Grouse Hunters Wanted

[Red Bullets]

I received an email from the ACA (Alberta Conservation Assoc.) with this request for grouse hunters to participate. I'm sure several of you have maybe received the same email but I thought I would post this for those that didn't see it.

Quoted from email...

"Ashley Jensen from the University of Lethbridge is working on ruffed grouse population genetics and behaviour. Since collecting genetic material from all over the province is nearly impossible for one person to do, she is kindly asking that ruffed grouse hunters mail in specific grouse parts from various areas in the province.
Very little research has been done on ruffed grouse genetics, and this type of information may be crucial in the future for ruffed grouse population management.
She needs one PLUCKED tail feather, and one wing that come from within 100km of Edson, Cochrane, Lloydminster, Peace River, Fort McMurray. Please provide specific location information.
Feel free to email Ashley at ashley.jensen@uleth.ca with any questions."


So now you know in case you want to participate.

[3blade]

If there is one thing that doesn't need any university I-know-everything-degree "management" it's ruffies.

No. They're fine.

Go study fruit flys and leave hunting alone.


(No offense meant Red Bullets, I know you mean well)

[happy honker]

LOL!!! How could this be a bad thing??? This forum cracks me up.

Sounds like she already secured funding for the research and it's underway, (I assume that's your issue?) so whats the harm in asking us hunters for help.

I hunt grouse east of Edson so I'll participate.

[catnthehat]

This sounds more like a university student's thesis paper on genetics of ruffed grouse 3blade,not a game management study
Cat

[Flight01]

I have been talking to her and have started to collect samples. A wing and a tail feather, plus the info sheet slipped into a ziploc bag.

[Wiz]

Originally Posted by 3blade

If there is one thing that doesn't need any university I-know-everything-degree arsehole "management" it's ruffies.

No. They're fine.

Go study fruit flys and leave hunting alone.


(No offense meant Red Bullets, I know you mean well)

Dear student. Thank you for your research and your passion. I hope you receive pleanty of samples to help in your quest to further understand the natural history of ruffed grouse. Please play no attention to the more ignorant among us. They are just scared of what they do not understand.

Good luck.

[3blade]

I'm all for science based study and management of game populations, but when the science has a predetermined objective (like we have seen with pretty much every study in recent memory) I won't be supporting it.

Here's a hint: say she dertemines certain ruffed grouse populations are "unique" ...maybe they have an extra marking on a wing feather...all of a sudden several WMUs get closed to hunting for "research". With the increased power our government has given bios, they can pull anything from anywhere and use it against hunters. University studies are certainly used in this regard.

[dleask123]

Originally Posted by 3blade

I'm all for science based study and management of game populations, but when the science has a predetermined objective (like we have seen with pretty much every study in recent memory) I won't be supporting it.

Here's a hint: say she dertemines certain ruffed grouse populations are "unique" ...maybe they have an extra marking on a wing feather...all of a sudden several WMUs get closed to hunting for "research". With the increased power our government has given bios, they can pull anything from anywhere and use it against hunters. University studies are certainly used in this regard.

if she did identify a unique population or a sub-species of ruffies, we as hunters should appreciate such studies and science before there is another sub-species becoming extinct.. knowledge is power and the more we learn about wildlife the more we can assist in management. Student such as her are the future managers, so by helping, teaching and working with only promotes such behaviours.. i am not in Alberta, but would be 100% in helping her study...

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by 3blade

I'm all for science based study and management of game populations, but when the science has a predetermined objective (like we have seen with pretty much every study in recent memory) I won't be supporting it.

Here's a hint: say she dertemines certain ruffed grouse populations are "unique" ...maybe they have an extra marking on a wing feather...all of a sudden several WMUs get closed to hunting for "research". With the increased power our government has given bios, they can pull anything from anywhere and use it against hunters. University studies are certainly used in this regard.

You are contradicting yourself!
How can you be in favour of university studies and at the same time say they are predetermined ?
Which independent university studies are you referencing that resulted in sanctions and/or closures of seasons?
Cat

[3blade]

Originally Posted by Red Bullets

I received an email from the ACA (Alberta Conservation Assoc.) with this request for grouse hunters to participate. I'm sure several of you have maybe received the same email but I thought I would post this for those that didn't see it.

Quoted from email...

"Ashley Jensen from the University of Lethbridge is working on ruffed grouse population genetics and behaviour. Since collecting genetic material from all over the province is nearly impossible for one person to do, she is kindly asking that ruffed grouse hunters mail in specific grouse parts from various areas in the province.
Very little research has been done on ruffed grouse genetics, and this type of information may be crucial in the future for ruffed grouse population management.
She needs one PLUCKED tail feather, and one wing that come from within 100km of Edson, Cochrane, Lloydminster, Peace River, Fort McMurray. Please provide specific location information.
Feel free to email Ashley at ashley.jensen@uleth.ca with any questions."


So now you know in case you want to participate.

Seems as if some people missed this part....

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by 3blade

Seems as if some people missed this part....

Maybe but then again maybe not .
And if it comes to that , fine u plat with that if it will ensure the ruffed grouse's future .
Cat

[Tfng]

https://www.ontario.ca/page/algonquin-wolf

This genetically "unique" hybrid is causing a lot of grief for some Ontario trappers.

[3blade]

Meh. Why not add ruffies to the list.

