Sharp-tailed grouse and greater prairie-chickens had low reproductive success this year on the Fort Pierre National Grassland in central South Dakota.
District Ranger Dan Svingen says wings collected from six donation boxes on the FPNG during the first three weeks of the 2021 hunting season showed an overall juvenile to adult ratio of 0.74 to 1. Last year’s (2020) ratio was 2.1 to 1. He says the long-term average juvenile to adult ratio, between 1992 and 2021, was 2 juvenile birds harvested for each adult bird harvested.
Svingen says the juvenile to adult ratio provides biologists with an important index for judging the success of the recently completed nesting season. He says this year’s data was based on a sample of 455 wings collected on the FPNG, down significantly from last year’s sample of 1,008 wings and the long-term average (1992-2021) of 607 wings. Greater-prairie chickens accounted for 78% of the birds harvested in 2021, compared to 79% in 2020 and the long-term average of 68%.
Svingen says nesting birds faced tough conditions in 2021, with a very dry spring and early summer. He says they believe the abnormally hot and dry conditions during the peak hatching periods were especially detrimental.
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