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Ruffed Grouse Edge Planting (12 Plants) | Spring 2027
Sale price
$279.99
Regular price
$319.96
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Ripening
Will it finish before your first hard freeze?
Check it on the Ripening Map (opens in a new tab)A woodland-edge planting for ruffed grouse: aspen and American hazelnut for winter catkins and buds, and hawthorn and mountain ash for fruit that hangs on into winter.
| What you get | 12 plants: Aspen (3, 2-3 ft. seedlings), American Hazelnut (3, 2-3 ft.), Hawthorn (3), Mountain Ash (3, 3-5 ft.). Bare root, shipped or picked up in Missoula in spring 2027, roots wrapped in moist sawdust. Guaranteed to bud out. |
|---|---|
| Hardy to | Zone 3 (winters to about -40°F). Check your spot with our cold hardiness calculator. |
| Why these | The Ruffed Grouse Society calls aspen catkins a survival food, and Michigan DNR notes hazel catkins are eaten in winter. Hawthorn berries were a major ruffed grouse food in Montana's Bridger Mountains and hang on well past first frost. Mountain ash berries stay on the tree all winter. |
| Pollination | Hazelnut needs two different plants, and these three seedlings are all different. Aspen comes as male and female trees, and these are seedlings, so sex is unknown until they bloom. |
How to Plant for Grouse
Plant along woodland edges and in openings. Three aspen won't make a covert on their own, but aspen suckers, and in a few years they'll start a clone you can cut in patches to keep it young. Grouse like aspen stands 5 to 20 years old. Leave a downed log 10 in. or bigger for drumming.
Protect Them
Deer, elk and moose browse young plants hard, and bucks rub trunks in fall. Cage each tree until it's out of reach: a welded-wire cage about 5 ft. tall and 3 ft. across works for deer. Where elk come through, MSU recommends an 8 ft. fence with a top rail. Trunk tubes alone won't stop rubs. Water with drip the first couple of summers.
Bear country: fruit draws black bears and grizzlies. Plant well away from houses and outbuildings, and use electric fence where bears are around.
Is Planting This Baiting?
Growing plants is habitat work. Rules on fruit or nuts you pick, move or pile up vary by state, so check your state's hunting regs before you hunt over it.
For the full how-to (why these plants work, spacing, protection and timing), read our ruffed grouse planting guide.
See our other wildlife bundles on the wildlife orchard bundles page.
Photos: ruffed grouse by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons.
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