Sharp-tailed grouse figure prominently in early accounts of Minnesota settlement because they were distributed statewide at that time. Prairie chickens reported along the Mississippi River by English geologist Featherstonhaugh in 1835 were actually sharp-tailed grouse.
As grassland areas were cultivated, prairie chickens became more abundant and the range of sharp-tailed grouse shrank to brushland areas of northern Minnesota. Declining amounts of the brushland needed by sharp-tails has caused great declines in their numbers. It is increasingly difficult to find areas where they can be observed.Sharp-tailed grouse closely resemble greater prairie chickens and female ring-necked pheasants, but have a distinctive pointed tail edged in white. The sharptail's body feathers give it a mottled appearance, as they are extensively speckled with white, buff, tawny brown and black. Conspicuous white spots cover the wings, with the amount of white increasing toward the breast and flanks which are intricately patterned with v-shaped brown markings. The middle pair of tail feathers is elaborately marked with brown and black and, in male grouse they are elongated during the spring and summer. Male and female sharpies are nearly identical in plumage and size. Adults are 16-18 inches long, weigh about two pounds and have a wingspan of approximately 20 inches. The main distinction between male and female is the pinkish to pale violet patches of bare skin on the male's head. These patches, along with the small, yellow headcomb, are expanded during the male's courtship ritual.
Young male sharptails probably start establishing breeding display territories as early as their first fall, and these they will use for courtship displays the following spring. Normally, beginning in April, the male and female sharptails gather on these openings, called "dancing grounds". Males perform their courtship dance twice a day, in early morning and in early evening. First, they advertise their position and the general location of their display grounds by cackling and "flutter-jumping", where the male jumps into the air, flies a few feet forward and lands again. They also use several different displays to show aggression toward each other on the dancing grounds, which may include several postures and calls like "chilk" and "cha" notes, squealing sounds, whining and gobbling.
Also common is the "cooing" display that is similar to the "booming" of the greater prairie chicken, where the sharptail cocks his tail, lowers his head and inflates his esophagus to make a low-pitched cooing sound. In addition to the displays, male sharpies normally fight for the attention of the females, using a combination of beaks, claws and wings to attack each other. The most complex of the courtship displays is called ?Tail-rattling" or dancing, and involves a series of rapid stepping motions performed with the tail erect, the head forward and the wings outstretched. The male "dances" in a small circle or arc, after he assumes this stiff posture, and vibrates his tail feathers making a clicking or rattling sound. Male sharptails often perform this "tail-rattling" in synchrony and often stop to "pose" for the females. When the male has successfully attracted a female, they mate and the female leaves the dancing site for her nesting area.
Adult sharptails feed on approximately 90% vegetative matter and 10% insects, although their diet does change with the seasons. During spring, they feed mostly on weed seeds, waste grain and leaves and sprouts of plants like prickly lettuce, dandelion, clovers and wild grasses. Preferred summer foods are flowers, leaves and fruits of many green, herbaceous plants. Insects like beetles, grasshoppers, crickets and caterpillars are also part of the summer diet. Fall feeding consists mainly of a variety of seeds and fruits from plants like poison ivy, dandelion, mountain ash, wild rose, birch, willow and aspen. Twigs and buds on many of these same plants make up the winter diet, with paper birch, aspen and hazel buds and catkins being the mainstay.
Normally, sharp-tailed grouse are found in areas of open prairie-savanna or extensive brush, but the farm-forest fringe and marginal agricultural land can also be suitable habitat. Sharptail habitat can be divided into dancing grounds, nesting areas, brood areas and wintering sites. Dancing grounds are grassy openings with little vegetation and good visibility, and are often elevated and found in hay meadows, marshes, and abandoned or cultivated fields. Male sharptails may visit these areas as often as ten months out of the year and will return to the same ground each year. Nesting sites are located in areas covered with grasses and similar non-woody plants and are often within ½ mile of the dancing grounds. Most nests are protected by overhanging vegetation or are located within a few feet of good brushy cover. Females raise the young in brood areas where there are young trees or shrubs, which furnish shade from the heat of the sun, and grassy clearings that provide an abundance of insects. Wintering is generally done in areas of deciduous and coniferous forests where most feeding is in trees and shrubs for buds and catkins. Sharptails do not roost in trees during winter, but they "snow roost" by burrowing into the snow in places like dense swamp or marshland or open stands of spruce or tamarack.
Like prairie chicken, sharp-tailed grouse travel more extensively than other upland birds and may travel 2-3 miles per day. Seasonal movement might exceed 10 miles, however, this is rare. In the fall, sharptails gather into "packs", "coveys", small flocks and finally larger flocks when they move to their winter habitat.
Currently, Minnesota's sharptail population is estimated at about 5,000, mainly found in state wildlife areas and adjacent private land. The state's population is declining at an estimated rate of 2% per year, due primarily to habitat loss. To maintain the prairie and savanna habitat, the land is mowed, control-burned and treated with herbicides, but more intensified management efforts are needed to stabilize or grow the population.
Sharptails are not particularly tough targets as they alternately flap and glide in flight, rocking from side to side. During the early season in mid October, sharpies are often still in family groups that seem to hold well and flush at close range. On hot, calm days the birds hold ever tighter, but as the weather turns cooler and windier they get spookier and wilder. Pointers will work well during this early season hunting. You may have to surprise sharptails on windy days just to get a shot, as they often sit just over the leeward edge of ridges and you may need to try approaching the birds from behind the ridge. Locating early season coveys can be difficult. They like fields with green vegetation, roadside ditches, alfalfa fields, brush swales and heads of draws when conditions are dry. You may be able to see them with binoculars and hear them as they cackle before flying.By late October, sharpies form large flocks that are spooky and nearly impossible to approach. These flocks will travel up to three miles to feeding grounds such as grain fields, and pass shooting the field edges may be the only way to hunt them successfully. Sharptails often run from approaching hunters or dogs, and coveys may flush ragged. Always be prepared for one more bird after the covey has flushed. Lightweight shotguns with improved cylinder and modified chokes work well during the early season and modified chokes and full chokes getting the nod in late season and on windy days when the birds are wild.
