My recent column about a good-natured disagreement over ruffed grouse and sharp-tailed grouse names struck a chord with a handful of readers and made for some fun discourse.
In case you missed the column, it all started when a cousin reached out and asked me to settle a debate he was having with a buddy. My cousin was telling his buddy that sharp-tailed grouse are also called “chickens” or “prairie chickens” and ruffed grouse and “partridges” are the same species.
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(We could get into a whole other discussion about whether the plural of partridge is “partridge” or “partridges” and whether the plural of sharptail is “sharptail” or “sharptails,” but that’s a debate for another day. One thing’s for sure, grouse is grouse, whether referring to one bird or a whole covey.)
But I digress. …
My cousin, who spent his career in automotive sales, is a pretty persuasive guy, but his buddy wasn’t buying the “chicken”-“partridge” claim.
That’s where I got drawn into the discussion. And I was happy to play.
Long story short, I had to tell my cousin that his friend was correct: Sharptails and prairie chickens (or chickens) are two different species, as are ruffed grouse and partridges. I never bought into calling sharptails “chickens,” but I still routinely called ruffed grouse “partridges,” even though I know it’s not correct.
That’s what they were called by many people where I grew up in northwest Minnesota, and old habits die hard.
Anyway, here’s what a Bismarck reader had to say:
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“I loved your story about partridge and chickens. Where I grew up, and continue to grow up, partridges were Huns to my dad, and sharptails were grouse (I don’t think I even heard about ruffed grouse until I was in college). I’m sticking with Dad.”
Another reader sided with my cousin:
“This 87-year-old grew up hunting ruffed grouse around my home town of Milaca (Minnesota). Down there, we referred to that wily bird as a ‘ruff,’ or more commonly, going into the woods to hunt ‘pats.’
“I’m with your cousin on this one.”
Jesse Kolar, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s upland game management supervisor in Dickinson, even weighed in on the discussion. Kolar’s email, which was part compliment and part correction, also touched on my use in the column of “Hungarian partridge,” a widely used name for the species now officially known as gray partridge in ornithological circles.
“Great article on bird names,” Kolar writes. “I have had the same conversation with ranchers on sage hens (referring to sage grouse) and sage grouse (referring to sharptail).
“I was trying to find the date, but also could’ve corrected ‘Hungarian’ partridge. The name was changed to gray partridge back in the 1980s.”
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Kolar then joked that he wished prairie chickens were still called “pinnated grouse,” adding that referring to these prairie boomers as mere “chickens” just isn’t right.
I’m inclined to agree with him on that one. Official or not, I still think “Huns” sounds better than “grays” when referring to the partridge.
By any name, they’re always a treat to see.
Honored with an island
A video paying tribute to Adam Parnow, a Crookston man who died in a June 2023 crop spraying accident, posted Jan. 20, 2025, on Mac Mulligan’s YouTube channel.
A guide for Viking Lodge near Cranberry Portage, Manitoba, Mulligan recently hosted a group of area anglers on a guided ice fishing excursion that has become an annual trip.
Among them were Fred Parnow (Adam’s dad), Ben Genereux and Andrew Clark of Crookston, Jared Pokrzywinski of Devils Lake Tourism and Todd Pokrzywinski of Watford City, North Dakota.
Titled “The Legend of Adams Island,” the video highlights a sign that was erected on a small island in Lake Athapapuskow, where the crew was fishing. The sign pays tribute to Adam Parnow, an avid outdoorsman and adventure seeker who fished “Athapap” on numerous occasions.
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The Parnow family started Get Kids Outdoors to honor Adam’s legacy, and the sign that now adorns the island on “Athapap” is a tribute to Adam and his time on the northern Manitoba lake where he so loved to fish.
“Adam would be honored to have this here,” Fred Parnow says in the video, during a small ceremony the crew held on the island after placing the sign. “He spent a lot of time on this lake with these young men … and it’s all in memory of Adam and this island and this wonderful lake and his love for the outdoors and a love for kids.”
It’s an emotional tribute. And, in a fitting turn of events, Jared Pokrzywinski landed a 42½-inch lake trout later that same day.
As a further tribute to Adam Parnow’s legacy, Mulligan announced the launch of the “Northern Expedition Giveaway,” a package featuring Mulligan’s 2024 Ski-Doo Expedition LE snowmobile, which is a fully rigged ice fishing machine, along with a gear package that includes a 10-inch Eskimo Ion Alpha auger, Timber Wilderness-brand ice fishing rods and a Boreal Bruins Ultra XP fuel additive package. Proceeds from the giveaway, which costs $36 (US funds) to enter, will support reforestation in Canada and the Parnow family’s Get Kids Outdoors nonprofit.
The package will be awarded during a drawing set for 3 p.m. Nov. 9, 2025, at the Winnipeg Ice Fishing Show.
- On the web:
The Trust Project
