State Will Have No Sage Grouse Hunting Season

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A legislative committee has approved a state panel's decision not to have any sage grouse hunting season in South Dakota this year.

Rules passed by state agencies cannot take effect unless approved by the Legislature's Rules Review Committee. The committee's approval lets the state Game, Fish and Parks Commission eliminate the hunting season for sage grouse this year.

The commission decided not to hold a sage grouse season this fall because the bird's population has fallen in recent years in South Dakota and other states. In South Dakota, sage grouse are found mainly in Butte and Harding counties.

State wildlife officials have been working with federal agencies and other states in an effort to prevent the bird from being listed as an endangered species.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.