LINGOLN OOUNTY GROUSE SITUATION 
The sportsmenof Merrill, having asked by petition for 
a shorter grouse season, Mr. William F. Grimmer, superintendent 
of game, ordered a special investigation of Lincoln county to 
determine the number of grouse available for hunting, the damage 
to game birds caused by forest fires and the motives of the 
sportsmen who led the drive for a shcrter grouse season. 
Grouse Cover 
The total area of Lincoln county is 577,000 acres, of 
which 400,000 acres is grouse cover. It is estimated that there 
are 45,000 ruffed grouse, 10,000 sharp-tailed grouse, and 500 
pinnated grouse in Lincoln county. The ruffed grouse cover is 
divided by the Wisconsin rifer into two areas about equal in 
size. It is-the area west of the Wisconsin river that has been 
ruined by forest fires. 
Ruffed Grouse Ponulation Density 
In the unburned area a census was made along a river, 
around a swamp,around a lake and on highground to determine the 
number of birds in eachof these different types of cover. 
Ruffed grouse were found in each type of cover, and the nu*er 
of birds was equal to the number in other northerncounties. 
There were not as many as in the best Minnesota ruffed grouse 
country, but the open season there will be for about three weeks. 
In the area west of the Wisconsin river so much of the 
grouse cover has been burned that it is not possible to make an