Birds are readily found on public lands, especially in Nebraska and South Dakota, and hunting them in their native grassland homes offers a sense of wildness that is so often missing with other species. Also, in the early season the otherwise notoriously spooky birds often hold tight, offering the opportunity to hunt them with pointing dogs.
While all this sounds great and drives flocks of hunters to the prairies each fall, the reality remains that finding greater prairie chickens in the vast native grasslands is tough. Although the sheer expanse of grass with rolling hills and vistas provides nearly endless places to hunt, birds are not evenly distributed across the landscape. As a result, a first-time chicken hunter can often waste many frustrating and fruitless hours walking in hot, dry conditions without moving anything but meadowlarks.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Like all game birds, greater prairie chickens follow seasonal patterns of habitat use and food preferences that help hunters narrow down where to find them. Moreover, greater prairie chickens have a unique social structure that drives much of their activity in the fall. Coupled with a little advance scouting, this can make them predictable and easier to find. Focusing on these social dynamics as well as habitat preferences and food needs can lead to a better early season greater prairie chicken hunt.
Locate the Leks
Greater prairie chickens’ worlds revolve around leks or booming grounds as they are often called. These are small areas, often less than an acre in size where, during the spring mating season, males display and call to attract females. While the heaviest use of leks occurs during breeding season from late February through April, the birds use these areas all year long:
This story is from the Summer 2023 edition of The Upland Almanac.
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This story is from the Summer 2023 edition of The Upland Almanac.
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