In fall, soft fruits and acorns become an important part of the diet. The grouse group together this time of the year, not for security or for a social gathering, but because there is good food and cover in a single location. The female aspen bud is nutrient deficient and is not a food of choice for grouse. If a hen is in very poor condition in the spring, she may not be able to lay a clutch of eggs or raise a brood of chicks. Ruffed Grouse feed almost exclusively on vegetation, including leaves, buds, and fruits of ferns, shrubs, and woody plants. Hazel offers excellent protection to feeding grouse. A grouse can be sustained in 10 to 20 acres if the habitat is ideal. When grouse roost in or under conifers, they seek out clumps of 15-20 year old trees that will provide both thermal cover and protection from predators. This makes for a super easy meal for grouse if they can be the first to get to them! When there is more than three or four inches of snow on the ground grouse tend to fly more than walk (unless the snow has a crust). When available, the food of choice is the male aspen bud. Grouse Hunting Wisconsin – Top Counties To Hunt, Improve Your Shooting In The Grouse Woods. Depending on the part of the country you live, you may be familiar with hazel brush, beaked hazelnut or even American hazelnut. For example, the diet of a ruffed grouse in northern Wisconsin is going to change significantly once the weather gets cold & covered with snow. Once fall rolls around ruffed grouse’s diets will begin to shift. Where they used to eat everything from buds to berries, now they are going to focus much more on the buds & catkins (those little budding spikes that resemble the starts of branches) of small trees, primarily the following: Another major food source at this time of year for ruffed grouse is broken up acorns. Hazel will often be interspersed in aspen or in solid thickets of hazel brush. A mixture of oaks, aspen, and conifers are beneficial to grouse. When in the burrow, the grouse will have 3 to 4 inches of snow cover above. However, food sources still need to be interspersed within protective cover and close to where they roost, loaf and sun themselves. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links. Basically all we’re trying to say here is that you’ll have to use some common sense when it comes to narrowing down what foods ruffed grouse are eating in the area you’re hunting. It is the availability of high quality habitat and food that has brought them together. The larger the patch of hazel brush, the more secure a grouse feels to move freely about. However, I have seen grouse feeding in younger stands of aspen when more mature aspen was not available. This is a major reason why road hunting seems to be so popular. Regardless of name, this shrub-type bush offers both food and cover for grouse. If it is bitter cold in the morning, a grouse may feed only once during the day. Grouse Facts. In order to do that, you’re going to figure out exactly what the ruffed grouse eat in your location. At around 20 degrees Fahrenheit or below a grouse needs to speed up its metabolism in order to stay warm. These grouse all had viburnum berries, hazel catkins, clover and strawberry leaves in their crops. The aspen trees they feed in are typically over 25 years of age. Nutritionally deficient food, coupled with not having enough snow for a burrow, will leave grouse in poor health when spring arrives. The grouse will remain in its snow burrow, conserving energy before a late afternoon feeding. Weight: The males weigh around 500 – 750 g, while the weight of the females is between 450 and 600, with an average mass of 644 g. Feather/Plumage: The coloration of the ruffed grouse is obscure. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that there aren’t going to be many insects & berries around for ruffed grouse to eat during the winter, but pinpointing their food sources can be a little more challenging if you haven’t scouted the area well. When a grouse is in a burrow the temperature typically does not drop below 20 degrees Fahrenheit which conserves energy and maintains its reserves. Deep snow can prove to be a real hazard to turkey’s, whether food is present or not. During this time of year ruffed grouse’s diet will begin to shift towards a much more simple meal plan. Grouse notoriously eat a large range of foods throughout the year. Healthy Forests, Abundant Wildlife, Conservation Ethic. Size: The length of male ruffed grouse is between 43 and 50 cm, whereas the females are between 40 and 47.Their wingspan length measures between 55.9 and 63.5 cm. Each will flush on their own accord when pressured. These are the only real sources of food that they have left during this time of year, so if you’re trying to locate them you’ll definitely want to check out areas filled with these trees. Food. Grouse forage among thickets of aspen, alder saplings and low-growing shrubs. Food sources vary by region, but soft mast is a good place to start early in the season. The supply of the new buds & berries from the spring will start to dwindle, and they will start to rely on more of the traditional grouse hunting habitat for food.During this time of year ruffed grouse’s diet will begin to shift towards a much more simple meal plan. It is the only species in the genus Bonasa. Spending the time to get to know ruffed grouse well is definitely going to pay dividends during your hunt. The stout twigs that produce these buds will typically have five to eight buds on a twig, thus allowing the bird to feed very quickly without much movement which is critical as the birds are more vulnerable to predators while feeding. It’s during this time that ruffed grouse complete their transition to a diet that pretty much consists solely on the buds and catkins of the same small trees that they eat during the fall. All Right Reserved. During this time of year, conserving energy is the main goal of ruffed grouse. When in a group, grouse remain individualists. It is critically important that ruffed grouse have ample food, cover and protective resources to ensure winter survival and spring reproduction. Grouse can often be seen feeding in aspen tree as the sun sets when they are silhouetted in the afterglow. The ruffed grouse, however, is an enigma in the world of birds when it comes to winter survival.” – Read the Full Article: Ruffed Grouse in the Winter Time. In winter, roosting sites can be near the base of a tree, typically conifers, or a grouping of conifers. The males are usually slightly larger than the females, although an occasional adult female will exceed a young male in size. Typically, in the Midwest when there is very little snow on the ground a grouse will use clusters of balsam fir, hemlock, cedar or even spruce. Grouse are not corn-eating pheasants. In our article about tips for ruffed grouse hunting, one of the main keys to finding good grouse habitat was to figure out what grouse eat & then locate the source of that food. I might serve pheasants with polenta, but I would never do that with a ruffed grouse… For more information about Scout-N-Hunt® Mobile Hunting Maps go to www.scout-n-hunt.com or www.mobilehuntingmaps.com . Designed, Developed, & Operated by Red Leaf Media This site contains affiliate links to products. In northern Wisconsin, winter regrouping of ruffed grouse starts to take place toward the end of October and the first part of November. The grouse will often feed on the hazel catkins in late fall and early winter before switching over to male aspen buds. DESCRIPTION Ruffed Grouse are one of 10 species of grouse native to North America and are one of the smaller birds in the group, ranging from 17 to 25 oz. @2018 - TheUplandHunter.com. The major advantage of a snow burrow, besides concealment, is the constant temperature within the burrow. Acorns that fall on roads end up getting smashed as folks drive over them. Management opportunities for ruffed grouse and other forest wildlife in oak forests depend, in part, on the composition and arrangement of the principal tree, shrub, and herbaceous food and cover plants.