Does hunting hurt sage grouse populations?
Environmentalists and ranchers dont always agree on issues related to wildlife. But over the past several years, some members of both camps have suggested that if sage grouse numbers are declining, Montana should end or greatly curtail hunting harvest. In 2005, the Montana Stockgrowers Association advocated reducing the sage grouse bag limit to one bird and dramatically shortening the season. FWP opposed the proposal. Jeff Herbert, assistant chief of the FWP Wildlife Division, notes that of more than 900 sage grouse banded during research projects by FWP and university researchers in eastern Montana over the past several years, only nine have been shot by hunters. That tells us harvest is just a small fraction of the population, which confirms that hunting is not driving Montanas sage grouse populations, Herbert says. However, because sage grouse live longer and breed less productively than ducks, pheasants, and many other game birds, hunting can cut into numbers when populations get t
