WDFW on Grouse Season adjustment

[Dave Workman]

Interesting read.
Question: Who hunts grouse in December, much less the first half of January?

https://wdfw.medium.com/start-of-forest-grouse-season-delayed-this-year-bf994692e3eb

Forest grouse season dates adjusted starting in 2021
Change aims to decrease hen harvest, boost hunting opportunity

https://www.facebook.com/WashingtonFishWildlife/posts/pfbid0BtnaJSqAhYHHGYw5Xt2SKqhWVqvfZZZUYbomAmgkU9aYN1274En1jReyRbaEytXNl

[mcrawfordaf]

We've seen a lot more ruffed this year already than last year while scouting.

[Special T]

Dedicated grouse hunters exist, but most harvest is incidental. This change effects archers more than other groups. I hope this has the desired effect, however trapping  bobcats likely has a bigger effect on populations than anything else... at least on the west side.

[Jpmiller]

I almost exclusively have taken grouse the first two weeks of September while archery hunting.....

[Platensek-po]

Ive seen a lot of smaller birds this year. I think from the late hatch. However I have also seen that the family groups are mostly broken up now and I don’t quite understand how this lessens the harvest of females??? Do the females just disappear the second half of September?

[HighGrouseHunt]

  I do the vast majority of my grouse hunting in December and January. Between archery elk, modern deer, and trying to fill a couple of fall turkey tags, fall gets pretty darn busy. Its nice to take the dog and the shotgun out for a walk in the snow on a nice crisp morning or evening once most of the other hunting seasons wind down. As a bonus, I find the grouse hunting much more satisfying that time of year. Less foliage on the trees makes for cleaner shooting, and by then the family groups have broken up which seems to scatter the birds a bit more uniformly. Plus the those young-of-year birds seem to be a good 20% larger in December than they are at the beginning of September.

[MtnMuley]

Of the many guys I've talked to about this stupid season change, none hunt grouse in December or January including myself. Everybody also agrees that if taking the limit back to 3 to get the Sept 1 season opener back, then they're all fine with that.

[sagerat]

Of the many guys I've talked to about this stupid season change, none hunt grouse in December or January including myself. Everybody also agrees that if taking the limit back to 3 to get the Sept 1 season opener back, then they're all fine with that.

  Sure would like that opener back

[BLDtraLR]

Of the many guys I've talked to about this stupid season change, none hunt grouse in December or January including myself. Everybody also agrees that if taking the limit back to 3 to get the Sept 1 season opener back, then they're all fine with that.

  Sure would like that opener back

Likewise    I'd even be happy with  a 2  bird limit     I will be throwing rocks at them again this year. Sure hope it goes back miss my brown sugar bacon grouse dinners    Maybe an archery only hunt Sept 1-15 We will get the family groups broke up  lol   

[Dave Workman]

Likewise    I'd even be happy with  a 2  bird limit     I will be throwing rocks at them again this year. Sure hope it goes back miss my brown sugar bacon grouse dinners    Maybe an archery only hunt Sept 1-15 We will get the family groups broke up  lol   

Whoa, waitaminute.  Never, ever signal the WDFW you'd be willing to accept a reduced bag limit on anything. 
Someone will try taking you up on that.

You can always limit yourself. That's a personal choice.  But always keep in perspective what appears to have become a motto in Olympia, no matter what the issue:  "LESS is the new MORE."

[C-Money]

We saw one ruff on a ride in the Colockum on Sunday. Sept 1st was a day my family looked forward to a lot. Grouse hunt in the morning, and hit the dove field in the afternoon. Wish they did not change grouse season opener from Sept 1st. It was a pretty big deal to my family. Where I hunt grouse, its really hard to access after the snow flies. So, adding the 15 days on in Jan does us no good.

[Iveexcaped3]

Personally I love it, the birds get less harvested during archery deer/elk, the roads get snowed in so less harvest from the road hunters, it gives me another option to hunt something in January if I don’t want to go chase chuckar or quail.

[packmule]

Interesting read.
Question: Who hunts grouse in December, much less the first half of January?

https://wdfw.medium.com/start-of-forest-grouse-season-delayed-this-year-bf994692e3eb

Forest grouse season dates adjusted starting in 2021
Change aims to decrease hen harvest, boost hunting opportunity

https://www.facebook.com/WashingtonFishWildlife/posts/pfbid0BtnaJSqAhYHHGYw5Xt2SKqhWVqvfZZZUYbomAmgkU9aYN1274En1jReyRbaEytXNl

I'm far from a WDFW supporter and consider many of the decisions they make to be mis-management. But give credit where credit is due. They are using science to set season dates to hopefully improve populations of a species that many people enjoy hunting in this state. I also understand that moving the start of the season back a couple weeks reduces opportunities for archery hunters and young hunters, which kind of sucks.  But the season is 4 months long.  Other states who are serious about grouse hunting have relatively short seasons (1-2 months) that begin in October.  Results from studies conducted in those states have also shown that grouse harvest that occurs after early December disproportionately harvests birds that would otherwise survive until the next year (and thus be available to reproduce).  I'm sure that WDFW biologists are aware of that and still are allowing Washington hunters to pursue grouse in mid-January. 

[BLDtraLR]

We saw one ruff on a ride in the Colockum on Sunday. Sept 1st was a day my family looked forward to a lot. Grouse hunt in the morning, and hit the dove field in the afternoon. Wish they did not change grouse season opener from Sept 1st. It was a pretty big deal to my family. Where I hunt grouse, its really hard to access after the snow flies. So, adding the 15 days on in Jan does us no good.

   It was a pretty BIG deal to alot of family's but the WDFW doesn't give a poop about family traditions  And yes sorry dave i really wouldn't want a reduced bag limit but if that's what it took to get the sept 1st opener back than so be it. i rather be able to hunt my archery opener than not at all. But we all know that isn't happening. Sorry to rant about this but it really chaps my hide on something that where i've hunted for 45+ years  hasn't had any impact by moving the date back. The last 2-3 years before the change were banner years for grouse they were everywhere and not in family groups 1 or 2 maybe 3 in a group. I will report my findings in 2 day's 

[BLDtraLR]

And i call BS on this     From the WDFW website

In the first public input survey, 62 percent of respondents supported closures in early September, and shifting the opening day to Sept. 15 was the most-favored alternative.