This state's classification carries no date range for the species.
ND G&F closed the season for 2026; department cites only one male and one female sage-grouse observed in 2026 surveys.
Greater sage-grouse in North Dakota is a hard geographic answer rather than a density gradient: ND Game and Fish's own 2014 management plan states verbatim that "sage-grouse occur in southwestern North Dakota where scattered populations are found in three counties; Bowman, Slope, and Golden Valley" — the species has never been documented anywhere else in the state (only two archaeological sites, in McLean County, have yielded sage-grouse remains, and those are believed to be from birds killed well to the west). The population has since collapsed further: two active leks remained in 2024, and the 2026 spring survey found just one male and one female statewide. The season is closed indefinitely as a direct result.
North Dakota's sage-grouse season stays closed for 2026, and this year's survey is the reason why: the state's 2026 spring lek survey found only one male and one female sage-grouse statewide, the lowest count on record for this species here. The season was already closed, so nothing changes about what a hunter can do. But the magnitude is extreme enough, essentially no detectable core population left, that this is a state to write off entirely for sage-grouse, not just a technicality of season status.
A statewide spring lek survey count of one male and one female, the lowest on record, with no offsetting factor identified.
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