• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Subscribe
  • Donate

WyoFile

Indepth News about Wyoming People, Places & Policy. Wyoming news.

  • Latest News
    • Education
    • Energy
    • Legislature
    • Native America
    • Natural Resources
    • People
    • Photo Friday
    • Places
    • Policy
  • Voices
    • Drake’s Take
    • Madden’s Measure
    • Guest Column
    • Studio Wyoming Review
  • Supporters
    • Membership
    • Underwriting
    • Foundations
  • COVID-19
  • Latest News
    • Education
    • Energy
    • Legislature
    • Native America
    • Natural Resources
    • People
    • Photo Friday
    • Places
    • Policy
  • Voices
    • Drake’s Take
    • Madden’s Measure
    • Guest Column
    • Studio Wyoming Review
  • Supporters
    • Membership
    • Underwriting
    • Foundations
  • COVID-19

Greater Sage-Grouse One

February 9, 2010 by The Sage Grouse Leave a Comment

Tweet
Share
Pin
Email
0 Shares
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

The Sage Grouse

Greater Sage-Grouse One

The name for this column is a fun double or triple pun:  the author is supposedly sage but inclined to eschew political correctness.  Nonetheless, the Greater Sage-grouse, Centrocercus urophasianus,  a big fat slow-flying bird (which in my opinion bears no more resemblance to chickens than plump pheasants or partridge) requires much serious analysis.

What and who am I to comment on Greater Sage-grouse?  Well, first I know how to properly hyphenate the name.

I have been a game bird hunter for many decades, but I decided five years ago to stop shooting sage-grouse.  Four reasons: First, I make enough money that I do not need to eat sage-grouse to survive; what a relief.  Second, they don’t taste very good; I can find a lot of ways to set a better table.  Third, they reproduce slowly and are under a lot of stress and why should I add to their stress level?  Fourth, the game and fish agencies allow shooting of hens during hunting season, a practice which is not allowed for the introduced Chinese Ring-necked pheasant; why do we protect pheasant hens and slaughter sage-grouse hens?

I bought an irrigated farm/ranch in central Montana, with a partner, and we jumped into a plan to pay for the ranch with cattle and improve sage-grouse and wildlife habitat at the same time.  My degree in botany and a few years of studying sage-grouse behavior as an amateur birder helped a little.  Not!  I was way over my head.

I learned a lot:

  1. It is very hard to keep a grazing tenant happy while fencing his cows out of the best creek bottom bird habitat.
  2. It is very hard to keep your partner who works for National Wildlife Federation happy while letting the grazing tenant actually graze the cows on the rest of the habitat.
  3. It is very difficult to get the organizations which espouse setting aside agricultural habitat for birds to actually put their money to use for such set-asides.
  4. There is nothing more fun than walking through an alfalfa meadow in August that did not get mowed, and seeing dozens of sage-grouse chicks and pheasants run around eating bugs and stuff.

Later, we must examine:

  • Industry impacts on sage-grouse
  • Overgrazing impacts on sage-grouse
  • BLM policies on grazing and sage-grouse
  • Sod-busting and sage-grouse

Popular Articles:


Zinke review team calls for big changes to Obama era-plans


Ryan’s health care freedom promised bankruptcy


Trump’s brilliant strategy


Filed Under: The Sage Grouse

About The Sage Grouse

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Want to join the discussion? Fantastic, here are the ground rules:
- Identify yourself with full name and city. WyoFile stands behind everything we publish and expects commenters to do the same.
- No personal attacks, profanity, discriminatory language or threats. Keep it clean, civil and on topic.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Tweets by @WyoFile

Search WyoFile

Become an Underwriter
Sign Up for Free Weekly Newsletters

Recent Comments

  • Harvey Reading on Cheney’s ‘vote of conscience’ deserves respect
  • Susan Remington Marich on Cheney’s ‘vote of conscience’ deserves respect
  • Susan Remington Marich on Adverse solar bill advances after heated subsidies debate
  • Kim Love on A modest proposal for solving Wyoming’s budget woes
  • Lisa Robertson on Contemplating the coexistence of humans and animals

Footer

Recent Posts By Date

January 2021
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Dec    

From The Archives

  • About Us
  • People
  • Careers
  • Freelancing
  • Underwriting
  • How to Republish
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us

Copyright © 2021 by WyoFile