No Season 2026
WI DNR explicitly announced: 'there will not be a sharp-tailed grouse hunting season for 2026' — both the Sharp-tailed Grouse Advisory Committee and DNR biologists agreed the population could not sustain a hunt this cycle. Species retains game-bird status; when a season is held, it's permit-only via lottery, limited to Zone 10.
WI DNR's spring lek (dancing-ground) count showed a 22% decline in population indices in 2026 -- described by DNR as "within the range of natural variability" but reversing four consecutive years of increase. On the Sharp-tailed Grouse Advisory Committee's recommendation (weighing lek surveys, nesting success, winter survivability, and habitat data), the 2026-27 season was closed outright (announced July 15, 2026, dnr.wisconsin.gov/newsroom/release/127661, fetched directly 2026-08-19) -- no permits issued in Zone 10/Crex Meadows this year, versus 12 permits/5 birds harvested in the limited 2025 season. DNR attributes recent population growth to northwest-Wisconsin pine-barrens habitat restoration and expects the 2026 decline to be temporary.
22% year-over-year lek-index decline, within the range of natural variability per DNR