Nice shooting Flave, we were out and picked up a couple more this eve. 1999 I spent several weeks in Montana hunting birds.. Sage grouse was open, although I did not shoot any.. I think at that time, it stayed in until maybe Nov. The season was much, much longer than ours..
At first when I hunted them it was a about a 10 day season.. Then things blossomed we had grouse everywhere.. Season opened once in late Aug and went til Oct 1. Now it opens the 17 and goes til the end of the month. We used to have a method of cooking them in wine sauce they were pretty good. During the peak years of our grouse population, I had about 15 older friends who grew up eating these birds.. They loved them.. I had a ball shooting grouse for all of them.. Now I have only one widow who wants them.. They have all passed.. I still love shooting them.. The few times I hunted sharpies, they were awesome, but much tougher than sage grouse..
