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?

Grouse numbers are not just down but severely down. A dog club recently helped F&G do a brood count. With several high-test dogs hunting prime areas, NO grouse were found.

Some of the ag parcels have grown up to the point they would need to be cleared again. Some of the CRP ground was converted to pasture but now some is going back into CRP.....it's a mix.

The spring was late and wet so nesting success was poor also.

I get roughly a third to half my shotgunned spruce grouse on the wing and rest on the ground or in a tree if I see them land. I am unafraid to sluice them if that is the opportunity I have.

T, I have heard the spruce grouse were not the best table fare. True? How about hares, are they not just snowshoe rabbits. Pretty strong from what I have heard. But I have not eaten either.

How many clutches does a grouse hen typically have per year....???

Most often only one...I think.

Maybe if they lose a brood early they may try to nest again.

Spruce grouse are dark meated and not the best eating but they’re not sage grouse level dark either.

There are 2 types of hares up here: snowshoes and Alaskan hares. The snowshoe hares are mild tasting. Nothing special and taste just like the snowshoe hares I have eaten from the lower 48. I have not tried the Alaskan hare nor have I heard from anyone whom has.

I don't know, but I have encounters with hens with a dozen tiny chicks from mid-May through early August.

Accurate.

Thanks T!!!

Of course that requires a couple of live grouse to start with...I've not seen a single one in Talkeetna all summer long. And one fox where normally they hang all over town...

Exactly! With grouse numbers this low and another winter to face before mating, I sure don't see a rapid improvement. I'm sure you've received similar information from Delta.

Several years ago hunting a favorite area for grouse I encountered a fellow hunting the same area. In his broken Hmong English he asked if we’d seen any “ptarmigan”, and showed us his take in the back of his truck. He had nine ruffed grouse from an area where the limit was two. I pointed out they were ruffed grouse and the limit was two. He became argumentative insisting they were ptarmigan.

I declined to argue the point any further and made a not of his plate number and vehicle description. I called fish and game and was met with a ho hum response so I doubt anything was done about it. Another hunter whom I was acquainted with and lived in that area said he saw the same guy out there frequently.

Was there a while back to pickup from Cody plus my normal spring. Saw nothing either time. Reports weekly from there report about the same. Everything took a huge hit. How could it not. Just nature. Be nice to just lay off the game a few years to let it bounce.

Glad to hear the cranes are around. They are on my bucket list eventually. Eventually I'll be in Delta at the house at the right time to hunt them I hope.

Maybe I'll see ya in October when I'm back around a bit.

I am seeing roughly as many critters as I have the last few years and probably more ptarmigan. I jumped several clutches of young birds while sheep hunting yesterday. Whitetailed up higher and Willow a bit lower in the alders.

They all looked healthy enough to me. I haven’t spent anytime looking for ruffed or sharptail though the spruce hatch around Fairbanks looks ‘normal’ to me. Same with Sheep in the Alaska range.

Coming off 12-mile Summit on the Steese from our 4 day 40-mile caribou hunt (no caribou seen!), I saw a melanistic ptarmigan. Jet black. Way cool- not something I've ever seen before. It better change color before the snow comes!

Slowing to get a pic, the bird hustled back into the brush, so no pic. Am assuming it was a ptarmigan as we were well above timberline, with only road-side brush, so almost certainly not a spruce grouse.

No, it was not a raven!

We got back to Sterling at midnight last night. Slight change (hijack? ) of topic.

From what we saw (or didn't!), talked to others, including troopers, gun shots heard, I'd be surprised if the Steese accounted for more than 30 or so caribou those first 4 days.

I think F&G played the public on their 40-mile hotline. I'll do a separate thread.

Although I don't and won't hunt the Steese, I checked the hotline daily and the report seemed valid at all times and coincided with pilot reports and tracking collars.

There is almost always an area thats going to be normal so to speak. Around Delta so far its far from normal.

Any place that warmed and got layers of ice built up is death IMHO. You can't get to food. You can get iced in from above in a den, like a fox, and not be able to dig up or down or out basically. Did I mention the food issue?

I"m certainly super glad things appear normal around Fairbanks. As bad as the fishing is in Talkeetna this year some place has to have a positive spin.

Blueberry,s are ripe took a break from trout fishing 1/2 hr pick 5 ft from shore! No grouse were seen but wasn't looking hard enough!

True, but the freezing rain around Christmas and a couple other times this winter that everyone is talking about happened around Fairbanks too, as well as elsewhere. I was after sheep not terribly far from Delta (for AK standards) and the ptarmigan numbers looked good to me. I didn't see any spruce there but also wasn't in the timber where they're generally found.

There were lots of surveys for sharptail and ruffed grouse this spring/summer near Delta and they all reported little to no birds. I am not doubting those survey results but am thinking that maybe the birds were just late to do their thing this year, so maybe the surveys just `missed` them, or those two species for whatever reason are more sensitive to the specific conditions we had? I dunno....

Talk almost daily to our friend in Delta. Retired. Gets out a few times a week into the woods on the wheeler. 30 plus mile loops. Reports a severe hit on wildlife period. I'm like you, dunno. But I don't doubt what he doesn't see.

Several years ago I did a fly out drop hunt in the Kenai mountains. We stayed out there for a week and I was surprised at the number of guys that flew in with their dog to hunt ptarmigan for a few hours and then fly home. I was instantly envious of the vast opportunities that were available to them when watching them step from their plane to hunt ptarmigan….how awesome that would be, unfortunately I don’t think I’ll ever fly since I don’t think my personality is compatible with long term survival. 😁. It would be pretty amazing to have the ability to fly for 30-45 minutes and have virtually untouched flocks. There were a lot of ptarmigan up there too, we shot several for camp meat.

I know that it’s all cyclical but sometimes during those down years it feels like it’ll never get better….but it will. I hope that they’ll have some favorable nesting conditions these next few years and give Mother Nature a jump start with the rebound.

ETA…. I say “surprised by the number of guys” but the reality was that I recall 3 over the course of the week but I believe 1 of those was the same guy so really 2 guys over 7 days. I spoke with 1 guy (older) and that’s all he did for the most part anymore, bird hunt by flying out.

Live on the kenai pen, would like to take grandkids up north to hunt ruffed or sharptail grouse. Tried twice so far, glenallen/tok but cycle way down so no success. Can anyone suggest an area where the cycle is better?