# Scouting for Sharp-tails?



## Clarq (Jul 21, 2011)

Hey everyone,

I have a sharp-tailed grouse permit for Cache county. My season opens in a few weeks. I have access to a piece of property where I've seen them before, but it's not large and I'm working on a plan B in case it doesn't work out.

I've done enough research to know where the private and public land is. I've also taken a few drives to scope the country out. I've stumbled upon sharp-tails on a number of occasions while hunting other things, but I'm starting to realize I still don't know most of the tricks to finding them.

Now obviously, they need to have food, water and shelter. But beyond that, do you have any tricks you're willing to share about finding where these birds like to spend their time? I've generally found them in sagebrush country near farm fields, but I've also seen them in denser cover.

Thanks.


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## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

All of my experience hunting sharp-tails comes from hunting them in South Dakota, so hopefully this will be applicable in Utah. 

These birds seem to roost away from where they feed and can, like clockwork, fly out to feed and back to roost. There have been some days where close to 100 have flown right over the farm house in a couple minutes on a relatives property that I hunt. During the day, we have found them in brushy draws with water. 

My suggestion would be get out scouting before light in an area you think holds them and try to catch them flying out in the morning. You can do the same thing in the evening. This may help you narrow down where they are roosting and where they are feeding.

I hope this helps.


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## tigerpincer (Dec 5, 2009)

In Utah Ive had the best luck finding them in areas with allot of CRP broken up by sagebrush patches. Not ever found any in the cut wheat fields. As Jeff notes Ive also seen them flying in from their roosts in the morning on many occassions. However I've only seen it in Idaho. In the 10+ yrs Ive been hunting Sharptails Ive never seen that in Utah. Funny that until now Ive never thought about or considered why that might be.


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## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

I'm not sure when your season dates are, but the river bottoms south of Avon used to have flocks of sharptails show up by the hundreds to feed on the dried service berries about Nov/Dec when the snow covered the ground. Most of that ground is posted now so maybe that isn't an option. Still, sharptail grouse are one of those species whose populations have declined noticeably over my lifetime. I still run across them from time to time, they still show up in the service berry patches late fall/early winter, but their numbers are a fraction of what they used to be.


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## Clarq (Jul 21, 2011)

Thanks, all. I made it out scouting over the weekend. I didn't see any birds, but found some promising country and some sign.

Now I'm just wishing my dog were still in hunting shape (she's old). I'll see what I can do without her.


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## Airborne (May 29, 2009)

I hunted cache last year and found a few. I got on the cache county land ownership website and called several landowners and got permission on quite a lot of property. I also hunted 1 walk-in but never found anything on it. I found most sharpies in CRP close to the edge of safflower fields. I did a lot of cold calling and looking up numbers to get on property as I was in the middle of getting my upland slam. The mapping and screenshots I took of hunt-able property were a little over the top--considering its a 2 bird tag, the level of scouting to shooting was way off. I'll probably just go to Idaho the next time I want to hunt them. Good luck on your hunt, you can PM me if you want more info


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## Slap That Quack (Mar 2, 2017)

I concur, I have typically found them in the sagebrush near ag fields. And I'm talking cache county specifically. If I were you I would be calling up some land owners in Hyde Park. I have seen alot in the foot hills in that area.


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