Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Alaska Grouse Population

The grouse [Ruffed, Sharptail & Spruce] were in the lows of their cycle prior to this past devastating winter and now they are almost non-existant so please don't plan on bring your dogs to Delta Jct or Tok for upland hunting.

The ungulates took a similar hit also so our hunting looks quite dismal for the next few years.

They changed up bison regulations big time, today. Seasons for each hunter will only be 12 days, bulls only.

Big change from 6 months of either sex...

Sooty's are doin' fine down my way . . .

Bummer Vern

Art,
This is an interesting development to say the least and not unexpected. There are some disappointed and upset bison tag holders.
The affects of this may be long term as trust in the drawing system falters and revenue [application fee+PR $$$] declines.

The good part is the cranes and geese have already started arriving!

That's a shame. As someone who has always thought of hunting AK but not spending huge bucks to do bear/moose/sheep etc - an upland/bird hunt would have been a way to "see" Alaska and still get some hunting in. At least to my way of thinking. Sure hope the population rebounds.

Delta had great populations of upland birds for a very long time, but have been drawing too much attention and pressure. There is still fantastic upland bird hunting in other places. This is a very big place.

I have seen plenty of spruce grouse and ptarmigan this summer near Fairbanks. Just as many as the last couple of summers.

Got 3 last night on a short hike near the Chatnika. If I actually tried I am sure I could have got a lot more.

thanks go to a writer in an anchorage rag years ago. Start of the downfall for delta area.

Its only gotten worse the years we have been around and last winter was a coffin nail for sure. Lots of things died.

It will rebound. Maybe for the best. Maybe folks will forget about delta and move on by the time things come back.

In the meantime seasons for lots of things should be closed period imho. give em a year or two to bounce some. thats way to radical for people and departments though.

Like USA we may be at the beginning of the end as we know it.

Anyone know how the Macomb caribou herd is doing, thinking about going down for the 2 day wheeler hunt with a buddy.

Not a clue on the Malcom specifically but they significantly dropped the RC860 quota and made it bulls only for residents.

F&G has not done a survey of the McComb Caribou this year but I doubt the population is very robust. I just talked to a friend that flew five hours in DCUA and saw near nothing for legal rams and no concentrations of caribou. He did see a couple groups of cows/calves but no bulls. The caribou had to get under that ice layer to feed also so I don't expect they fared well. That herd usually numbers close to 2K and stays distributed throughout the area for most of the year.

The 40 Mile Caribou Herd was indicating stress for the past few years and this past winter took a toll. The digital photo census indicates the population at about 40K. The management plan calls for a quota of 3% when the herd reaches 40K. Those 1,200 harvest numbers are divided into the various areas. The 40MCH was headed to the Steese Highway where the annual opening circus has performed the past few years but they stalled out and turned south and are now in the middle of the 40 Mile Country.

Thanks for the info Vern, I know the sheep populations are down as I had a permit last year and didn't see a single ram and saw no sheep in areas where I've always seen sheep. We did see some caribou last year but we were too focused on moose to worry about caribou.

I won't hunt the Steese or Taylor, too many shoot first ask question later type hunters out there for my tastes.

Good population of Spruce Grouse here. I get attacked two or three times a week by a Spruce Hen protecting her clutch. Some Ruffed Grouse, not many. But they have never been plentiful here.

2016-17 was the peak of a hare cycle. Dmn those were some good years. Predation of grouse lessened, are there were tons of both.

Didn't even need a long gun

I see your grouse pics with a shotgun… did you shout them on the wing?

I took a friend of mine spruce grouse hunting once (with his dog). He was astounded that I just head shot them with a 22 in the middle of the trail. Try as he might, he was never able to wing shoot one while in flight “sportingly”.

I really bummed him out when his dog pointed one on the trail and I hit it with a rock, then ringed it’s neck.

Yep, take em on the wing or on the ground, doesn't matter to me.

Back in the early to mid 2000’s I found the Delta Junction grouse hunting by accident during a moose hunt. After that I spent a lot of time enjoying that little relatively unknown gem and I never shared that information with anyone other than the 2 guys that accompanied me. I figured that from everything I had read before about the hare numbers versus lynx numbers that those were good years for both. There were so many snowshoe hares that it was incredible and I saw a half dozen lynx during my moose hunt. Great memories and while it’s been several years since I’ve been up there to do that hunt but I’d like to again someday and I sure hope the cycle bounces back quickly.

Sorry to hear sharptail numbers seem presently down around Delta Junction. I first hunted DJ 25 years ago, on private land where former barley fields had been planted to CRP. There were "shelter belts" of native taiga between the fields, creating a fabulous productive habitat for this species. Since sharptails easily shift to feeding in the canopy during deep snow, and can fly miles to better foraging, I'd be a bit surprised that they'd be as hit by winter conditions as other species. Also, have Alaska's CRP acre enrollment declined like in many states "outside"? Thoughts?