Sage-grouse hunting season proposals available for comment

| June 28, 2025 1:00 AM

Fish and Game is seeking comments on the 2025-26 sage-grouse harvest seasons and tag proposals. Staff are proposing an increase in sage-grouse tags offered for the 2025 hunting season. Statewide, total tags numbers slightly increased over 2024.

Proposed dates include:

Sage-grouse General Season all zones: Sept. 20-Oct. 31, 2025
Sage-grouse Falconry Season all zones: Aug. 15, 2025-March 15, 2026

Hunters and other interested parties can comment on the public comment webpage until Sunday, July 6, at midnight.

The sage-grouse tag allocation is designed to limit harvest to less than 10% of the fall population index in each of 12 reporting zones. In each zone, a fall population index was calculated based on spring 2025 lek counts and estimates of adult females and juvenile production.

Most sage-grouse populations fluctuate naturally in approximately 10-year cycles, and Idaho sage-grouse are currently in the upward portion of that cycle.

To generate proposed 2025 tag numbers for each zone, department staff used a targeted harvest of 5% of the fall population index and the prior three-year average harvest success rate in each zone. The change in tag numbers between 2024 and 2025 reflects both the increase or decrease in male sage-grouse counted on leks in spring 2025 in each zone and the prior three-year average zone-specific harvest success rate.