Nebraskaland

36 Nebraskaland • November 2023 that they gathered in their crop (the temporary storage in their esophagus) that morning. In the mid- to late afternoon, they will leave their roost to forage again before fi nding a place to roost for the night during the last bit of daylight. On warm days, they will seek day-roost sites that have shade or cooler microclimates, which are typically the north- facing slopes of dune ridges or patches of shrubs or other tall vegetation. On colder days, they will seek enough cover to conserve energy during the day. In rainy conditions, I have found them in areas with less cover — bare patches of sand in the hills and cattle loafi ng areas. If you fl ush grouse while you are hunting, make a note of where the grouse fl ushed from and hunt similar locations for the time of day and season. How does grouse hunting change throughout the season (Sept. 1-Jan. 31)? Early in the season, young of the year grouse are often still with the hen, and consuming more animal foods — grasshoppers and other invertebrates — and it is more likely to fi nd these birds lower in the landscape, along the edges of meadows or in meadows with open canopies that allow the birds to move freely. Areas with a lot of fl owering plant diversity are good as they tend to have greater abundance of these invertebrates. As the season goes on, all prairie grouse tend to switch to a more vegetarian diet, so fi nding areas with ample rose hips and poison ivy berries can be productive. They also like green vegetation — sprouting fl owering plants and new grass growth is attractive forage. Later in the season, especially if there is a lot of snow, grouse will consume cedar cones (often called berries, but actually a cone) or other food sources available above the snow, such as seeds of trees and tree buds. Early in the season, you may fi nd grouse in the shade of a plum or chokecherry thicket, or tall but open forbs in a meadow, while late in the season you might fi nd them on a south-facing slope where the snow has melted off . During the warm early months of the season, feeding bouts tend to be shorter as food resources tend to be more plentiful and energy requirements are lower, while in colder weather, grouse will spend more time actively feeding to meet energy demands. Both prairie-chickens and sharptails can be found in your vicinity. Within the region, where do they reside? Does the habitat vary between species? Both species need large expanses of grassland habitat with little development to persist in the landscape. Across the Sandhills, prairie-chickens are more common to the east and south, while sharptails are more common to the north and west in the region, with a lot of overlap of the two species across the middle region. Generally, prairie-chickens tend to be found in and adjacent to the sub-irrigated meadows more often, while sharptails tend to be out in the Sandhill dune prairie. Prairie-chickens seem to avoid trees and shrubs more so than sharptails, and sharptails prefer some of the highest, roughest hills in the area. Prairie-chickens seem to exhibit a short-distance migratory behavior in the late fall and winter, with many chickens apparently leaving the refuge to fi nd center pivot agricultural crops. This is based on the observation that during the spring breeding season, there are roughly equal numbers of male sharp-tailed grouse and prairie-chickens on the refuge, while in the fall harvest, most of the birds taken on the refuge are sharptails. Researchers elsewhere in the Sandhills have documented prairie-chickens moving from the Sandhills to center-pivot agricultural areas and feedlots during the winter. What's the status of grouse populations on the refuge/ region? I assume the harsh winter was not good for them. What weather and climate conditions do grouse need to thrive? Prairie grouse, and sharptails in particular, are pretty Nenneman loads his shotgun with steel ammunition, which complies with the refuge's requirement of non-toxic shot.

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