West Nile Virus and Grouse

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Sharon
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West Nile Virus and Grouse

Post by Sharon » Wed Feb 22, 2017 4:07 pm

Fascinating/scary study on the effect of the West Nile virus on grouse in PA etc..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE_KnTAt7AY

IsThisHeaven?
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Re: West Nile Virus and Grouse

Post by IsThisHeaven? » Wed Feb 22, 2017 5:04 pm

Wow fascinating research. I sure hope it gets figured out.

Mountaineer
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Re: West Nile Virus and Grouse

Post by Mountaineer » Wed Feb 22, 2017 5:28 pm

Been considered for awhile by many of us.....WN was found in NY ruffed grouse soon after it was identified in '99'???....finally seeing some few states take note as this only one, of many, lesser factors of decline gains importance as habitat quality and volume slips.
In other words, WN is becomong less absorbable in stressed populations as a factor of decline.
Not likely much any one can do....so they toot bettering habitat....which will mean zilch on NFs.
Pa....has a solid volume of state ground so, perhaps, they can do some good work...especially now that the Pa. deer problem re understory/ES is somewhat under control.

setterpoint
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Re: West Nile Virus and Grouse

Post by setterpoint » Sat Feb 25, 2017 4:01 pm

iv heard the west nile thing to and it prob has some facts to it, but our birds in tenn went away over the years i hate to start the turkey thing back up but i will say if a grouse can get west nile so can a turkey and it sure has not had no effect on them iv been out hunting 4 times and not even heard a grouse fly seen lot of turkeys and scraching everwhere i hope they can find out for sure whats happend to the grouse

Mountaineer
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Re: West Nile Virus and Grouse

Post by Mountaineer » Sat Feb 25, 2017 4:58 pm

There is zero mystery as to the what happened to the ruffed grouse in the Apps....I noticed the decline first beginning in my area in the late 1970s.
There is a profound reluctance, by hunters especially, to accept that there does not exist now and never has existed one single factor(ie Habitat loss and change) for the decline and that there is no imagined miracle of "build it and they will come" to ever arrive acting as Mighty Mouse.
There is an even greater reluctance to address the factors of decline other than Habitat, Weather and Predators.....it is these lesser factors that have turned the decline into a slide.
Failure to address the lesser decline factors from deer feeding/Leasing to grousehunter additivity and more, such as the untouchable WN, is simply sliding the coffin lid all the way closed in areas of the range where a tipping point has been reached.
The good old days can not return in much if not all of the central and lower Appalachians and in the past days when the grouse populations were rendered artificially high....the good old days should not return.
Be happy and content if you experienced those days in any degree....or if some niche area experiences some present positive to blip up the populations in the short term.
The shining days....were just that.

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ezzy333
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Re: West Nile Virus and Grouse

Post by ezzy333 » Sat Feb 25, 2017 5:33 pm

setterpoint wrote:iv heard the west nile thing to and it prob has some facts to it, but our birds in tenn went away over the years i hate to start the turkey thing back up but i will say if a grouse can get west nile so can a turkey and it sure has not had no effect on them iv been out hunting 4 times and not even heard a grouse fly seen lot of turkeys and scraching everwhere i hope they can find out for sure whats happend to the grouse
There is no connection between grouse or turkeys being susceptible. They are all different and some species are and some aren't.

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bonasa
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Re: West Nile Virus and Grouse

Post by bonasa » Sat Feb 25, 2017 5:58 pm

Not a good thing for the grouse around here in PA/NY.

fishvik
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Re: West Nile Virus and Grouse

Post by fishvik » Sun Feb 26, 2017 11:27 am

West Nile virus was a major concern for sage grouse in the west, but it didn't have the impact predicted. This may have been due to drought caused declines in mosquito breeding areas. With increases in this years precip we'll have to see.

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