Grouse & woodcock management

Ruffed Grouse
Sharp-Tailed Grouse
A male sharp-tailed grouse

Minnesota’s sharp-tailed grouse population has declined significantly in the east-central prompting the DNR to close the hunting season in the east-central zone.

Work will continue with the Minnesota Sharp-tailed Grouse Society to explore habitat management options.

Sharp-tailed grouse habitat changes are driven by brushlands becoming forest, conversion to other land uses and less fire and other large-scale disturbances on the landscape that historically created and maintained the large open areas of grassland and brushland.

Closing the season is difficult but imperative. Sharp-tailed grouse in the area currently exist in association with limited and disjunct habitats where harvest of even a few birds could seriously impact sustainability and genetic diversity within these isolated populations.

Reports & surveys

Spruce Grouse
Woodcock
 
Hungarian Partridge
 

Report archive: Grouse reports & statistics