Upland Bird Forecast

Friday, August 24, 2018

Upland season starts Sept. 1 with mountain, sage and sharptail grouse along with partridge. Pheasant hunting starts Oct. 6. All seasons end Jan. 1, except sage grouse, which ends Sept. 30.

Gray (Hungarian) Partridge

While no formal surveys are conducted for huns in Montana, weather and habitat conditions suggest huns across the state will range from slightly above to below average this season, depending on the area of the state.

A severe winter across most of the Region 7 most likely had an adverse impact on Hungarian partridges. Although Hungarian partridges occur throughout the region, their distribution tends to be spotty. The most robust populations of Huns can be found where there is a good interspersion of grain, alfalfa and rolling grassy hills or grass ways. Hunters can expect numbers of Hungarian partridge to range from poor to fair, depending on localized weather and habitat conditions.

Pheasants

Montana is experiencing a large decline in conservation reserve program acreage along the northern tier of the state, which may have an impact on hunting experiences in Regions 4 and 6. CRP is a program that pays landowners to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and plant species improves environmental health and quality of bird habitat.

Overall, pheasant hunting in Region 7 should be fair to poor this fall depending on local conditions. The moisture levels this year have provided birds with vast areas of cover and have also made agricultural lands productive, which will aid birds throughout their lifecycle.

Sage-Grouse

The picture for sage grouse is variable across the state, even within regions. Some leks, or breeding grounds, had good numbers this spring while others did not. Snow that lasted into March and muddy conditions in many areas may not have necessarily affected sage grouse, but it prevented biologists from getting to many leks to count birds. Consequently, we don't have as good a handle on sage grouse numbers as we usually do. Also, large wildfires in sage grouse core habitat in 2017 will affect bird distribution this year and in the future. Sage grouse numbers naturally fluctuate. After declining lek counts between 2008 and 2014 numbers picked up in 2016, which is consistent with normal population fluctuations and is a result of favorable weather conditions for hatching and brood rearing in 2014 through 2016.

Sage grouse experienced fair to good nesting conditions across the southeastern portion of the state. All of the moisture this year created a wonderful mosaic of habitat on the sagebrush grasslands in Region 7. The moisture has brought out a flush of grasses and native forbs that haven't been as prevalent in the last few years of the drought, which has been beneficial to not only chicks but also to adults. Sage grouse numbers should remain stable due to the favorable habitat conditions.

Sharp-tailed grouse

Similar to sage grouse, sharp-tailed grouse found favorable nesting conditions in Region 7. While sharp-tailed grouse are found across the region, localized weather events such as hail storms may have had an impact on some populations. Like other species of game birds, sharptails depend heavily on native and introduced forbs on range and agricultural lands to raise their broods. Hunters who do their homework prior to the season and come with their boots broken in and their dogs conditioned should enjoy success chasing upland birds this season.