Moving Forward We fell short of our goal of capturing and radio collaring 60 sage-grouse hens per location. We suspect that the difficulty in capturing sage-grouse was due to drought and logistical difficulties. Lek counts in 2013 were below counts in the recent past. Hart Mountain counts were down by approximately 30% as were the counts in the Massacre area. Sheldon counts were down by approximately 70% from earlier years. Low lek counts likely reflected reduced breeding activity due to poor body condition (Blomberg 2013, Nonne et al. 2013). We surmise that reduced breeding activity reduced the number of sage-grouse attending leks which impacted availability of sage-grouse for trapping during the spring. Additionally we had to invest in long periods of travel to reach trapping areas. The crew at Sheldon was assigned to the Thousand Creek bunk house which necessitated two hours round trip travel to reach trapping areas. The Massacre bench also required extensive travel time to reach trapping areas due to rough roads and having to hike to leks. We are implementing changes to increase our effectiveness at catching during the 2014 field season. Dr. Mike Gregg will be assisting in trapping for a longer period in 2014 and his extensive experience trapping on Hart Mountain and Sheldon NWR should assist in locating more sage-grouse. We also hope to change housing on Sheldon to the facilities on Little Sheldon. We also believe that trapping on Hart Mountain can be done in less time, allowing us to shift personnel to assist in trapping at the other two sites. We will also have increased access to the Nolan lek on the Massacre area in 2014 from which we trapped 16 hens in the fall of 2013. Preliminary data indicates that the Massacre bench sage-grouse and Sheldon
Moving Forward We fell short of our goal of capturing and radio collaring 60 sage-grouse hens per location. We suspect that the difficulty in capturing sage-grouse was due to drought and logistical difficulties. Lek counts in 2013 were below counts in the recent past. Hart Mountain counts were down by approximately 30% as were the counts in the Massacre area. Sheldon counts were down by approximately 70% from earlier years. Low lek counts likely reflected reduced breeding activity due to poor body condition (Blomberg 2013, Nonne et al. 2013). We surmise that reduced breeding activity reduced the number of sage-grouse attending leks which impacted availability of sage-grouse for trapping during the spring. Additionally we had to invest in long periods of travel to reach trapping areas. The crew at Sheldon was assigned to the Thousand Creek bunk house which necessitated two hours round trip travel to reach trapping areas. The Massacre bench also required extensive travel time to reach trapping areas due to rough roads and having to hike to leks. We are implementing changes to increase our effectiveness at catching during the 2014 field season. Dr. Mike Gregg will be assisting in trapping for a longer period in 2014 and his extensive experience trapping on Hart Mountain and Sheldon NWR should assist in locating more sage-grouse. We also hope to change housing on Sheldon to the facilities on Little Sheldon. We also believe that trapping on Hart Mountain can be done in less time, allowing us to shift personnel to assist in trapping at the other two sites. We will also have increased access to the Nolan lek on the Massacre area in 2014 from which we trapped 16 hens in the fall of 2013. Preliminary data indicates that the Massacre bench sage-grouse and Sheldon
Progress%20Report%202013_LAJ_JS.docx