Effects of Predation and Hunting on Adult Sage Grouse Centrocercus urophasianus in Idaho

• Published in: Wildlife Biology Vol. 6; no. 4; pp. 227 - 232
• Main Authors: Connelly, John W, Apa, Anthony D, Smith, Randall B, Reese, Kerry P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Nordic Board for Wildlife Research 01.12.2000
• Subjects: Centrocercus urophasianus; hunting; mortality; predation; PROCEEDINGS; radio-telemetry; sage grouse; USA, Idaho; mortality; radio-telemetry; predation; sage grouse; hunting
• ISSN: 0909-6396; 1903-220X
• DOI: 10.2981/wlb.2000.020

Although sage grouse Centrocercus urophasianus have declined throughout their range in North America, little is known about annual mortality patterns of this species. Thus, we summarize a long-term data set on timing and causes of mortality of sage grouse. Predation was the most common cause of death for radio-marked sage grouse. For adult males, 83% of deaths were attributed to predation and 15% to hunting. However, for adult females, 52% of deaths were caused by predation while 42% were attributed to hunting. We rejected the hypothesis that type of mortality (predation vs hunting) was independent of gender of sage grouse. For males, 70% of deaths occurred during spring and summer (March-August) and 28% occurred in September-October. For females, 52% of mortalities occurred during spring and summer and 46% occurred in September-October. We rejected the hypothesis that time of death is independent of the gender of sage grouse. In six of 15 years (40%), harvest rates for adult females may have exceeded 10% while this rate was only exceeded in two of 15 years (13%) for adult males.