by Jon Farrar
At their January meeting, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission board of commissioners approved opening the grouse season on September 1 in 2011. The last time a grouse season opened that early in Nebraska was in 1913. The justification for the earlier opener is that Nebraska has plenty of grouse and the number of grouse hunters continues to decline. Far more grouse are dying of old age than end up on the dinner table. Why the number of grouse hunters continues to decline is perhaps tied to the declining number of upland bird hunters. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, Nebraska was a bird hunting state, a pheasant hunting state in particular, and there were good numbers of quail in some regions. Many of those pheasant and quail hunters were also one-trip-a-season grouse hunters. Grouse season opened early and so it was a chance for a change of scenery, to stretch your legs, hone your dog’s field manners and your wingshooting skills. As land-use changed, and the abundance of pheasants and quail declined, so has the number of dedicated upland bird shooters, and so has the interest in walking grassy hills for grouse. Nebraska has become a deer-waterfowl-turkey hunting state. In recent years, the grouse season opened on the Saturday nearest September 15. Opening the season September 1 will align it with the mourning dove opener; allowing hunters to plan trips for both species.
For those of us who are fond of sticking our noses in musty magazines, books, stuffy government reports, and other brown-paged reading matter, the September 1 grouse opener is of historical interest, and so I rummaged around a bit through assorted piles, files and boxes and assembled a brief synopsis of the history of grouse hunting regulations in Nebraska.
In 2011, for the first time since 1913, Nebraska's grouse hunting season will open September 1.
1859: The Territorial Legislature provided a closed season on prairie chicken and sharp-tailed grouse from March 1 to July 15.
1897: State legislation was passed making it illegal to sell grouse on the market May through August; and to ship grouse for sale within Nebraska or outside of Nebraska via “any railroad company, express company, common carrier….”
1899: The legislature shortened the grouse hunting season; September 1 to the end of the year.
1900: The Lacey Act was signed into law May 25, 1900 by President William McKinley. This federal law made interstate shipment of birds and mammals illegally taken under state law a federal violation. For years after, though, grouse continued to be shot in Nebraska and shipped in significant numbers to eastern markets.
1901: In this year, the first comprehensive game laws were passed by the Nebraska Legislature, and a state Game and Fish Commission was created to protect and manage the state’s wildlife. The grouse season was open only during October and November; with a daily bag limit of 25 and possession limit of 50.
1905: The open season for grouse was liberalized, extending from September 1 through November. Hunters could have no more than 10 grouse in their possession during September. In October and November the daily limit was 25 and the possession limit 50.
1908: George L. Carter, the game commission’s Chief Deputy Warden, wrote in his annual report to the governor that the number of grouse, prairie chickens in particular, were declining, which he attributed to “unseasonable weather” preventing good hatches and survival of chicks. Carter continued: “Again, we find the increased settlement of our sand-hill section, due to the Kinkaid homestead law, has been detrimental to these birds, because they disturb them during the nesting season, and it is reported that they kill a great many out of season and in season, sometimes from necessity, and always at a time and in a manner that we have been unable to stop them effectually, with the small force we have had to work with.” Carter concluded by writing he feared it was the beginning of “the last of these noble birds, particularly the pinnated grouse [prairie chicken], a condition which calls for more restrictive legislation.”
1909: The grouse season was shortened to October 1 through November 30, but the daily limit remained 25 and the possession limit 50.
1910s: There was heated debate among sportsmen, and between sportsmen and the legislature who set the grouse hunting seasons. One side lobbied for an early-September opener as the “grouse were too wild” to hunt in October. Additionally, they pointed out, market hunters were still about their nefarious work and many grouse had already been killed by October. The other side argued that late-hatched grouse were not proper game birds until October, and were too vulnerable to the gun as they were not wary and still weak fliers in September. Such arguments continued into the 1920s.
1911: Nebraska game laws were refined by the state legislature. The grouse season was set for September 1 through November, but the bag and possession limit was reduced to 10 birds. Sportsmen, particularly in eastern Nebraska, objected to the modest bag and possession limits.
1912: Hunting season dates remained the same as the previous year but 25 birds were allowed daily in response to objections over the previous year’s 10-bird limit. New game commission head, Henry N. Miller, wrote: “Persons in the eastern section of the state are compelled to travel some distance for prairie chicken and grouse shooting, and are allowed to kill but ten chickens or grouse in any one calendar day, and allowed to have but ten chickens or grouse in their possession at any time. This makes each bird killed quite expensive to the person traveling two or three hundred miles to shoot them.” But, Miller also noted that the increasing use of automobiles was putting more hunting pressure on grouse: “Nowadays…the majority of hunters take an auto, rush out to where the birds are located, kill the limit or more, and are back home in a short time. Hunters in an auto will get more birds in a short time than a sportsman will get in several days, and with the large number of autos now in use it will readily be seen that a large number of birds are killed in a short time.” Similar arguments had been made as railroad spread across the state before 1900, opening up the interior to easier access by hunters.
1913: Nebraska’s grouse season was open September 1 through November; the last time it opened that early until the 2011 hunting season rolls around.
