EARLY HEARING DETECTION AND INTERVENTION VIRTUAL CONFERENCE
MARCH 2-5, 2021
(Virtually the same conference, without elevators, airplane tickets, or hotel room keys)
9/26/2018 | 3:30 PM - 3:45 PM | Survival and Harvest of Ruffed Grouse in Central Maine, USA | Eccles Conference Center Auditorium
Survival and Harvest of Ruffed Grouse in Central Maine, USA
Understanding population dynamics is central to population management, particularly for game species that experience both human harvest and non-harvest mortality. Ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) are a widely distributed and common game species in North America that have experienced population declines along their southern range margins, including portions of New England. In the state of Maine ruffed grouse are generally considered abundant, but there is a lack of state-specific knowledge of their survival and harvest rates to inform management. We estimated seasonal and annual survival rates, harvest rates, and documented cause-specific mortality of 248 radio-marked ruffed grouse at two study areas in central Maine from 2014 –2016. We evaluate sources of spatial, temporal, and individual variation that may affect ruffed grouse survival and harvest. Survival was lowest during the month of October and during winter, and adult ruffed grouse had a higher survival probability than juveniles throughout the year with mean annual survival probabilities of 0.28 (± 0.01 SE) and 0.13 (± 0.003), respectively. Harvest rates were greater in a state-owned Wildlife Management Area and were lower within a commercially-managed private forest that was open to public hunting. Harvest results suggest harvest was greatest at the beginning of the hunting season and was lower later in the season. Pooled across all years and study areas, ruffed grouse harvest rate was 0.16 (95% CI = 0.14-0.18). Our results are comparable to other range-wide studies and suggest that current hunting regulations for ruffed grouse in Maine are consistent with sustainable population management.
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Presenters/Authors
Samantha Davis
(), samantha.davis2@maine.edu;
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Joelle Mangelinckx
(), jmangelinckx92@gmail.com;
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R. Bradford Allen
(), brad.allen@maine.gov;
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Kelsey Sullivan
(), kelsey.m.sullivan@maine.gov;
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Erik Blomberg
(), contact IGS;
Dr. Erik Blomberg is an assistant professor in the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology at the University of Maine. He has spent nearly 15 years conducting research on grouse ecology throughout the United States, including work on greater sage-grouse, Columbian sharp-tailed grouse, ruffed grouse, and spruce grouse. More broadly, research in his lab is focused on wildlife population ecology, life history theory, habitat relationships, connections among these subject areas, and their collective relevance to species' conservation. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in wildlife population dynamics, demographic estimation, and ecology and management of game birds.
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