May 17, 2012

Traveling Wingshooter Online
August 2011

he outlook for prairie chickens, sharp-tailed grouse, and gray (Hungarian) partridge is a mixed bag at best this season.

In MONTANA, a very severe winter and heavy rains in the spring had a strong negative impact on upland birds in general. Those areas of the state where prospects for one or the other species are at least average are: Region 3: Huns improved from last year, close to average, same in Region 4 (north); Region 4 (south): sharptails average; Region 5: Huns improved, close to average; Region 7 (south): Huns above average.
 
NORTH DAKOTA was subject to much the same conditions as Montana, and as a result, the forecast there is also poor. Although last year’s sharptail harvest showed a 25 percent increase over 2009 and the Hun harvest was up 12 percent, those increases were at least partially explained by the presence of more prairie grouse hunters.

North Dakota came into the breeding season following its third consecutive harsh winter, and spring 2011 was unusually wet.  With a sharptail breeding population that’s 30% lower than last year, that spells lower bird numbers, for both species.  More rain than normal also means taller cover, which in turn means that the birds will be harder to find.  It all adds up to lower numbers for both sharps and huns, although there will be localized pockets with decent hunting.

Especially for nonresidents planning a trip to the western part of the state (the best region for huns and sharptails), there’s an additional problem:  the state’s oil boom means that lodging is hard to come by anywhere west of Bismarck.  If you haven’t secured reservations, don’t count on finding a place to stay.

Although the oil industry has provided a significant economic shot in the arm, there are concerns about the impact of the oil fields on sharptails.  And North Dakota is losing significant amounts of both CRP and PLOTS (Private Lands Open To Sportsmen) acres because of high grain prices.
 
Things look somewhat better to the south. With an estimated 57,000 birds bagged, SOUTH DAKOTA experienced its best prairie grouse harvest (sharptails and chickens combined) since 2001. That was a significant increase over the 39,000 birds hunters took in 2009.
  
This year, spring lek counts were down somewhat for sharptails, but up for chickens. Although there was some heavy rain during the nesting season, overall conditions were relatively favorable. Rains do help the grass, which puts the habitat in good shape for the coming season.

Top grouse counties are Stanley, Dewey, Lyman, and Hughes in the central part of the state, and those immediately adjacent to them. The South Dakota website includes an excellent map showing grouse densities.

The grouse season in NEBRASKA opens earlier than in the past this year, on September 1. Prospects for this year are down somewhat, mainly due to a very wet spring and fewer broods produced. The Sandhills, usually good mixed bag country for both sharps and chickens, will probably have just slightly lower bird numbers than last year. Hunters in eastern Nebraska, where a special permit is required and only a total of three birds can be taken during the season, will see a more significant decline in numbers.

In KANSAS, hunters have the opportunity of bagging both the fairly common greater prairie chicken, and the much rarer lesser prairie chicken.

Bird numbers in the Flint Hills, long the core region for prairie chickens in Kansas, continue to decline. The main problem there is loss of available nesting habitat due to land management practices.

Elsewhere, other than extreme southwest Kansas that is suffering severe drought issues, bird numbers look better. Things are looking very good for greater chickens in the northwest and north central regions, with prospects perhaps as good as they’ve been in ten years.

For the lessers, with their traditional range in the southern part of the state, drought is a concern. However, that population is shifting farther north, and lessers are now being encountered in the northwest, where they’re overlapping with greaters. There have been reports of mixed coveys, and of some hybrid birds. Generally speaking, Kansas’s lesser prairie chicken population is healthy, and hunters should not be concerned about taking the birds.
               

Stay tuned for more 2011 Traveling Wingshooter Gamebird Forecasts as they become available!

Read another forecast: Grouse and Woodcock

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