1919: Robert H. Wolcott and Frank H. Shoemaker, in a Nebraska Conservation and Soil Survey Division Bulletin, Nebraska’s Game Resources and Their Conservation, wrote: “The shooting of prairie chickens should be stopped in eastern and southeastern Nebraska and efforts made to bring the birds back to these parts of the state. The question should also be carefully considered as to whether the shooting of prairie chickens and grouse should be permitted at all in western Nebraska, beyond the sandhills.”
1919 through 1924: Grouse hunting was allowed only during October with a daily and possession limit of 10 birds.
1928: The grouse hunting season was the month of October with a daily and possession limit of five grouse. The legislature gave the Commission authority set a grouse hunting season in 1931, after a two year rest (no hunting seasons in 1929 and 1930) for the birds, or when they felt there were enough birds to justify an open season. There was not another grouse hunting season until the autumn of 1950.
1935: The drought of the 1930s apparently took its toll on birds, including sharp-tailed grouse and prairie chickens. An article in a 1935 Nebraska Bird Review told of thousands of birds of all species being killed by dust storms. The Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union suggested “an investigation [be] undertaken to see what was happening” to the grouse. An article in the Omaha World-Herald stated over‑pasturing had severely affected grouse.
Marvin Koch of Petersburg has found pass-shooting grouse as they fly between grassland roost sites and grainfields a good late-season strategy.
1941: Ward Sharp, refuge manager of the “Valentine Migratory Waterfowl Refuge” in Cherry County, reported 23 percent more sharp-tailed grouse on the 69,000-acre refuge over the winter than the year before. Prairie chickens, he noted, “do not appear to be recovering as rapidly as are the [sharp-tailed] grouse.”
1950: In 1950, the game commission allowed the first grouse hunting season since the 1929 season. Hunting was allowed only in Brown, Cherry, Keya Paha, and Rock counties; and Sheridan County south of Niobrara River. The three-day season was the second week of November, and all three days were bitterly-cold winter days with traces of snow. The daily and possession limit was two birds. Nebraska grouse hunters who had long anticipated a grouse hunting season were universally displeased.
1951: The hunting season was almost identical to the previous year, opening November 10 and for only three days. While the weather was agreeable, in fact pleasant with temperatures in the 50s to lower-60s, but grouse hunters were again dismayed with a November hunting season, and called for an October season. “The season is purposefully short and bag limits low as this automatically confines the shooting for the most part to the local hunters,” game biologists explained in the Autumn 1951 issue of Outdoor Nebraska.
1952: The grouse hunting season was October 11 through 15, with a daily and possession limit of three birds. Hunting was allowed in several additional Sandhills counties. The hunting season was much the same in 1953.
1954: No grouse hunting was allowed. Grouse had reached the high point of their population cycle in 1952, biologists explained, and then fallen steadily.
1955: An October 22-26 hunting season was allowed with daily and possession limits of two birds. Hunting seasons were similar through the 1950s, although there were frequent changes in the areas of the state open to hunting.
Former Valentine National Wildlife Refuge biologist Len McDaniel uses homemade decoys to draw grouse within shotgun range.
1960s: Hunting seasons opened in the middle of October through the first half of the decade, typically late-September in the last half of the 1960s; and grew in duration from about two weeks to about five weeks. Limits varied from two per day and four in possession to three per day and nine in possession.
1970s: Though the ‘70s, hunting seasons opened between September 15 and September 22, the daily bag limits were either two or three, and possession limits four to nine.
1980s: Throughout the decade, seasons typically opened in mid-September and ran through November with a daily limit of three and possession limit of nine each year.
1990s: Seasons continued to open in mid-September, closing at the end of November through 1994, after which they were open through December. Daily and possession limits were three and nine through 1995; but increased to three and 12 the rest of the decade. The more liberal possession limits were designed to encourage grouse hunting by those from outside the state’s grouse range and by non-residents.
2000-2010: As in the 1990s, grouse hunting seasons continued to open in mid-September and remain open through December. Beginning in 2000 and continuing through 2010, limited grouse hunting was allowed east of U.S. Highway 83, the first time since the 1920s, as prairie chickens had staged a comeback in response to establishment of Conservation Reserve Program grasslands. Only a limited number of permits were issued, and only 3 birds allowed for the entire season per hunter. West of U.S. Highway 83, a daily bag limit of three and possession limit of 12 was allowed.
Grouse hunters will need to adapt to take full advantage of the longer hunting season in 2011. Dogs will need special attention on warm September days. By November grouse typically start gathering into large winter flocks and are more difficult to approach within shotgun range. Pass-shooting and shooting over decoys is a good late-season option. See the August-September 2008 issue of NEBRASKAland for information on both techniques. Additional information about the history of grouse hunting in Nebraska will appear in the August-September 2011 issue.
Jon- I enjoyed your article on the history of grouse hunting in Nebraska very much. I started hunting grouse three seasons ago and am basically self taught as it seemed like there were no grouse hunters left in Nebraska to give me pointers. I wonder what we can do as enthusiasts to promote the sport? Thanks, Tom
I can’t tell you how much my husband and I enjoyed reading this article. For us die-hard grouse hunters, it is a very informative insight into our sport and we will continue to keep it on hand to look back on in the future. I will also be referencing this article in my blog post this week about our successful opening weekend. Thank you Nebraska Game and Parks for the early grouse season opener and to Jon Farrar for a terrific article!