Winter impact on Sage grouse

Goatshoes

Goatshoes

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Sage grouse are on my bucket list. I thought this year might be my year to give big game a rest and pursue chukar and grouse at home here in CA and other Western states. Does anybody know how harsh winters affect grouse in general? All the focus seems to be on how it impacts big game. I suppose anything to any extreme is rough on wildlife, but I just don't know.
 
A tough winter is a tough winter but in general, our native grouse fare far better than pheasants and huns in tough winter conditions. Sage grouse in areas with decent sage habitat should do fine. Sharpies are looking phenomenal despite more snow than I've seen before up here. Pheasants are looking kind of skimpy so far, and we've been watching a couple of flocks of huns dwindle away. Will have to wait for lek and crow counts to really tell for sure.
 
Thanks for the feedback. It sounds like maybe a harsh winter will just leave us with a below average year as opposed to a disaster. I understand Lek counts but not crow counts. What have the crows to do with game birds?
 
Goatshoes said:
Thanks for the feedback. It sounds like maybe a harsh winter will just leave us with a below average year as opposed to a disaster. I understand Lek counts but not crow counts. What have the crows to do with game birds?
Click to expand...
Crow as in "sounding off" not the bird. If I'm not mistaken, this are counts made by counting the number of birds you hear in an area or along a transect.

IMLE, winter is not as problematic as a cold wet spring for sage grouse. If you decide to put in for sage grouse permits in the Utah, let me know and I can tell you a few places I've seen them in the past.
 
I would concur with 1ptr, you need to worry about poor nesting conditions rather than winter kill. These birds thrive on the tall sage environment in winter and of course if it gets covered up, can "migrate" at 50 mph without bucking any drifts to find the next island of habitat. Some of the old growth sage is 5'+ and never gets covered completely. And that is where the turds are an inch deep about now.
 
Yes, sorry. "Crow" as in crowing roosters. Just thinking of the two spring upland bird surveys we normally do. :eek:

As the other two said, impacts to nests and chicks are much more detrimental to numbers as long as there is adequate big, old sagebrush to sustain adults through the tougher winters.
 
1_pointer said:
IMLE, winter is not as problematic as a cold wet spring for sage grouse. If you decide to put in for sage grouse permits in the Utah, let me know and I can tell you a few places I've seen them in the past.
Click to expand...

It seems through research that what affects the population far more than anything is habitat and specifically nesting conditions in the spring. If you go to the Sage Grouse Iniative, you can find links to reports, papers, and articles on the SG. When MT almost got rid of the season a few years ago, I got serious about hunting them.

If you are serious about grouse, I would really recommend this great book and watch some vids he has produced. Save the Last Dance.
 
Our regional grouse areas should be fine. Snow has blown off the sage hills sides in the winter grounds. So far populations where we hunt them are good. Also seeing quite a few in closed areas so that fairs well for them there. Nesting conditions will be key as stated above. They do lek counts here .
 
Be careful to agree with me. I was "range staff"...

PS- I sorely miss counting leks... :(
 
Thanks for all the feed back and straightening me out on the "Crow" count. I was planning on maybe hunting South West WY (Unit 1). I also ran across a nice covey sitting on the road during my Utah cow elk hunt last December so that may be an option too.

1_pointer:

I will contact you if I put in. Thank you for the offer.
 
Poke 'Em said:
We're in much better shape in NE Montana than we were in the winter of 2010-2011.

Here is a link to a satellite image from earlier this week (on a sunny day).

http://ge.ssec.wisc.edu/modis-today...lse&overlay_state=true&overlay_coastline=true

Likewise, below is the same image from March 20, 2011, also on a sunny day.

http://ge.ssec.wisc.edu/modis-today...lse&overlay_state=true&overlay_coastline=true
Click to expand...

Cool links - thanks for sharing!
We moved up here from elsewhere in Montana in 2012. From photos, it seemed to me that this year was not as bad as 2011, but I hear varying stories from some of the locals as to how they compare. Nice to see a side-by-side comparison.
 
Those are cool links! Can they be zoomed in? I'm Sure it's hard to tell snow from clouds and I'm pretty sure that's not snow in texas and Florida
 
They can be zoomed in (hover over the section you want to zoom on, then click 250m). You can even import each day's image into Google Earth. With some practice, you learn to tell snow from clouds pretty easily.
 
The winter of 2010-2011, it snowed on November 9, and we had constant snowcover through April 9. So this winter was tame by comparison.
 
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