NEBRASKA GAME AND PARKS COMMISSION						Tuesday, January 06, 2009
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Planning a Prairie Grouse Hunt in Nebraska

Hunting prairie grouse is like nothing else in the world of bird-hunting. It’s certainly nothing like hunting ruffed grouse, that’s for sure.

Prairie grouse are creatures of wide-open spaces. Think of big country — mile after mile of rolling prairie hills, grassland as far as the eye can see, with an occasional windmill, hay meadow or shrub thicket to add some visual flavor. It’s a place for those willing and able to walk a few miles for their birds.

Nebraska is the premier prairie grouse venue, with both sharp-tailed grouse and greater prairie chickens, and lots of places to hunt them. If you think you would enjoy a long walk in peaceful and unspoiled lands, and you want an outdoor experience you’ll always remember, come to Nebraska and give our kind of grouse hunting a try.

About the Birds

Sharp-tailed Grouse

The sharp-tailed grouse is a grayish chicken-like bird, with two central tail feathers some two-inches longer than those on either side, and pronounced v-shaped markings on the white breast of both sexes. The adult male weighs about two pounds, has orange eyebrows and purplish neck sacs which they inflate during the spring courtship display.

Prairie Chicken

The greater prairie chicken is slightly larger than the sharptail. The male weighs a little more than two pounds and has a short blunt tail fan, orange eyebrows and orange-colored air sacs on the sides of his neck that are capable of great expansion. It is predominantly a rufus brown with broken cross-barring over most of the body. The breast and belly are uniformly barred with brown and cream. Females look almost identical to the males, but lack the air sacs and orange eyebrows.

Both species are strong flyers and may travel several miles in a single flight, though they seldom travel much more than a mile. When flushed, both species fly with wingbeats interspersed with periods of gliding.

Where to Hunt

Only two or three percent of Nebraska is public land, so most hunting is done on private land where permission to hunt is required. However, unless otherwise posted, hunting is allowed — in season — on all state Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) and various federal lands. Special regulations, such as “steel shot only,” apply on federal refuges, other where posted on other lands.

Hunting with Dogs

Hunting grouse in the vast expanse of the Sandhills grassland.

A well-trained hunting dog, whether pointer or retriever, is always an asset to the upland bird hunter, and the prairie grouse hunter is no exception. The best conditions for the dog are early in the season, while later in the season pass shooting is more the rule. A downed sharptail can be very difficult to find in heavy cover. A retriever is very valuable in finding lost birds. Pointers work well on singles, but flocks generally flush wild, often out of shotgun range, at the approach of a dog.

Hunting in the early season can be very warm and conditioning of both the hunter and the dog is important. Condition the dog during the preseason and know how to treat heatstroke before hunting in the hills.

Sandburs and cactus are a problem for dogs and many hunters outfit them with leather dog boots. The dog may also encounter a porcupine or rattlesnake while hunting. Be suspicious if the dog dances around, barks, or otherwise seems interested in the base of a yucca plant, a favorite hangout of prairie rattlers. Carry tweezers, needle-nose pliers and forceps to remove spines, burs and quills, and know what to do in the event of snakebite. Be sure to carry water with you while you hunt and offer it to the dog frequently.

How to Hunt the Hills

The majority of the prairie grouse range in Nebraska is in the Sandhills in the northwest and north-central parts of the state. Grouse hunting can entail hours of walking up and down large and small hills. It is important that the hunter be in good physical condition.

Prairie Chicken

During the middle part of the day, when most successful hunters concentrate their efforts, grouse can be found loafing along the higher ridges. Early in the season birds may be found in large patches of wild plum or chokecherry to escape the heat. The birds often seek spots where they can take advantage of a cool breeze on warm days and the sun when it is cold.

Hunters can find easier hunting by walking the lower valley floors and low to middle north slopes where the birds concentrate to feed in the early morning and from mid-afternoon until near sundown. As the season progresses, the weather becomes cooler and the days shorten, the southern slopes become more productive as the birds feed on grasshoppers and other insects until late in the season.

Sharp-tailed Grouse

One of the keys to success as a grouse hunter is the ability to recognize good grouse habitat. Lowlands should have plenty of shin-to knee-high grass. Grazed areas are fine as long as there are forbs (broad-leaved weeds) to feed the birds. The upper hills, especially the north sides, should have a combination of healthy bunches of tall grasses, good amounts of shrubs such as plum, chokecherry and poison ivy, and food items such as wild rose and poison ivy. During the early season, September through mid-October, look for crops loaded with soft bodied grasshoppers and a diversity of forbs. Later in the season, from mid-October on, look for crops and grasshoppers, wild rose and poison ivy and wild rose hips.

Hunters should walk directly into or quarter into the wind to approach birds as closely as possible. Early morning and late evening the hunter should keep the sun at his back so when a bird rises, distance and depth perception won’t be affected by the sun or the sun won’t be in the hunter’s eyes.

Hen Pheasant

When a grouse flushes, particularly a sharptail, it often makes a distinctive clucking noise as it flies away. It looks a little awkward in flight, and that appearance sometimes causes hunters to shoot behind it. Hunters should keep in mind the need to carefully identify the bird when it flushes. Occasionally a hunter or dog will put up pheasants while hunting grouse, and hen pheasants can be mistaken for grouse. Prairie chickens and sharptails, however, are smaller than hen pheasants. Hen pheasants are all brown and have rather long, pointed tails, while sharp-tailed grouse have a grayish back and sport a much shorter spike of a tail with white on either side of its base. Prairie chickens have a short, blunt tail that is conspicuously fanned when flushed. Both species of grouse commonly fly with three-to-five wing beats followed by a period of gliding, while pheasants use constant wing beats. Make positive identification of the bird as a grouse before taking a shot.

The Right Gear

Having the proper clothing can make or break a grouse hunt. Good, well broken-in footwear, such as a pair of light-weight hunting boots, is essential. Street shoes, sneakers, tennis or jogging shoes or sandals have no place on a grouse hunt. Sore feet, blisters and puncture wounds from burs and cactus can ruin a hunt. Layers of light-weight clothing will serve the hunter well. Mornings, even in the early season can be cool, but by mid-day hunting in a tee shirt may be most comfortable. A visored hat and sunglasses should be included in your pack, and a breathable game bag will help birds cool on the way back to the vehicle. Be sure to pack a water bottle.

Field Care

September and October can be quite warm in Nebraska and birds killed in such weather spoil rapidly if special care is not taken in the field.

Quick and easy field care is all that is required to preserve the grouse’s flavorful meat. Eviscerating and cooling birds immediately after the shot helps ensure that the meat remains full of flavor and safe to eat.

Carry a sharp pocket or hunting knife and a pair of inexpensive pruning shears for severing bones. Removing the crop, opening the body cavity, and removing the entrails allows the meat to cool and helps eliminate the chance that viscera punctured by shot will fill the body cavity with blood and digestive fluids that can taint the meat.

In hot weather it helps to stuff the body cavity with a couple of twists of grass and hang the birds from a strap on your belt rather than carrying them in a game pouch where air circulation is poor. Some hunters carry their birds in a free hand as they walk back to their vehicle. Keep an ice chest in the vehicle so birds can be put on ice as quickly as possible.

Hunters must leave the head or one leg attached to the grouse for identification.

Recipe

A very basic recipe is simply marinate the grouse breast overnight with zesty Italian dressing and then cook it on the grill.

License Requirements