sage grouse draw?

quail hound

quail hound

Moderator
I was wondering if any of my fellow Ca hunters have ever put in for a sage grouse permit? What is the likely hood of getting drawn. I know a spot in mono county where the odds are good of bagging a trophy rooster. If anyone else wants to put in I'd love to have a uph camp/ hunt. If I don't get drawn I may skip opening weekend of mt quail for an alpine trek in search of a ptarmigan. It's time to expand my birding horizons.:thumbsup:
 
Lol, yeah. Part mountain goat part flat lander, my love is torn between the high country and low lands!:cheers:
 
quail hound said:
I was wondering if any of my fellow Ca hunters have ever put in for a sage grouse permit? What is the likely hood of getting drawn. I know a spot in mono county where the odds are good of bagging a trophy rooster. If anyone else wants to put in I'd love to have a uph camp/ hunt. If I don't get drawn I may skip opening weekend of mt quail for an alpine trek in search of a ptarmigan. It's time to expand my birding horizons.:thumbsup:
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Hmmmm, you got me thinking about that QH.....never put in for permit, looks like they give you only 2 days out of the year to hunt sage, one is limit.

Would be interested in sage grouse and exsp. ptarmigan hunt!!! :thumbsup:

Were in cal are they finding ptarmigan?
 
Alpine areas of the sierras in extreme eastern Madera, Fresno, and Mariposa counties and western Mono county north and south from Tioga pass. It's a long hike to these areas with most of it being 10,000+ feet elevation.:eek:

I have seen sage grouse around lake Crowly in mono county and also out near Bodi, I think I will put in for the draw this year.
 
quail hound said:
It's a long hike to these areas with most of it being 10,000+ feet elevation.
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quail hound, how do you hunt at elevations that high? My wife and I were in Maui for our honeymoon last Sept. We went up around 10,000ft (Haleakala Nat'l Park). I have to tell you, I was walking a normal pace and my heart about exploded it was pounding so fast!! I couldn't imagine hunting in those conditions. Maybe I'm just out of shape?:D

P.S.-- If speaking of Maui, there's plenty of pheasants on the way up to the park Haleakala. Especially in the evening. They're all over the side of road in ditches and such. Small bodied birds with huge tails! At the top of Haleakala there's a lot of tame chuckars that eat right our your hand:thumbsup: --1pheas4
 
1pheas4, very slowly.:D It probably helps that I spend a lot of time between 6-8000 feet so I am a bit aclimated to elevation. We were thinking about having a outfitter pack us in a base camp so we don't have to hike in a poorly equipped camp.

Did you see any Japanese green or Kalij pheasts in Mauii or just ringnecks? How about feral game chickens? Once I bag at least 1 of every game bird in California and every quail species in America I'm going to Hawaii for a crack at some pheasants and Francolin.:thumbsup:
 
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quail hound said:
Did you see any Japanese green or Kalij pheasts in mayor or just ringnecks? How about feral game chickens? Once I bag at least 1 of every game bird in California and every quail species in America I'm going to Hawaii for a crack at some pheasants and Francolin.:thumbsup:
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I was on the lookout especially for the Japanese Green. No luck. Other areas we visited had the Kalij pheasant (from what I heard) but didn't see any of those either. Lot's of ringnecks though.

Francolin....I saw plenty of those fairly up close. The best view of Francolin was behind our resort. They seemed to like the grass and trees next to the ocean shores and roosted in trees.

Wild game cock.....man those things are everywhere quailhound. They are really beautiful birds. I was tempted to snuff on out for dinner but my wife would have none of it. Being it was HER honeymoon:D I dropped the wild chicken dinner thing.:)

Good luck with that sage grouse hunt if and when you do it. Take pics if you get a chance--1pheas4
 
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Thank-you. I figure I better do it now before they put them on the endangered list. Hopefully I get drawn. I have to get one or I'll never reach my goal in Ca.

It's a good thing you didn't try to eat one of those roosters! They are very tough, only good for soup or chicken 'n dumplings. The hens are good eats though, more like pheasant than a store bot chicken. They need to do something about them before they start taking over, they are prolific breeders. I had one of my hens hatch and fully brood 30 chicks last year. At 10 dollars for a 8 week old chick that hen made me some money.:thumbsup:
 
I've hunted sage grouse for the last 10 or so years where they are more prolific- and they are great fun. Not the challenge or intelligence of a pheasant, but birds that frickin big getting up in a huge flock is pretty special...good luck with it!
 
quail hound said:
Alpine areas of the sierras in extreme eastern Madera, Fresno, and Mariposa counties and western Mono county north and south from Tioga pass. It's a long hike to these areas with most of it being 10,000+ feet elevation.:eek:

I have seen sage grouse around lake Crowly in mono county and also out near Bodi, I think I will put in for the draw this year.
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QH, sweet, thanks for the info brotha!

I would like to get together with you and hunt ptarmigan this upland season:thumbsup: count me in if you go!
 
sooty grouse said:
QH, sweet, thanks for the info brotha!

I would like to get together with you and hunt ptarmigan this upland season:thumbsup: count me in if you go!
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Definitely, I'll let you know. I'm not sure what the odds of the getting a sage permit, but I need a ptarmigan for my list too so if no permit then its on.
 
quail hound said:
Definitely, I'll let you know. I'm not sure what the odds of the getting a sage permit, but I need a ptarmigan for my list too so if no permit then its on.
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QH, how are you going about getting a sage permit? Do you go onto DFG's web page and put in for a draw or DFG office?...oh, how much for permit if drawn....

Thanks,
SG
 
Here is some general info on the permits. It says you can put up to 4 people on each permit, so if we both do one and put each other on the application we will have better odds of getting drawn. My brother is also going to put in so that's 3 possible apps. I'm looking at putting in for the south mono county area.

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/licensing/sagegrouse/sagegrouseapply.html
 
quail hound said:
Here is some general info on the permits. It says you can put up to 4 people on each permit, so if we both do one and put each other on the application we will have better odds of getting drawn. My brother is also going to put in so that's 3 possible apps. I'm looking at putting in for the south mono county area.

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/licensing/sagegrouse/sagegrouseapply.html
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Thanks QH, thats the info I was looking for!

Looks like no fee, just need upland licenes.

South mono would be the way to go, 35 permits issued if they dont shut it down for the year.....needle in haystack, but you never know..:D
 
It would be interesting to know how many applications get submitted. I think more people put in for the Lassen zones for the chance at 2 birds.
 
Sg, I just got an email back from the guy who handles the applications. 235 applications last year for the south mono zone. The odds of being drawn aren't to bad.:thumbsup:
 
I sure hope you guys like sage seasoned meat. They call them sage buzzards in Wyoming. They don't have a gizzard,so they eat soft sagebrush leaves and store them in the crop. Usually hot and dry when you shoot them, they start to swell in the crop and smell rank quick. I suggest you field dress almost immediately, or you end up with a turkey sized light meated bird, that will be a challenge to eat. I hunted them years ago in Wyoming, posession limit was 12. Easy to get, shot them over points, that's a lot of eating, some weighed in around 10#s others maybe half that. It will be fun.
 
Yep I here they can be tough eating, but I am only going to try for a old mature rooster so I can have a proper mount of one of the last sages bagged in California. I may be able to donate it to a museum some day.:(
 
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