The truth is, sage grouse are so stupid, they don’t hack it in a competitive environment.
You should see how stupid sage grouse are when they’re in a hay field and you’re running a mower with a 180HP engine, howling turbo and hydraulic systems over a rotary cutter head. I mean the noise is on part with a small jet on takeoff... and these stupid birds will hunker down until the cutter head is only 2’ off of them, then they’ll try to flush, but because they waited so long, you can’t stop in time (even tho you’re moving at only 6 to 8 MPH) and the bird ends up going through the machine. You hear them go through - because you hear the conditioner rolls come apart and then slam back together.
So now you have to pull back the throttle, disengage the cutter head, get out a plastic bag, go behind the machine and pick up all the bird pieces. Why? Because if you leave them in the windrow and you bale them up into the hay, when cows eat that hay, they die of botulism poisoning. Kills cows stone dead.
Stupid birds. Really, really stupid.
Informing post.
Thanks.
I gotta get into hunting grouse.
I recall hunting them in Wyoming, as an 8-yr old with a .410.
You could walk right up to a covey feeding on the ground. Then, from 25-30' away, pick them off one-by-one (it wasn't sport, it was dinner). They wouldn't flush unless you started shouting and ran right in amongst 'em.
This bird is not long for survival, that's for sure.
If those stupid birds go on the ESL they will be treated like eagles, and you will be fined for harvesting them, or worse.