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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Pizza driver in Ashland robbery says she was shocked with stun gun ... Wolf delisting bill heads to Oregon Senate for final vote ... Man faces sex trafficking, promoting prostitution charges ... Pizza driver in Ashland robbery says she was shocked with stun gun ... Wolf delisting bill heads to Oregon Senate for final vote ... Man faces sex trafficking, promoting prostitution charges ... SINCE YOU ASKED Since You Asked: Hunter-harvest rate for sage grouse is conservative Comment MailTribune.com Writer Posted Feb. 23, 2016 at 12:01 AM Posted Feb. 23, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Social News My question concerns sage grouse, a small upland game bird that is the size of a chicken. The bird is on the endangered species list, yet it is legal to hunt them. Why is this permitted? — Murray, Medford Sage grouse are an interesting critter, and there is a small amount of legal hunting for them, but a lot has happened to these iconic members of the high desert in recent years. First, let's start with their legal status. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had been reviewing the sage grouse in respect to the federal Endangered Species Act and last year withdrew sage grouse from the list of species that are candidates for threatened or endangered status. Part of that was because a review showed that greater sage grouse remain relatively abundant and well-distributed across the species’ 173-million acre range and does not face the risk of extinction now or in the foreseeable future, according to the service's declaration. That decision followed an unprecedented conservation partnership across the western United States that has significantly reduced threats to the greater sage grouse across 90 percent of the species’ breeding habitat, according to the service. It is, Murray, a wildlife success story. As for legal hunting on species considered imperiled enough to be considered for Endangered Species Act protection, let's first address the logic used to enter hunters into the wildlife equation. The founding principle of regulated hunting of wildlife in North America is that a portion of wildlife can be taken by hunters each year without compromising the long-term future of a population, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Some wildlife will be lost each year because of weather, disease, habitat limitations, predation or other factors, the agency says. Hunters take from this portion of expected mortality and by doing so, they help keep wildlife within its habitat-carrying capacity, according to the agency. Oregon's sage grouse hunting is considered quite conservative, says Michelle Dennehy, the ODFW's Wildlife Division spokeswoman. Studies show that hunter-harvest rates of less than 11 percent are unlikely to influence the population, and the ODFW's self-imposed policy is to have harvest rates not go above 5 percent, Dennehy says. In 2013, for instance, it was 2.2 percent. Also, what hunting occurs for sage grouse happens on just 12 of the 21 Wildlife Management Units in Oregon where sage grouse are found, Dennehy says. Send questions to “Since You Asked,” Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by email to [email protected] . To see a collection of columns, go to mailtribune.com/youasked . We’re sorry, but the volume of questions received prevents us from answering all of them. 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