Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game Nevada Sagehen In Trouble!

I've been pestering the NV DOW for years to shorten the sagehen seasons and reduce limits and have seen no changes. I know others who have been shouting the same thing at them, actual hunters who take to the field year after year, not biologists who have pet theories and need to conduct endless studies, often on grants.

Well, it appears that all this studying has crashed down around their ears, just like sagehen have crashed. Where we had a generous season and possession limits for years, including last year, eighteen (the majority of units) of the the hunting units are completely closed. I hope it's not too late.

This endless and severe drought, West Nile virus, destructive vast mining, no market for bobcat or coyote pelts, proliferation of ATV/UTV use at a pandemic scale, and NDOW allowed over-hunting have the great bird at threatened levels.

I love saghen, hunting sagehen, eating sagehen...being among sagehen in general. It breaks my heart and my grandson's that the bird is this threatened, but we welcome some sense finally dawning on the "biologists".

I was fortunate to grow up when there was a simple two day season 60+ years ago with two birds/day and two days in possession. We saw flocks so large the sky would darken when they all flushed together. Now a flock of a dozen is exciting.

There is a small two day season in my old stomping grounds and native county. I'll be out for a hunt and will stop at one bird, if I'm that lucky. It's a 400+ mile trip, 190 on dirt and 4X4 trail, but being among the chickens again a last time is well worth the trip.

Looks more like my stomping grounds, rather than where you live..

It's central NV, about 110 miles east of where I live and it was our sagehen spot for years. It's now a closed area.

Austin then. I have never been there. Talking to some guys from Ely and Elko, say they have been seeing a lot of them in that direction... More numbers this year than there has been..

Cheatgrass conversion is a huge problem for sage grouse. Not only for the loss of the sagebrush, but the loss of bugs! Chicks can't eat sagebrush until they are about 6 weeks old. They are nearly/mostly insectivorous until then. Some of the GPS studies that I was a part of in Utah were eye opening as to the habitats they select at different times of year.

Lots of work was done in that county. Numbers were consistently trending upwards. Then a bad winter/spring... Two steps forward, one backward I guess.

Right on point!

Chuckar also depend on bugs for survival, especially grasshoppers. Without grasshoppers they starve during the summer.

LUS, talking about sage grouse. We still have a fair supply, not great but some anyway. Limit is now two. For years it was 3, but 2 is enough.
You mentioned cooking them and enjoying eating them. How do you prepare them? My first wife had a great method of cooking grouse, but when she passed in the years of change that followed, I lost it. In the late 70's through the 80's into the 90's I had about 20 older folks here in town that loved them. We had lots of birds then and shooting was great. Now all have passed except one older lady. She no longer does much cooking for herself, a way of living and eating has passed into extinction.. Sad to see. Good luck this fall. I got my old 870 out today and hope to do some clay bird shooting with it soon. Not many things really get me excited about hunting, although I enjoy all of it, but bird shooting does. Can't wait, enjoy and shoot straight.. Best of luck.

Thanks Wyo...is it Haz, BTW?

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WyoCoyoteHunter,

My wife and I have killed and eaten a BUNCH of sage grouse, many back in the late 1980s through the 1990s when they were very abundant here in Montana. For years the daily limit was 4 in the area where we lived.

Eileen is a professional game cookbook writer, publishing her first in the early 1990s. She's developed several great techniques for cooking sage grouse, which can be found in her book UPLAND GAME COOKERY, available through www.riflesandrecipes.com. But she is also happy to answer questions, whether through e-mailing her through the website, or phoning 406-521-0273.