Just so we all remember the list of well "managed" game...grizzly bears. Moose. Mule deer. Sheep (soon enough anyway). Wolves. Cougar. Mountain goat.

All messed up, all thanks to pretend science and biologists. The modern biologist community is almost entirely anti hunting. And of course with a degree the ignorant sheeple will take thier word as gospel. So ya, go for it. Support another study. Maybe our kids will get to see pictures of where we used to hunt, seeing as they will probably be banned from the woods and mountains. You know, for science. Smh.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by 3blade

Seems as if some people missed this part....

Originally Posted by TFNG

https://www.ontario.ca/page/algonquin-wolf

This genetically "unique" hybrid is causing a lot of grief for some Ontario trappers.

I see the government agencies mentioned but no university study given credit for it,
This could be nothing more than the bleeding hearts in Ontario kicking up another stink like they did with the bear hunt .
The re are people out there who think piebald and albino animals should be protected as well
Cat

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by 3blade

Meh. Why not add ruffies to the list.

Just so we all remember the list of well "managed" game...grizzly bears. Moose. Mule deer. Sheep (soon enough anyway). Wolves. Cougar. Mountain goat.

All messed up, all thanks to pretend science and biologists. The modern biologist community is almost entirely anti hunting. And of course with a degree the ignorant sheeple will take thier word as gospel. So ya, go for it. Support another study. Maybe our kids will get to see pictures of where we used to hunt, seeing as they will probably be banned from the woods and mountains. You know, for science. Smh.

Or we could lift the restrictions and all hunt under general licenses until we kill all the animals off .
Cat

[3blade]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

Or we could lift the restrictions and all hunt under general licenses until we kill all the animals off .
Cat

or we could not hunt and learn to accept being urbanized, domesticated, nutritionally deficient and eaten by toothy critters.

Hunting is sustainable, when guided by sound management practice.

The scientific community in Alberta has earned disdain by politicizing and corrupting their method in order to achieve emotional/ideological goals. Until we see differently over a long period of time, there is no good reason to support any further intrusion by their ilk into our world.

[catnthehat]

"Our world"?
You don't think that some of these people could be hunters as well?
I know this for sure- if we left game management up to the hunters themselves we would decimate the wild animals to extinction .
Cat

[Red Bullets]

I was just going to mention the extinction part Cat.

I wish they had people so dedicated to understanding certain populations back in the early 1900's.

Within 50 years of agricultural settlement (by the late 1940's) the "prairie chicken" in central Alberta was extinct. Also known as the pinnated grouse it was wiped out in Alberta before they even got to study it. Hunted hard by market hunters & settlers and also the new agricultural practices wiped the large populations out. Same with the huge flocks of passenger pigeons that became extinct.

Did you know from 1906 to 1913 there was no hunting of any female ungulates in the province. If Gov't F&G wouldn't have made these closures back then everyone might not even be hunting big game because they would have been wiped out.

If some student's study helps determine the grouse populations better, which eventually leads to some hunting closures or restrictions, at least my great grandchildren have a chance of seeing the grouse is still here. The worst part could be the great grandkids having to apply for a 7 year draw to shoot 2 ruffies.

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by Wiz

Dear student. Thank you for your research and your passion. I hope you receive pleanty of samples to help in your quest to further understand the natural history of ruffed grouse. Please play no attention to the more ignorant among us. They are just scared of what they do not understand.

Good luck.

Well said...

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

"Our world"?
You don't think that some of these people could be hunters as well?
I know this for sure- if we left game management up to the hunters themselves we would decimate the wild animals to extinction .
Cat

Yup, a proven fact there for sure,we need education and stability or there would be nothing left to hunt or fish for just the remember when stories around a camp fire, sad but true!

[walking buffalo]

" this type of information may be crucial in the future for ruffed grouse population management."

Scary!

I cautiously agree with 3Blade, the is a real concern for these genetic studies to be used as a means to divide species and then "protect" them from hunting.

Various researchers all around the world are jumping on the bandwagon to "protect the genetically unique".

While I would endorse the idea of having as much empirical data as possible, hunters have often been burned by researchers using the hunting community to finance and support their projects that ultimately were used to limit hunting based on an ideology, not scientific facts....

It's a tough call on whether or not to support these projects.

[Darkerwhite]

How many gallons of canned beans do you guys have stored under your stairs?

Being paranoid about studies like this without entertaining the idea that some of these researchers and studies being conducted are actually beneficial to a species existence. Which would in turn benefit our future hunting opportunities of that species.

I'm actually headed in one of those directions this weekend and will bring some extra bags.

[kayaker]

Burn the books!!!
Buy tinfoil in bulk....

We just got longer upland bird seasons.
Many bios are avid hunters and if anything their bias is towards perpetuation of hunting and using science to support this. Our hunting opportunities are pretty liberal in Alberta, very little to complain about methinks?

[Snm]

This looks like it could help with hunters Image by helping biologists and scientists better understand populations. Like others have said before me. If it helps our hunting heritage survive and our grandchildren get to experience the outdoors with wildlife in it....i am totally down.....

But i have a hard time coming to terms giving info on where i harvest my grouse. I already have enough of a hard time finding places around calgary that hold decent populations.

[catnthehat]

Whwm I am asked I simply give the WMU- they are pretty big areas .
Even "60 miles from town "is a pretty big area!
Cat