| Window | Dates | Days |
|---|---|---|
| Season | 15 SEP – 31 OCT 2026 | 47d |
As publishedGeneral: Sept 15 - Oct 31, 2026 (Falconry: Aug 15, 2026 - Mar 15, 2027)
Requires a Sage-grouse Tag purchased first-come-first-served starting 10:00am MDT Aug 3, 2026; max 2 tags/hunter, tag valid for one bird. 12 hunting zones each with an individual quota, statewide quota 4,280 tags for 2026-27 (down ~750 tags from 2025's 5,030, per IDFG's own public-comment article on the proposed season). Areas outside zones 1-8 are closed. Frequently confused with sharp-tailed grouse; hunters cautioned to positively identify target.
Greater sage-grouse in Idaho is regulated through 12 named hunting zones, each with its own annual lek-count-derived tag quota, confined entirely to sagebrush country across southern and eastern Idaho. IDFG's own 2026-27 Sage-Grouse Seasons & Rules brochure states plainly that areas not defined within a zone are closed, meaning most of northern and central Idaho's forested terrain has no sage-grouse population to speak of. This zone structure is itself IDFG's own version of a fixed regional-density framework, backed by an annual spring lek survey that also drives the statewide harvest quota (cut from 5,030 tags in 2025 to 4,280 in 2026 after statewide lek counts declined).
Idaho cut its statewide sage-grouse tag quota about 15% for 2026-27 (down to 4,280 tags from 5,030) directly in response to spring lek counts showing another year-over-year decline. This follows a 2025 season where harvest already fell more than 30%. The state's own biologists report all of Idaho's sage-grouse habitat is currently in some stage of drought, most of it rated extreme to exceptional, and this year's nesting and brood-rearing conditions were even drier than last year's already-poor season. IDFG expects similar or lower productivity and harvest than recent years. Two consecutive down years, not a single-season dip, worth weighing against other sage-grouse states if you're choosing where to hunt this species in 2026.
Statewide drought (extreme to exceptional across sage-grouse habitat) driving poor nesting and brood-rearing conditions, per Idaho's own wildlife biologists.
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