Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, October 23, 1995                   TAG: 9510230112
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GROUSE NUMBERS STILL LOW IN SOUTH

``It seems like every year we see good numbers of birds in the spring and that hasn't equated to good numbers in the fall,'' said Norman, the upland game bird research biologist for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

The result has been a low, flat-line population the past three years.

So what's in store for the coming season, which opens Oct. 30?

Again, game officials spotted impressive broods during the spring and summer months.

``I know that our field staff has remarked that they have been seeing more grouse than in recent times,'' Norman said. He hopes those birds will carry over into the hunting season.

``It would be hard for it to get much lower,'' he said. ``There is only two things it can do, stay the same or go up.''

The low grouse population isn't something Virginia is suffering alone, he said.

``It seems grouse populations have been low for the last three to five years in the southern part of the grouse range,'' he said. ``The hope and thinking is that things may be ready to swing upward.''

Norman expects to have a better understanding of this elusive bird through research scheduled to begin next year.

``It is our intent to join with West Virginia and Ohio to do a range telemetry study,'' he said. ``I'm real excited about that. Hopefully we will be in a better position to answer questions a lot better.''

One of the game department's best current research tools is its annual flush survey, done in cooperation with hunters who keep figures on the birds they encounter. Norman would like additional participants. Information is available by writing him at P.O. Box 996, Verona 24482.