| Window | Dates | Days |
|---|---|---|
| Season | 01 SEP – 31 DEC 2026 | 122d |
As publishedSep 1-Dec 31, 2026
Hunt area limited to that portion of Wyoming east of the Continental Divide.
Wyoming's sharp-tailed grouse hunt area ('that portion of Wyoming east of the Continental Divide') is not just a regulatory line but a genuine subspecies boundary, per WGFD's own Wyoming Species Account for Columbian sharp-tailed grouse: Wyoming holds two distinct populations split almost exactly along the Divide. Plains sharp-tailed grouse occupy eastern Wyoming's grasslands, the entire legally hunted population, concentrated in a southeast cluster near Wheatland (historically CRP-reliant) and a northeast cluster from the Bighorn foothills into the Powder River Basin, north of I-90 (Sheridan, Johnson, Campbell counties). West of the Divide, Columbian sharp-tailed grouse persist as a real, monitored, but entirely CLOSED population: a large sub-population of 700+ birds across 30+ leks in the Little Snake River drainage of south-central Wyoming (Carbon County, a northward extension of a much larger northwest Colorado population), plus a small, stable population of roughly 6 birds on one lek in the southeast corner of Grand Teton National Park (Teton County, recolonized from Idaho after 1940s extirpation). WGFD's own species account notes 'much discussion regarding hunting the Little Snake River population' but confirms no season has been implemented, a real population with no legal access.
Wyoming's sharp-tailed grouse go into this season with healthy adults and a question mark over the young birds. WGFD biologist Marina McCampbell reports spring lek counts in southeastern Wyoming came in lower than 2025 but still decent, with adult survival helped by a mild winter, though she doesn't expect this year's poor insect production to support good chick survival. Pheasants Forever's Nick Yashko puts it more bluntly for the state as a whole, predicting somewhat of a decline in production after a winter with no real moisture and a hot, dry summer. Northern Wyoming reads better, where PF's Linette Sutphin reports good numbers from multiple observers, but she raises the same worry about whether drought-stressed cover will hold up for brood-rearing. WGFD's own 2026 Hunt Forecast, published August 31, expects average to below average brood survival in the Laramie region on below-average precipitation. Expect an older, thinner fall crop rather than a collapse. McCampbell's read on where the successful broods ended up is the useful part for planning: concentrated in agricultural country rather than spread evenly across the range. Hunt the tallest grass you can find, near springs and seeps along hillsides and draws, or where native prairie runs up against irrigated hay. Check the boundary before you go, though. Sharptails are open only in Hunt Area 1, the portion of Wyoming east of the Continental Divide, and the separate Columbian population west of the Sierra Madres stays closed regardless of conditions.
Adults carried over well from a mild winter, but drought and poor insect production have chick and brood survival flagged as the risk across the state.
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