Montana Sage Grouse 2019

[Rackmastr]

I used to live in SE Alberta (right north of Havre) and saw 2 groups of them in my life. Although I know the populations are delicate, I still have a desire to hunt them at least once (in MT or WY, or even ID) and would love to have one mounted in my house as a reminder of my time living on the prairies. They are a pretty cool bird for sure. I've talked about doing a combo antelope hunt in WY as the numbers seem better down there. Sounds like a super fun hunt regardless.

 

[Dakota79]

Northwest South Dakota could also tickle your fancy with some good bird hunting on the way.

 

[eajusc]

Thank you all for the tips, it helps me narrow down my search a little. Part of the fun is planning the route I'm going to drive, though I suspect with limited time off work stopping at every bird hunting destination I may pass near will be difficult!

 

[WildWill]

My experience shows that you find them in one of three places:

Big flats like you describe

Next to the last gate of the day after you've walked 15 miles

Right next to the #$#@*$% road.



Ridges, plateaus & places with good sage stand diversity along with good line of sight to watch for predators. All good spots to walk. Enjoy!

Great advice above.

I chased sage grouse this year for the first time after filling my WY antelope tag. I hunted them (with no dog) for 1 1/2 days around the Casper area. After walking many miles and hunting pretty hard (far harder then my antelope hunt) I saw a total of 2 birds that were together and managed to get one. I found them about 40 yards off the road on a piece of BLM. After all that walking my truck was less then a 100 yards away when I got my one and only sage grouse.