The Drop in Grouse Didn't Happen Overnight

I hoped I was simply late for the party.

It wouldn’t be the first time.

But where I used to watch dozens of male sage grouse dance each spring on my birthday there were now only six, scattered across the lek.

Twenty years ago sage grouse were common in the country I hunt in north-central Montana. I didn’t shoot many, but they were another species of prairie game bird I hunted along with sharptail grouse, Hungarian partridge and pheasants.

These days I’m just happy to see one.

Vanishing sagebrush habitat – a casualty of development and farming -- is most often blamed for the birds’ sharp decline. The country I hunt, however, still has plenty of sage. Farming and grazing practices remain the same as they’ve been for years.

But there were only six dancers at my party.

I blame climate change and the ensuing drought, although disease is probably also a factor.

While the landscape remains relatively unchanged, there are far fewer trees than there were when I first started hunting the prairie. Stands of willows have disappeared and most of the cottonwoods are dead, their leafless branches no longer providing any shade.

The precipitous drop in sage grouse numbers didn’t happen overnight, but during each upland bird season I’d see fewer of the big birds than the year before. Last season, I didn’t see any.

Watching them dance on the lek always gave me hope. Three years ago there were 45 males in attendance, and although I never saw any sage grouse that fall, I knew they were out there somewhere.

Now, with only six dancing on the lek, I have my doubts. I suspect soon they’ll all be gone.

Not that many folks would care.

There’s no Sage grouse Forever banquet to raise funds for the bird, and few hunters pursue sage grouse, often deriding them as flying livers for their dark flesh. But Montana’s original game bird, so ancient it doesn’t even have a gizzard, is quite palatable if prepared correctly.

Unfortunately, its value as table fare probably won’t save it. Like spotted owl fritters and snail darter soup, sage grouse for dinner will most likely become just another stale joke about an endangered species.

I hope I simply missed the party and there’d been more grouse dancing the day before.

I can’t imagine them gone.

Parker Heinlein is at [email protected]