CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) has shared new sage grouse statistics and analysis suggesting that the birds’ reproduction rates increased this year.
According to WGFD, hunters harvest wings from sage grouse hens and chicks and then submit them to WGFD for collection. This year, hunters turned in wings from 1,551 chicks and 852 hens, yielding a 1.82 chick-to-hen ratio for 2023. WGFD said this represents an increase from years past, when the ratio was 0.8 chicks per hen. These numbers could point to an increase in the male population in spring of 2024.
“Good moisture in the spring and summer and quality habitat are the top two contributing factors of chick survival,” WGFD Biologist Nyssa Whitford said via press release. “Sage grouse are a sagebrush obligate species and could not survive without it.”
WGFD notes that 38% of the world’s sage grouse population resides in Wyoming. Wings submitted by hunters were collected primarily in the central and southwestern regions of the state.
