North Dakota releases annual prairie grouse survey results

Bismarck, N.D. — Each spring, North Dakota Game and Fish Department staff count the number of male sharp-tailed grouse, greater prairie chickens and greater sage grouse dancing on breeding ground “leks,” while also tallying the number of male ruffed grouse drumming in suitable aspen habitats.

These surveys serve as relative indices of spring breeding populations.

“The sharp-tailed grouse counts were mixed across the state this spring, which resulted in an unchanged statewide count compared to 2025,” said Jesse Kolar, department upland game management supervisor.

This result was better than expected following poor reproduction and decreases in adult sharptail densities in last summer’s roadside surveys and the 24% decrease in hunter harvest last fall.

“Thus, we expected to see very poor numbers for lek counts this spring, but we suspect that our mild winter led to minimal mortality and helped minimize losses after the cool and wet summer of 2025,” Kolar said.

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By district, observers saw 4.9 males per square mile in the southwest, down 8% from 2025; 5 males per square mile in the prairie potholes, up 2%; and 2.9 males per square mile in the drift prairie, up 10% from last year. The only remaining survey block in the Red River Valley is Grand Forks County, which is not a primary region for sharptails but was up 9% from last year.

Ruffed grouse survey results indicated an uptick in drums heard in the Turtle Mountains (plus 40%) and a decrease in the Pembina Hills (minus 15%) compared to 2025.

“In contiguous forest habitats, ruffed grouse numbers usually rise and fall in cycles, but because habitat in North Dakota is isolated and fragmented, we have not seen these peaks, but the population has been increasing slightly since 2019,” Kolar said.

Small greater prairie chicken populations remain in Grand Forks County and the Sheyenne National Grasslands but overall, North Dakota no longer holds enough suitable, intact tallgrass prairie to support a huntable population.

Only one male and one female sage grouse were observed in 2026. Both sage grouse and greater prairie chicken hunting seasons will remain closed.

Overall, the long-term outlook for North Dakota’s native prairie grouse remains a concern due to grassland conversion, fragmentation and woody encroachment on prairies.