As publishedSept 19, 2026-Jan 31, 2027
Regulated jointly with sharp-tailed grouse and ruffed grouse under 'Prairie Chicken and Sharp-tailed Grouse' (which explicitly 'Includes ruffed grouse'), sharing one combined bag limit. Shooting hours sunrise to sunset. Hunters requested to voluntarily submit wings at wing-box collection sites for population monitoring.
Governed by SD GFP's spring prairie grouse lek counts, which fold into the same late-August Upland Outlook PDF as pheasant rather than a standalone report. The 2026 edition (gfp.sd.gov/userdocs/docs/uplandoutlook_2026.pdf) returned a 404 on direct fetch 2026-08-19; expected within the next 1-2 weeks per the typical late-August window.