Upland game enthusiasts taking to the fields for Saturday’s sharptailed grouse and Hungarian partridge North Dakota opener can expect to walk considerably more this season to get into birds.

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department states July and August road counts show statewide grouse numbers are down about 50 percent from 2008.

The numbers of broods observed by the fish and game department is down 48 percent and the average brood size is about the same as in 2008.

Upland game biologist Aaron Robinson in Dickinson said what he is telling hunters is this year is going to be very spotty.

“You’re going to have to cover a lot of ground to find the birds. But once you find them, you’re probably going to have a pretty good hunt,” Robinson said. Robinson said there weren’t as many hens that had a brood of chicks this year.

“The birds that did pull off a brood, they had high survival,” he said.

Robinson describes the overall situation as good news, bad news.

The good news is there are young birds this year to hunt that aren’t as spooky as adult birds, he said.

However, the bad news is those young birds then are gone for next year.

Robinson reports hunters can expect similar outlooks for partridge this fall, with the statewide population down about 65 percent from last year. The number of partridge broods observed in July and August were down 60 percent, and the average brood size is down about 7 percent.

“We’re not seeing nearly the numbers of adults we have seen, and the number of broods is way down,” he said.

The two species were hampered by the severe winter and wet spring, which included four inches of snow falling in the southwest on June 6.

The lone bright spot in the early upland game season involves ruffed grouse found in the Turtle Mountains and the Pembina Hills. Game and Fish upland game management supervisor Stan Kohn reports some major increases in the number of birds heard drumming this year compared to 2008.

“This spring, drumming counts in the Turtle Mountains were up more than 100 percent from 2008, while the counts in the Pembina Hills were up 50 percent,” Kohn stated in a department press release. “This might indicate an upward swing in the population cycle.”

Ruffed grouse populations run in eight- to 10-year cycles, and spring counts have been low the past couple of years.

As was the case last year, the sage grouse season remains closed once more due to a low population in the southwest.

All hunters must have a fishing, hunting and furbearer certificate and general game and habitat license. In addition, hunters 16 and older need a small game license.