Central Adirondacks Cooperators Still Flush 1.09 Grouse per Hour, Mohawk Valley 0.17

IHead Up North

Central and Northern Adirondacks Kept Their Flush Rates

Here the flush rate is DEC's average of grouse flushed per hour on the days cooperators hunted. DEC publishes it by Wildlife Management Unit aggregate in its grouse dashboard data. We put the first six seasons (2004-05 to 2009-10) against the latest six (2020-21 to 2025-26).

The Central Adirondacks changed very little. Cooperators there flushed 1.18 grouse per hour in the early seasons (2004-05 to 2009-10) and 1.09 in the recent ones, holding 92% of the early rate. The Northern Adirondacks fell from 1.37 to 1.08 and held 79%. Those two aggregates now rank highest in the state.

Several valley and plain units fell steeply. The Mohawk Valley fell from 1.18 flushes per hour to 0.17 and held 14% of its early rate. The East Ontario Plain dropped from 1.68 to 0.32. Both the Hudson Valley and the Great Lakes Plain are now at 0.02. In the recent seasons the Central Adirondacks rate ran 6.4 times the Mohawk Valley rate and 3.4 times the East Ontario Plain rate.

IISteady Up North

Central Adirondacks Made the Top Three in 5 of 6 Recent Seasons

A six-season average can cover up one great year, so we ranked each unit season by season. The rankings cover the 19 aggregates remaining after the three thin units are removed. The Central Adirondacks finished in the top three in 5 of the last 6 seasons, and their weakest season in that span ran at 0.93 flushes per hour against a best of 1.21. The Northern Adirondacks reached the top three in 4 of the 6 but ranged from 0.67 to 1.62.

Central Tug Hill led over the long run but has slipped. It finished first in 9 of 22 seasons and in the top five in 17, more than any other unit. It still reached the recent top three in 3 seasons, but dropped to 0.48 in 2025-26. The Mohawk Valley reached the top five in 2 of 22 seasons, and its best season since 2020-21 ran at 0.42.

IIINext in Line

Tug Hill, Catskills and Eastern Plateau Held About Half

Central Tug Hill, Tug Hill Transition, the Catskills and the East Appalachian Plateau form the next tier at 0.68 to 0.87 flushes per hour. Central Tug Hill led the state in the early seasons at 1.77 and averaged 0.87 in the last six seasons. Tug Hill Transition fell from 1.27 to 0.75, the East Appalachian Plateau from 1.43 to 0.76 and the Catskills from 1.29 to 0.68. Otsego-Delaware Hills held 45% of its early rate.

As a group, the four Adirondack and Tug Hill aggregates averaged 1.4 flushes per hour in the early seasons and 0.94 in the recent ones. With the thin units left out, the 15 other aggregates fell from 1.0 to 0.4. The north also lost ground, but much less.

IVIn DEC's Words

Declines Likely Related to Declining Habitat, West Nile Virus Potentially Exacerbating Them

The department says in the 2021-22 hunting log report that "The declines in grouse numbers are likely related to declining habitat quantity and quality." Its spring 2022 report on drumming surveys also says that "Potentially exacerbating the influence of habitat loss on hen survival and nest and brood success are the negative effects of West Nile Virus (WNV) on grouse chick survival." For northern New York the same report notes that "grouse populations have been relatively stable there compared to the southern parts of the state where declines in grouse numbers are more pronounced."

DEC's zone and ecozone figures support that divide. Cooperators flushed 0.94 grouse per hour in the Northern Zone in 2021-22 compared with 0.50 in the Southern Zone. DEC says that "in the Southern Zone no grouse were flushed on 54% of trips," compared with 30% of trips in the north. The Mohawk Valley, Hudson Valley and Taconic Highlands ecozone had 525 logged hours in 2019-20, 517 in 2020-21 and 506 in 2021-22, with rates of 0.11, 0.21 and 0.16 grouse per hour. Great Lakes Plain cooperators hunted 158 hours in 2021-22 without flushing any grouse. Our ruffed grouse cycle and West Nile guide looks at the flush and drumming records in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

VReading the Logs

Grouse Encounters Form an Index, With Thin Samples Marked

These volunteer logs are not a random sample of hunters or ground. Cooperators pick their hunting spots, so the flush rate is an index of grouse encountered by hunters who log their days. DEC points out that "the number of cooperating hunters has been declining in recent years."

DEC states in its footnote that "A minimum of 20 trips or 35 hours is needed for analysis." We have hours by aggregate in our files only for 2019-20 to 2021-22, so we cannot screen the early seasons for thin samples the same way. Cooperators recorded 9, 3 and 2 hours in the Oswego Lowlands from 2019-20 to 2021-22, and its five-season recent average of 1.00 rests mostly on a 2020-21 rate of 4.75 from 3 hours. We mark the Oswego Lowlands, the Neversink-Mongaup Hills and the New York City Transition as thin and exclude them from the group averages and the chart. Five lightly sampled units averaged under 100 cooperator hours per season, including the Mohawk Valley at 59. Flush data by themselves cannot explain why the south fell.

VIPick Your Ground

Put Your Big Days North of the Mohawk

Our read is that a New York grouse hunter setting aside a few serious days should put the Central Adirondacks first and the Northern Adirondacks second. The Central Adirondacks were the more consistent of the two over the last six seasons, and their weakest season in that span still ran at 0.93 flushes per hour. Central Tug Hill, Tug Hill Transition, the Catskills and the East Appalachian Plateau form the next tier, and a flush is a bonus in the Mohawk, Hudson and Great Lakes lowlands. Before putting faith in a unit that looks surprisingly good, look at how many cooperator hours support its rate.