ABSTRACT
Sage grouse are the largest of the North American grouse; adult males weigh 2.0 to 2.8 kg and females weigh 1.1 to 1.5 kg. Sage grouse formerly occurred throughout the West wherever there were extensive stands of sagebrush. Sage grouse have been extirpated from much of their former range, and populations are threatened in many parts of their range. About the second week of March, adult males begin assembling on traditional display grounds where they establish small display territories. Because all adult males gather on a few traditional sites each spring, complete counts of all leks, or a subset of all leks, allow unusually precise monitoring of sage grouse populations. Male sage grouse numbers reach their peak during this period. In many states that have open seasons on sage grouse, wings are collected from hunters and are used to determine the sex and age ratios of the grouse during the opening days of the hunting season.
