| Window | Dates | Days |
|---|---|---|
| Season | 12 SEP 2026 – 03 JAN 2027 | 114d |
As publishedSep 12, 2026 - Jan 3, 2027 (statewide, see zone exception)
Closed in a northeastern zone: the area bordered on the west by ND Highway 32, on the north by the Sheyenne River, on the south by ND Highway 11, and on the east by the Red and Bois de Sioux Rivers.
ND Game and Fish tracks sharp-tailed grouse through a spring lek (strutting-ground) survey reported by three named districts — southwest, prairie potholes, and drift prairie — plus Grand Forks County monitored separately in the far northeast, near the isolated remnant greater prairie-chicken range. This district framework is distinct from the four-region NW/SW/SE/NE breakdown used for the fall pheasant brood survey. Statewide, sharptails were down 38% in the 2025 fall brood survey (12 birds/100 miles, 30% below the 10-year average), with the department citing West Nile virus and poor breeding-season weather; the 2026 spring lek count held roughly flat statewide despite that decline, which the department attributed to a mild winter limiting additional losses.
North Dakota's 2026 statewide lek count came in unchanged from 2025. The state's own biologists call that "a little surprising" given how poor last year's reproduction was, and credit a mild 2025-26 winter with limiting further losses. The regional lek picture is genuinely mixed: southwest down 8%, prairie potholes up 2%, drift prairie up 10%, and Grand Forks County up 9%. The state's own late-summer brood survey has since confirmed the same story: average brood size is up slightly from last year (about 5 chicks per hen versus about 4), but still well below a normal year's roughly 8, so expect more birds per covey than last year without a full recovery. Some pockets within the southwest ran as steep as 20% below last year, sharper than the district-wide -8% lek figure. The badlands remain below what hunters typically see in most years, though flocks of 5 to 10 birds are possible this fall versus the 1 to 2 commonly reported last year. The once-premier northwest destination has cooled off its 2022-2024 peak but still holds decent grouse around remnant grassland on the Missouri Coteau, while north-central prairie-pothole country and Grand Forks County (opened to hunting last year) are both holding steady with good public-land access. Hot, dry weather through late June and early July likely helped early-season chick survival, but the same dry conditions since have been a headwind for older chicks needing to range further for food and water.
A mild 2025-26 winter limiting further population loss after a poor 2025 reproduction year, offset by a hot, dry summer that helped early hatch survival but is a live concern for older-chick survival and fall numbers.
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