Response of breeding male Ruffed Grouse, Bonasa umbellus, to playbacks of drumming recordings

On seven separate occasions I assessed the response of breeding male Ruffed Grouse (Bonosa umbellus) to a playback of a drumming recording. On five occasions, the resident male grouse approached to within 20 m of my location, four of these between 9 and 3 m, despite my making no attempt to conceal my presence. This technique may be useful in verifying the presence of breeding males in known territories, and may also be useful in luring breeding males within noosing range for capture.