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Hunter harvest has been identified as a potential factor contributing to population decline of greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; hereafter "sage-grouse"). However, regulated sage-grouse hunting has consistently been administered by wildlife agencies throughout western North America. Many peripheral populations have been closed to hunting beginning with closures in the 1950s. To reduce the potential for additive effects, harvest season regulations throughout the range of sage-grouse have become more conservative over the past two decades in efforts to lower hunter participation and concomitant numbers of harvested sage-grouse. We compiled data on harvest season regulations, and estimated numbers of birds harvested and hunters afield from 11 western U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces from 1995 to 2013. We summarized change in harvest effort as a function of reductions in legal area to hunt, bag and possession limits, season length, season start date, and hunt type (permit only or general). We compared reductions in open (legal) harvest boundaries and area-weighted average harvest regulations relative to administrative boundaries and sage-grouse populations. These comparisons allowed us to assess how change in harvest regulations elicited realized harvest pressure reduction. From 1995 to 2013, there was a 25.4% reduction in administrative harvest boundaries compared to a 12.2% reduction in area open to harvest within 8 km from active sage-grouse leks. Corresponding response in area-weighted possession limits and season length decreased 73.0% and 52.3%, respectively, from 1995 to 2013. In conclusion, reduction in harvest regulations implemented in the mid-to-late 1990's were primarily associated with restricting harvest to areas where sage-grouse occurred and eliminating harvest of populations exhibiting severe decline. Since 2000, harvest regulations have focused on reducing the potential for additive harvest effects throughout the range of sage-grouse.