# ND Sharptails, Huns Numbers Down



## Dick Monson

Brood Numbers Indicate Sharptails, Huns Down

Friday, August 30, 2013

Data recently tallied from July and August roadside counts indicate sharp-tailed grouse and Hungarian partridge populations are down significantly from last year.

As of Aug. 28, brood results suggest sharp-tailed grouse numbers are down 51 percent statewide from last year, with the number of broods observed down 50 percent. The average brood size is about the same as in 2012, and the age ratio is up 19 percent.

The statewide Hungarian partridge population is down 34 percent from last year, and the number of broods observed is down 31 percent.

Aaron Robinson, upland game biologist for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department in Dickinson, said even though spring survey numbers indicated a population comparable to last year, the telling factor is always late-summer counts.

"Fall hunting season success is directly correlated to the current year's reproductive success - if there is a good hatch than logically there will be more birds on the landscape come fall hunting season," Robinson said. "Spring census allows us to monitor the breeding population, which is used to track the base population trend over time."

The season for sharp-tailed grouse, ruffed grouse and Hungarian partridge opens Sept. 14. Hunters should refer to the North Dakota 2013-14 Small Game Hunting Guide for further season information and regulations.


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## 94NDTA

Any indication as to why?


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## Dick Monson

Likely loss of habitat and bad weather during the hatch? Just my guess. It sounds like the season we had in 2011.


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## ChukarBob

While our group shoots relatively few Sharps and Huns in our annual trip to ND in November, I am urging the group to leave these birds alone this year.


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## Rick Acker

You can't BANK upland game birds. Common sense...Don't wipe out an entire covey of Partridge, but shooting a few birds is not going to effect the population. Have you seen the life expectancy of upland gamebirds...A pheasant is about 10 months. If you don't get em'...A coyote or hawk will. Hunting has very little to do with the population. The continual loss of habitat and our tough springs is what's doing us in.


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## ChukarBob

Rick,

I know you're right, but it just doesn't feel right to take birds out of a covey when the species is suffering. The problem for me is knowing when enough is enough. For example, I might take 2 Huns out of a covey of 15 on opening day. The next hunter to jump that covey, say in late October, might assume that the covey is still largely unaffected by human predation and take another 2. Then a coyote gets his share, and so it goes. Is there some scientifically established lower limit to the ability of that covey to survive to another year? Where's the "tipping point" for that covey?

Perhaps it's a largely symbolic gesture, but I feel better just passing on those birds and waiting for next year and perhaps a better outcome to the covey's breeding season. But I appreciate your thoughts on the matter.


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## fieldgeneral

Rick Acker said:


> You can't BANK upland game birds. Common sense...Don't wipe out an entire covey of Partridge, but shooting a few birds is not going to effect the population. Have you seen the life expectancy of upland gamebirds...A pheasant is about 10 months. If you don't get em'...A coyote or hawk will. Hunting has very little to do with the population. The continual loss of habitat and our tough springs is what's doing us in.


Very good point Rick!


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## 94NDTA

ChukarBob said:


> Rick,
> 
> I know you're right, but it just doesn't feel right to take birds out of a covey when the species is suffering. The problem for me is knowing when enough is enough. For example, I might take 2 Huns out of a covey of 15 on opening day. The next hunter to jump that covey, say in late October, might assume that the covey is still largely unaffected by human predation and take another 2. Then a coyote gets his share, and so it goes. Is there some scientifically established lower limit to the ability of that covey to survive to another year? Where's the "tipping point" for that covey?
> 
> Perhaps it's a largely symbolic gesture, but I feel better just passing on those birds and waiting for next year and perhaps a better outcome to the covey's breeding season. But I appreciate your thoughts on the matter.


I believe I do thison a subconscious level when I'm hunting. In 2009 (I believe) when the numbers were really down on pheasants, I enjoyed the hunt more than anything, and if a bird got up and I had 1 or two already I would just legit fly. I will probably do this with grouse as I don't care for them as much as other game birds, and usually end up giving some away.

Especially if you have a really good spot that is public land that you never see hunted.


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