In addition to the Sharpie Shack, Dan Svedarsky has a prairie chicken blind 鈥� dubbed the 鈥淭aj Ma Chicken鈥� 鈥� on a nearby booming ground. Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge a few miles to the east offers two blinds, as well, refuge manager Gregg Knutsen said 鈥� one at a sharptail lek and one at a prairie chicken lek.
There鈥檚 no charge to use any of the blinds, but reservations are required.
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鈥淚 consider prime-time to generally be the last two weeks in April and the first week or two of May,鈥� Knutsen said. 鈥淢ale grouse will continue to be active at the leks into June in some years, but attendance by female grouse generally starts to taper off by mid-May. We will not accept any reservations beyond the last day of May.鈥�
There are plenty of opportunities to see the show, in other words; just remember a few key guidelines: Be in the blind no later than 60 minutes before dawn (by 5:30 p.m. for evening visits), be quiet and don鈥檛 disturb the birds and, if possible, wait until the grouse leave the lek before exiting the blind. In the morning, that is usually between 8 and 10 a.m.
Also, wear warm clothes 鈥� dress as if you were going ice fishing 鈥� and waterproof footwear. Mornings on the prairie can be downright chilly. That definitely was the case Tuesday morning, April 8.
To reserve the Sharpie Shack or Taj Ma Chicken, contact Svedarsky at (218) 686-6872 or by email at dsvedars@crk.umn.edu . To reserve a blind at Glacial Ridge, contact refuge technician Kyle Helms at kyle_helms@fws.gov or call the refuge at (218) 687-2229.
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