weather conditions. Numbers of cocks on surveyed dancing grounds in McCone 

 County have varied from zero to 137 between 1955 and 1971 (Trueblood 1972). 



Hunter harvests have fluctuated between 0.2 to 1.7 birds/hunter from 1955 to 

 1971, and juvenile/100 adult ratios from hunting check stations ranged from 40 

 to 426. During 1976, sharp-tail dancing ground counts were 29% above the 21- 

 year average of 52 (Trueblood 1977). Despite population fluctuations, hunters 

 have traditionally harvested more sharp-tailed grouse in McCone County than any 

 other upland game bird species. Nearly 4100 grouse were harvested annually be- 

 tween 1969 and 1976. 



Sage Grouse . Data were recorded for 459 sage grouse observations during 

 the study period (table 14). The average group size was seven, and the largest 

 group encountered contained 35 during the winter of 1976-77. Average monthly 

 group size indicated a tendency for winter flocking. 



The distribution of sage grouse was found to be closely associated with 

 areas of undisturbed sagebrush cover. Most observations occurred in Shade Creek 

 and Hungry Creek drainages in the northwest quarter of the reconnaissance area, 

 and in sagebrush flats along creek floodplains east of Fort Peck Reservoir along 

 Highway 24. The Flowing Well route, which traversed this highway, had the high- 

 est cover of big sagebrush and combined sagebrush habitats of all five routes 

 (table 5), but all routes provided few Sage Grouse observations (table 8), and 

 no pattern is apparent in the species-abundance data. IJo great seasonal var- 

 iation in the distribution of sage grouse was observed. 



Although sage grouse were observed year-round on the Waller Ranch, within 

 the mine study area they were rarely observed on the proposed mining area and 

 then only in the vicinity of the silver sagebrush bird census grid. It appears 

 that sage grouse occurred only as late summer and autumn visitors to the mining 

 area in 1976 and 1977, as suitable sagebrush habitat was scarce. While summer 

 observations indicate the presence of a lek near the Waller Ranch, no lek could 

 be found there during this study. 



Locations of strutting grounds located during this study or reported by 

 Trueblood (p.c.) are shown in map 5, and attendance at these grounds is pre- 

 sented in table 15. Nearly all yearlong sage grouse observations were made 

 at or near these leks. As Wallestad and Schladweiler (1974) found in another 

 central Montana study, strutting grounds are the center of yearlong activity, 

 and most movements occur within a mile of strutting grounds. 



Many studies have documented the dependence of sage grouse upon sagebrush 

 for food and cover (Patterson 1952, Wallestad and Pyrah 1974, Wallestad 1975, 

 Eng and Schladweiler 1972, Knapp 1977). It is therefore not surprising that 

 sagebrush habitats accounted for 80% of all sage grouse observations during 

 this study. While sample sizes were small at all seasons, the following gen- 

 eralizations may be made regarding habitat use (see also Appendix K). 



All winter observations of sage grouse were on silver sage-grasslands of 

 flat topography. The importance of dense stands of tall sagebrush as wintering 

 habitat has been well documented J-tellestad 1975, Eng and Schladweiler 1972). 

 Sage grouse prefer flat, open areas near dense stands of sagebrush for strutting 



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