The sage grouse population of Idaho has been in steep decline for years. It is now getting to the point where hunting has declined to a one-week season where hunters are limited to one bird a day. It seems a bit odd to me that there isn’t more outrage by the hunting community over this while there is an absolute furor over the very same issue with elk. This, like the elk declines in some areas, is due to a decline in habitat quality. With sage grouse the habitat has been impacted by livestock grazing to the point where the birds and their nests have become easy prey to raptors, ravens and crows who can easily spot them now that there is little to no understory between what little sage brush remains. With elk, livestock compete for forage in many places but in other places, like the Lolo, habitat quality and forage quantity has made them more vulnerable to predation by bears, cougars, and wolves.

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Sage Grouse hunting in decline for similar reasons as elk declines