Date of Award:

5-1957

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Wildland Resources

Department name when degree awarded

Wildlife Management

Committee Chair(s)

Jessop B. Low

Committee

Jessop B. Low

Committee

George H. Kelker

Abstract

The Great Plains variety of the sharp-tailed grouse Pediocetes phasianellus jamesi Lincoln was the predominant upland game bird during the exploratory and early settlement period in North Dakota (Coues 1874 and 1878, Larson 1928, and Williams 1926). Since then its status has diminished as the prairie grassland gradually was converted to intensively used pastures and cropland. Although the sharptail is still abundant enough in its remaining habitat to provide for liberal annual harvests, further demand on these lands by a growing human population will make it necessary to apply game management measures other than hunting regulations if the sharptail is to be retained as an important game bird in the state.

A knowledge of the motility and survival of the sharp-tailed grouse is of importance in the planning of habitat development projects, hunting regulations, and research concerned with population problems. In 2954, the game management division of the North Dakota Game and Fish Department initiated a sharp-tailed grouse movement and survival study. This paper presents an evaluation of the techniques used in the study of sharptail movements during the first 2 years of this project and a preliminary analysis of the seasonal movements of banded or marked sharp-tailed grouse that were recovered or observed to November 4, 1956.

The scientific names of the gallinaceous birds used in this paper were taken from Ridgeway and Friedmann (1946); The American Ornithologists Union Check List of North American Birds, 1931, was followed for all other birds mentioned. The terminology of Bailey (1926) is followed for mammals and that of Stevens (1950) for plants.

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