Be ready to walk. Ruffed grouse hunting seasons open Saturday in both Minnesota and Wisconsin, and grouse numbers are expected to be down significantly from last year in both states. Minnesota's ...

Minnesota grouse hunters harvested just 358,000 birds last fall during the peak year of the species' 10-year population cycle. That number is much closer to past harvests at the low end of the cycle ...

Last year's Minnesota ruffed grouse season admittedly fell short of expectations, despite high spring drumming counts that indicated peak numbers. Grouse populations now appear to be on the downswing, ...

Trying to predict ruffed grouse hunting prospects is an inexact science at best, but based on drumming counts, at least, Minnesota’s breeding population was down from last year. In a news release, the ...

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota’s ruffed grouse hunting — widely considered the best in the nation — appears to be holding up this fall despite signs of natural population decline for the state’s most popular ...

DULUTH — The number of male ruffed grouse heard drumming in April and May as part of their spring mating ritual was up again this year in the Northland, signaling a continued higher population, but a ...

The ruffed grouse season opens in mid-September and does not end until sunset on New Year’s Eve, but few hunters pursue grouse in November and December. In fact, during the 30-plus years I have hunted ...

With the return of duck hunting this weekend, Minnesota's fall harvest of wild game is reaching a gallop that will intensify during next month's pheasant opener and then peak in early November with ...

Upland game bird managers in Minnesota are logging trees and mowing down brush to create better habitat for grouse and American woodcock this year in a trio of locations, including state-owned ...

Duluth, Minn. Two weeks into ruffed grouse season, many hunters are already proclaiming it a banner year. Some hunters are finding mixed success depending on where they're hunting, but many are ...

This weekend marks the Minnesota small game opener, with ruffed grouse headlining the event as always. I’m sure a lucky few will have taken to the field and gotten into some birds yesterday. Many, ...

The golden years of grouse hunting in southeastern Minnesota are long gone -- and they probably won't be back. Frankly, those years were an anomaly. For at least two decades -- the '60s and '70s -- ...