Grouse information
Minnesota is the top ruffed grouse-producing state in the U.S. No other state harvests as many ruffed grouse each fall or provides as much public hunting land containing ruffed grouse.
Ruffed grouse are a native woodland bird about the size of a small chicken. The bird is noted for its fan-shaped tail marked by a broad, dark band. Some ruffed grouse--called red-phased birds--have chestnut-colored tails, and the gray-phased birds have gray or slate-colored tails. The bird also has a concealed neck ruff that the male puffs out during courtship displays.
Male ruffed grouse make a well-known drumming noise that sounds similar to a distant lawnmower engine. He drums by beating his wings in the air, starting slowly as a series of thumps, and then, as beating speeds up, the sound resembles a drum or engine. The drumming occurs on logs, boulders, tree roots, or other elevated sites known as “drumming logs.”
More information
- Nature snapshots - Ruffed grouse
- Nature snapshots - Sharp-tailed grouse
- Anything to Grouse About? (Minnesota Conservation Volunteer article)
- Brushland Dervishes (Minnesota Conservation Volunteer article)
