Sharptails north of Duluth?

[NoWiser]

Has anybody ever seen any up there? I was headed up grouse hunting on Friday and a couple miles north of Island Lake on Hwy 4 there was a bird in the ditch. It definititely was NOT a ruffed grouse. It looked bigger. My initial thought was a hen pheasant and that there must be a game farm in the area. After looking at some pictures of sharptails, it looks pretty close to what I saw and has me wondering....has anyone ever seen any up there? It was in the short grass in the road ditch, but if I remember right, it was in more of a forest area. I didn't notice any big grassy areas nearby. Or, maybe there is a game farm nearby. I wish I would have turned around for a closer look, but we were racing daylight to get an evening hunt in.

I also noticed some WMA's farther north, around Cook, that are managed for sharpies. Anyone ever walk these areas?? Looking to complete my trifecta of ruffs, spruce, and sharpies.

[reinhard1]

many years ago when i still lived in my favorite city of all time, duluth, i was hunting with my dad,brother, some friends in the cotton area. one of the guys had property there and it was more open with some brush. there were sharptails there and we did nail some along with some partridge. if i remember right it seems like you didn't see just one, there were 5 or six at a time when we flushed them. one of the guys was a taxidermist and my dad shot this partridge that had a redish coloring to it and the taxidermist gave my dad two birds for that one. it was a partridge but unusual coloring from most. but there were sharptails in that area and thats not too far to county 4 down the three lakes road. good luck.

[BobT]

The DNR has tried to provide sharptail habitat throughout northern MN but I don't know how successful the effort has been.

[duckster]

I live south of International Falls and we have them in our area. They are mostly in areas with open agricultural fields, but I jumped them in clearcuts also. So it is definitely possible that it what you saw.

Duckster

[Matt Breuer]

Definitely what you saw. I am on the board for the MN Sharp-Tailed Grouse Society, and our home base is in Duluth. Lots of grant money tossed into the NE part of the state to stabalize or help the population come back up there. NE MN used to be absolutely loaded with the beautiful birds, but in the last 20 years the numbers took a dive. They are coming back, or holding stable in many areas, including NE MN thanks to places like the MN DNR, Minnesota Sharp-Tailed Grouse Society, and the Nature Conservancy.