKS and articles about hunting
for ruffed grouse tell the successful hunter
to open the crop of a newly bagged bird, inspect
the contents to see what the bird has been eating,
then seek out the same food sources to improve
the chances of bagging a second bird.
I've never ascribed to that formula, simply
because grouse have such wide-ranging diets. Buds
from trees and shrubs. Berries of all colors and types.
Mushrooms. Grapes (lots of grapes: they're candy for
grouse). The leaves of ground-hugging plants, such as
cinquefoil, wild strawberry and fern. Leaves of aspen and apple trees. Apples.
Hawthorn fruits. Beechnuts. Rosehips, from both native and non-native, shrubs.
Last spring, I was walking in the woods when I heard a telltale thunder of
wings, caught a gray blur out of the corner of my eye, and noticed the upper
limbs of a tree swaying up and down. The tree was a red maple, and I suspect
the recently departed grouse had been feeding on leaf buds or flowers about to
open. Red maples don't flower in the fall, but witch-hazels do - our only shrub
to put forth blossoms in autumn. I once shot a grouse with a crop stuffed with
the threadlike lemon-yellow flowers of witch-hazel.
I was recently talking to a grouse biologist and she reported that a hunter told
her he'd bagged a bird that had a crop full of slugs. I've found spiders, beetles
and caterpillars in grouse crops. In summer, up to a third of an adult grouse's
diet may be insects; fast-growing chicks eat almost nothing else. I've read that
adult grouse have even eaten young mice and small birds.
Buds are a winter staple: aspen, beech, birch, maple and apple are favorites.
Late on a December day, standing with my back to a tree while hoping for a buck
to come by, I watched four grouse fly up into an aspen, clamber around on the
branches, and use their beaks to wrench off buds by the dozen. After about 10
minutes of intense feeding, the birds flew off to roost.
It may be an exercise in frustration trying to predict upon what the local grouse
are feeding just from the contents of one crop. But it certainly is fun to learn
about the amazing natural smorgasbord from which
these adaptable birds dine.
64
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015
Contents
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - Intro
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - Cover1
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - Cover2
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 1
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 2
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - Contents
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 4
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 5
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 6
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 7
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 8
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 9
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 10
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 11
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 12
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 13
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 14
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 15
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 16
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 17
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 18
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 19
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 20
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 21
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 22
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 23
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 24
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 25
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 26
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 27
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 28
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 29
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 30
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 31
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 32
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 33
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 34
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 35
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 36
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 37
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 38
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 39
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 40
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 41
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 42
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 43
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 44
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 45
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 46
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 47
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 48
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 49
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 50
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 51
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 52
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 53
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 54
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 55
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 56
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 57
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 58
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 59
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 60
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 61
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 62
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 63
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - 64
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - BB1
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - BB2
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - Cover3
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2015 - Cover4
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