Wisconsin’s Sharp-Tailed Grouse Season Likely to Be Cancelled

Wisconsin is unlikely to hold a sharp-tailed grouse season this fall due to a decline in grouse numbers. (Photo by Danita Delimont)

Wisconsin hunters may not be able to pursue sharp-tailed grouse this fall due to a decline in the birds’ population. According to wpr.org, wildlife regulators and an advisory committee are advising against holding a season for the birds.

Once found statewide on pine and oak barrens and in brushy grasslands, the sharp-tailed grouse population has declined due to fire suppression and land use changes.

Bob Hanson, sharp-tailed grouse program coordinator for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, said hundreds of thousands of sharp-tailed grouse once made Wisconsin their home. But only 214 males were found during spring surveys of breeding grounds, or leks, which is a 22 percent decline from last year’s numbers.

The sharp-tailed grouse is listed as a species of greatest conservation need in Wisconsin due to its low and declining population.

According to Hanson, the largest population of the species can be found in the Northwest Sands region of northern Wisconsin, which spans 1.2 million acres. The landscape was once home to at least 600,000 acres of habitat for the birds. That habitat has declined more than 90 percent to around 50,000 acres.

Fortunately, the population has grown some during the last four years due to better habitat management and expansion. Last year, Wisconsin held its first limited hunt for sharp-tailed grouse since 2018 after surveys found 275 males. The DNR offered 12 tags to hunters, who harvested five birds.

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But poorly timed rains during the birds’ nesting season in the spring likely led to the population decline.

“The young chicks are really vulnerable to cold, wet weather because they don’t have much insulation,” Hanson said. “That’s what we think was the main driver.”

Mike Amman, vice president of the Wisconsin Sharp-tailed Grouse Society, said the state, counties, and U.S. Forest Service are working to improve management and expansion of habitat through the creation of roughly 1,300 acres in his county under a plan to identify and restore habitat corridors or stepping stones between existing patches of pine and oak barrens in northwestern Wisconsin.

“We could have birds that actually could … just move across these stepping stones and colonize these properties and create small populations,” Amman said. “Then you can have a good corridor of birds that could move across the entire Northwest and have a more robust population.”

Partners are doing more prescribed burns in an effort to improve habitat.

The DNR hasn’t made final decision on whether to hold a hunt, but the bird’s supporters hope their efforts will pay off.

“I think it’s important to try and fight for every last piece of what’s unique to the landscape, and that includes sharp tails,” Amman said.