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Greater Prairie Chicken

Greater Prairie Chicken
Greater Prairie Chicken. Photo: © Dick Wilberforce

Greater Prairie Chicken

North American distribution of Pinnated Grouse (Greater and Lesser Prairie Chickens) once ranged from the Gulf Coast to Southern Canada, and from the Atlantic Seaboard to the Rocky Mountains, but this range has been steadily decreasing over the centuries. Of the three subspecies of Greater Prairie Chickens, the Heath Hen is extinct, and the Attwater’s Prairie Chicken on the TX coast is hovering on the brink of extinction. The bulk of Greater Prairie Chickens are today found in tall grass and mixed grass prairie regions of KS, NE, and SD with fringe and remnant populations extending into other states and provinces such as OK, MO, ND, and Ontario. In other states such as WI, IL, MI, and MN, populations continue to exist through reintroduction efforts. On the fringe of the distribution such as in OK, numbers have gradually decreased to a low in the mid 90’s, but have shown gradual increases during the last three years. While Greater Prairie Chicken numbers appear stable in some states comprising the heart of the distribution region, the latest counts indicate that today there are only about one-third as many of this species as there were just 30 years ago.

For Major Circuit Championships run on Prairie Chicken see: Major Circuit Open All-Age Championship Map, Major Circuit Open Shooting Dog Championship Map

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Strideaway is an online publication founded in 2008. We are dedicated to promoting the great sport of American pointing dog field trials, in particular American Field sanctioned trials for pointers and setters. Our objective is to present the voices and ideas of experienced trainers, handlers, breeders and other knowledgeable participants and enthusiasts from the past to the present — amateurs and professionals alike. Whether All-Age or Shooting Dog, Horseback or Walking Trials, we place particular emphasis on wild bird field trials and the dogs that compete in them. We present richly illustrated articles and stories, podcast interviews and other types of media on a regular basis with the hope of providing an ever expanding, searchable archive of information relevant to pointing dog field trials.Read article

This website is dedicated to our ever faithful friend, Bill Allen who passed away peacefully and surrounded by his loving family on January 25, 2022 at the age of 96. We will miss him but he left us the greatest of gifts, his wonderful writings in a book we published for the 3rd time in 2021: The Unforgettables and Other True Fables.

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