It may not be long before we count sage grouse among the species of birds we used to hunt.
Concern that West Nile virus is hurting sage grouse populations has prompted the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to consider cutting in half the hunting season for the state’s oldest grouse.
Not that it would matter much to most bird hunters, who seldom target sage grouse anyway, but eliminating the season completely is probably on the horizon.
And that would matter to my friend Dallas.
Sage grouse are his favorite game bird both in the field and on the table.
He opens the upland bird season each fall with a family hunting trip for sage grouse and pursues them with the same passion he does elk.
Sage grouse, Dallas tells me, are Montana’s original game bird, so ancient they don’t even have gizzards.
Properly handled in the field, the big birds are unequaled on the table. Or so my friend claims. I would beg to differ, but perhaps it’s simply a case of improper handling on my part.
I may not have too many more chances to improve my handling of them.
There’s already a two-bird daily limit on sage grouse and the season on them closes two months earlier than it does for most other upland birds in Montana. Now FWP is considering cutting the season to 31 days.
Deadline for public comment on the issue is June 27 and the FWP Commission will take final action on game bird seasons July 17.
Although hunting pressure has been shown to have little effect on game bird populations, bird hunters are easy targets. Instead of addressing loss of habitat and energy development, wildlife managers too often punish instead the only folks who give a damn about the birds.
Like Dallas.
And there’s seldom any going back.
The daily mountain grouse limit was reduced from five birds to three in the 1980s because an FWP commissioner didn’t see as many blue grouse on his ranch one fall as he had in the past. Twenty-some years later, the limit is still three.
The daily limit on sage grouse was recently reduced from three and now there’s talk of halving the season.
The writing is on the wall.
While wildlife managers admit that hunters aren’t the problem, hunters are most easily removed from the equation. Then the only people who care will be those who are paid to care and people who care because of a paycheck don’t care like Dallas does.
Remove the hunter and you’ve turned the sage grouse into another spotted owl. And while they may both taste like chicken, no one will ever know.
Parker Heinlein is at pman@mtintouch.net