# This may be ridiculous...



## omegax (Oct 25, 2006)

I'm going out west to be on call for a buddy who was lucky enough to get drawn for an elk tag this year... Basically, the dude's going to use me as a pack animal, if he gets one, but I've never been quite so excited at the prospect of being about worked to death.

I'm planning on bringing my shotgun in case I have some spare time. I've never hunted birds that far west. My issue is that I've never seen a sage grouse in person before. I'm not even sure where they are. Are they tough to tell apart from sharpies when they flush? Keep in mind, I don't really hunt sharpies either (I only see them occasionally where we hunt pheasants). I know there aren't that many of them, so I probably won't run into any. However, it's always Murphy's law that about the time I'm not expecting to see one, I'll about step on one...


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## cgreeny (Apr 21, 2004)

Well a sage grouse is only in the Extreme SW corner of the state I think anywasy, not to forget that they are a large bird whereas the sharptails are the size of maybe a small hen pheasant. Isnt the Sage grouse season closed this season?


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## omegax (Oct 25, 2006)

Yeah. It's closed. I just didn't want to smoke one of them by mistake. Things happen pretty fast when birds start getting up.

As long as it's pretty apparent by size, I'm pretty comfortable. I just didn't want there to be some trick to telling them apart that I wasn't aware of. We only run into sharpies a couple of times/year where I hunt pheasants (which is weird because I'm out a LOT)... I just make sure I get a good look at their legs before I shoot.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

The only way to tell the difference in the small white feather right by the beak. :wink:

Actually I am glad that you are learning to tell the difference. I know that when I didn't if I could tell the difference between a hen pheasant and a grouse. Because there are no grouse where I hunt. Wrong. There WERE grouse where I hunted, I missed out.


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## ej4prmc (Dec 3, 2004)

sage grouse weigh around 4-6lbs so I think you will see da differance


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

Have never seen one or hunted them but someone once refered to them as a B-52 taking off. Not like the explosive flush of a sharpie.


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