CHEYENNE -- Hunters may often be heard "grousing" about the weather or a missed opportunity, but there should be no objections to helping the Game and Fish Department collect information on the current status of Wyoming’s sage grouse.

Sage and blue grouse hunters are urged to drop one wing from each bird in barrels placed on hunting routes across the state.

Kevin Hurley, the G&F’s wildlife management coordinator in Cody, says the size of the wing determines if the bird is male or female, and if it is an adult or juvenile. Each year a grouse replaces its wing feathers through molting.

"Hens that raise a brood of young have a delayed molt, therefore biologists are able to tell how successful the hatch was this year," said Hurley.

Feather replacement is also used to backdate chick wings. With a large enough sample, backdating allows biologists to determine the peak hatching period.

In Sublette, Fremont, southern Lincoln and northern Uinta counties, hunters are alerted to the possibility of bagging a sage grouse wearing a radio transmitter. Hunters are also asked to turn in the transmitter, along with harvest location.

An estimated 4,800 sage grouse and 13,900 blue grouse were harvested in Wyoming last year. "We’d like to increase our sample of wings from this harvest," Hurley said.

West Nile Virus, a disease known to afflict horses and humans was recently identified as the cause of death of 11 sage grouse near Gillette, prompting the G&F to close the season in Campbell, Sheridan and Johnson counties. The Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory urges hunters to follow the long-standing advice of cooking game meat, including birds, thoroughly and to wear rubber gloves while cleaning all game.

Some G&F personnel will be collecting blood and organs from field-checked sage grouse during the Sept. 27 to Oct. 5 season. This effort will assess how widespread West Nile Virus is in sage grouse across the state.

-WGFD-