WY Sage Grouse???

[NDHunter]

So I'm going to be antelope hunting west of Casper in a couple weeks and just realized that I could maybe hunt sage grouse at the same time. Lo and behold I checked the regs and the season will be open. I'll be focusing on antelope but would love to spend a little time for grouse as well. Any tips on hunting them or will I more than likely just randomly run into a few? I won't have a dog so should I just go beat the sage brush? I've shot lots of sharptails in ND and we normally walk for them.

 

[ivorytip]

been a dry year, look at sage brush close to agriculture, cultivated fields. we jumped so many stinking sage grouse this last couple months it made me wonder how the heck they are even worried about that species. one or a few will jump up and surprise you but seconds later there should be several more that you can be ready for.

 

[JimP]

Look for stock watering ponds early in the mornings That is all I do in Utah for sage grouse and have had no problems bagging them for quite a few years.

 

[wy-tex]

Close to water but they will travel during the day. Early morning will be best. Young 'uns taste best. They are fun to hunt, we call them bombers, you'll see why when they get up.

 

[NDHunter]

Cool, thanks guys. Sounds like I need to focus near water. What's the most effective way to hunt them? Drive the trails and hope to stumble upon them? I'll definitely do some walking as well but it seems like it would be a huge sea of sage to try and find them in.

 

[wy-tex]

We usually see them when we're not looking for them. Driving the 2 tracks near the water sources works, talk with the biologist to see where he or she recommends. They are big birds that really blend in the sage.

 

[Gr8bawana]

We usually see them when we're not looking for them. Driving the 2 tracks near the water sources works, talk with the biologist to see where he or she recommends. They are big birds that really blend in the sage.

Seems we always see them when we are hunting for something else and no shotguns anywhere nearby. I have shot the heads off a couple with my rifle.