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Ruffed grouse, woodcock, quail and pheasants all require early successional stage forest, shrub and/or grasslands. |
Grousing about wild turkeys
I have been hunting turkeys and ruffed grouse for more than 21 years. Eastern wild turkeys have dramatically expanded their range in Minnesota, and in many cases, the turkeys' expanded range has overlapped that of the ruffed grouse. One of the highest density areas for turkeys is the southeast part of the state, such as Whitewater State Park near Elba. It used to be pretty good for grouse as well.
Do you have any scientific evidence that says turkeys and ruffed grouse cannot co-exist?
Twenty years ago, I used to hear ruffed grouse drumming while I fished for trout in the spring. I no longer hear them. Twenty years ago, there were not many turkeys but now they fly right over my head crossing the streams.
I have a friend who could care less about turkeys and claims that turkeys expanding into both ruffed grouse and quail habitat have had a harmful impact on each species.
For the record, I love to hunt turkeys and grouse and wish they could co-exist. There are no quail in Minnesota, but I'm curious about turkeys and quail areas in the South.
Help me put my friend's anti-turkey attitudes to rest based on substantiated fact.
Rick Petrekovic
Prior Lake, Minn.
It's a question NWTF biologists tackle pretty routinely. Many folks have seen declines in the number of grouse and quail, while turkeys, for the most part, have done fairly well.
Ruffed grouse, woodcock, quail and pheasants all require early successional stage forest, shrub and/or grasslands. If a field is left unmanaged, it only takes a couple of years for shrubs to take over the site.
Woodcock in the Northeast, and likely in Minnesota, are quick to respond to changes in habitat and will use those areas for singing, feeding and roosting grounds. After a few more years when young aspen take over, ruffed grouse will use the habitat that has now shifted to their benefit.
As the area shifts from grass to shrubland to aspen in a short time, there is also a noticeable shift in how woodcocks and grouse use the area. Aspen are considered pioneer tree species because they typically are the first trees to show up as a field reverts to forest. Grouse are strongly tied to aspen; manage for it, and the grouse will come. Woodcock use the young aspen stands for brood and feeding habitat as well.
Unfortunately, the time frame for aspen stands to benefit grouse and woodcock is fairly narrow. Because aspen grow relatively fast to outcompete other slower growing tree species, stands need to be managed for short rotations to maintain their value for grouse and woodcock.
Grouse tend to favor aspen between 5 and 20 years old. Once aspen stands are beyond 20, grouse survival wanes and the density of their population declines.
Petrekovic has witnessed the species' reaction to forest succession. The areas he mentioned probably have not been actively managed as seedling/sapling stands, and the trees around his favored fishing haunts have matured in the last two decades. Because of succession, they have lost their value for grouse and woodcock.
Forest succession isn't limited to just Minnesota. A study examining 10 states in the Northeast between 1970 and 2005 showed that shrub cover drastically declined in all but two states. And several other conservation plans have highlighted maturing forests as a major factor for declines in other wildlife species besides ruffed grouse and woodcock.
Turkeys are adaptable and thrive in areas with mature trees, which provide roosting habitat and maybe even food, if they are mast-producing trees such as oaks, cherries and beech.
The dark side of mature forests
While turkeys do well as forests mature, there is a downside for turkeys if the mature forests aren't actively managed for early-successional habit as well. There are areas in New York where the loss of early-successional habitat has also begun to negatively impact turkey numbers. The loss of thick ground cover means hens must use lower quality nesting sites, which impacts hatching success rates. And overly mature forests do not provide much ground cover for nesting hens in mid-April.
A combination of mature trees and thick nest cover benefits turkeys (especially nesting hens) as well as grouse.
What we're doing about it
NWTF's state chapters in the Northeast have established early-successional habitat as a priority in their North American Wild Turkey Management Plan. Its mission is to ensure that wild turkey populations and their habitats are managed and conserved to benefit all associated wildlife species. It is a vital part of the Minnesota's state management plan, too.
As NWTF volunteers work on habitat improvement projects, they have more than just the welfare of the wild turkey in mind; efforts improve conditions for a number of wildlife species, including grouse, woodcock, quail and other groundnesting birds. — Bob Eriksen, NWTF director of Northeast conservation operations.
The chart below illustrates the process of forests maturing if left unmanaged through timber harvest operations. It shows the very narrow window of opportunity for grouse to take advantage of the habitat they need to survive.