During a lifetime of ruffed grouse hunting (aka, “armed hiking”) in northern Minnesota, I’ve experienced the highs and lows of grouse population cycles and encountered sizable groups of birds, in conjunction with putting my fair share in the freezer, but the most grouse I’ve ever encountered (i.e., in the shortest period of space and time) was completely unexpected. 

During the first week of October 2022, I joined Boundary Waters Journal publisher Stu Osthoff (and clients) on his annual Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) “Fall Color Tour.” This was the eighth year in a row I’ve paddled the Boundary Waters with Stu, in part because the trip includes opportunities for “armed hiking.”[1]

As Stu explained in the Summer 2020 Boundary Waters Journal, “… over half the BWCAW is forest, not water. Almost nobody sets foot into over half of this huge designated wilderness …”[2] Hence, there is no end to the possibilities for busting brush in search of wilderness ruffed grouse. The BWCAW is the most visited wilderness area in the United States: more than 165,000 people in 2020, which was a 10-year high.[3] 

It extends 150 miles along the U.S.-Canada border and holds over 1,100 pristine lakes and 1,500 miles of backcountry canoe routes.[4] That said, the Boundary Waters wilderness is also, unfortunately, one of the most threatened. As most Minnesotans know, a foreign-owned mining company, Twin Metals (aka, Antofagasta, a Chilean mining conglomerate), wants to open a sulfide-ore mine in the Boundary Waters watershed and then sell the ore to China for processing.[5] 

“One million acres, over one thousand lakes, countless wetlands and creeks, and all connected as they slowly drain from south to north into Quetico Provincial Park and eventually Hudson Bay,” Adam Miller wrote in the Spring 2022 Backcountry Journal. “It is impossible to separate one from the other. No body of water is isolated for long. Damage done to one is damage done to all. That is why protecting the Boundary Waters in its entirety and perpetually is so important. There are so few places like it left on earth.”[6] 

The potential for watershed-ruining impacts from sulfide-ore mining are so well known that a survey by the University of Minnesota-Morris found that 23% of residents in Ely area townships would consider moving if copper mining were permitted in the Boundary Waters watershed, according to a May 2022 Minnesota Reformer op-ed by wilderness advocate Becky Rom.[7]

Regarding China, in a 2021 Duluth News Tribune opinion piece (“Support for Twin Metals is support for Chinese aggression,” 8/18/21) I noted that, “During recent years, one of our most potent military and economic adversaries has been China, a country with a growing force of intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs … allowing a foreign company to mine sulfide-ore in the Boundary Waters watershed, then turn around and sell our natural resources to China, potentially helping it build more ICBMs that will likely be pointed at us: truth truly is stranger—and more dangerous—than fiction.”[8]

While camped in the Boundary Waters greater Gun Lake area (on 10/5/22), another hunter-paddler, Scott Swanson, and I hiked across a single portage and encountered some 20 ruffed grouse along the way (including two strutting males), the most grouse I’ve ever encountered in such a short time period and limited geographic area. Although we had shotguns handy, we don’t hunt on portages.[9] 

“We see grouse on portages, but we consider these birds ‘off limits,’” Stu Osthoff explained in the Winter 2017 Boundary Waters Journal. “I don’t think it is a good idea to chance running into other canoeists on the portages when we are carrying loaded guns … they don’t know if we are safe and conscientious hunters or not. It is just a bad image for hunting to purse birds around non-hunters. Besides, we liken portage grouse to road hunting: it ain’t real hunting.”[10]

And in the words of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) president and CEO Land Tawney (in the Winter 2020 Backcountry Journal), “There has never been a copper/sulfide mine that hasn’t leached. Never. Right now, the future of the Boundary Waters hangs in the balance … There shall be no mine here … not ever … not on BHA’s watch.”[11]

 Resources/Related Information

• “Conservationist’s View: Allowing copper-nickel mining close to BWCAW 'not responsible.'” Duluth News Tribune: 1/6/23.
• “Local View: Twin Metals' mined Minnesota resources likely to end up in China.” Duluth News Tribune: 9/7/22.
• “Mining near Boundary Waters too risky.” Duluth News Tribune: 7/3/22.
• “Sulfide mining and greenwashing.” Grand Rapids (Minn.) Herald-Review: 6/21/22.
• “Protecting the Boundary Waters includes for veterans.” Duluth News Tribune: 5/24/22.
• Katie McKalip and Lukas Leaf. “Hunters And Anglers Commend Administration Action To Ensure Long-Term Protections.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 1/26/22.
• “Local View: Boundary Waters grouse—and all creatures—depend on clean water.” Duluth News Tribune: 10/21/21.
• “Hunting Boundary Waters Grouse (& Sulfide Mines).” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 10/18/21.
• “Support for Twin Metals is support for Chinese aggression: ‘Truth truly is stranger—and more dangerous—than fiction.’” Duluth News Tribune: 8/18/21.
• “Sulfide mines and wilderness don’t mix: Let’s not sell out the best of northern Minnesota to foreign-owned companies using mining practices guaranteed to decimate water quality and wildlife habitat for a quick buck.” Duluth News Tribune: 5/1/21.
• Sportsmen For The Boundary Waters: https://sportsmenbwca.org/
• Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) Day 4: Gun Lake area grouse hunt photos (Wednesday: 10/5/22).
• “Sportsmen For The Boundary Waters (SFBW) Presents: Grouse Up The Gunflint.” SFBW: Fall 2022. “This autumn, Sportsmen for the Boundary Waters hosted a trip into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in pursuit of lake trout and ruffed grouse with MeatEater’s Ryan Callaghan (also a BHA North American Board member), Trampled by Turtle’s Dave Simonett, and KFAN’s Bob St.Pierre to highlight the hunting and fishing opportunities of the area.”[12]

David Lien of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and formerly of Grand Rapids (Minn.), is a former Air Force missile launch officer and the founder and former chairman of Minnesota Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. He’s the author of six books including “Hunting for Experience II: Tales of Hunting & Habitat Conservation.”[13]