No actual counts yet, they won't be in till July or August I think, but after last year's dismal season and the rougher then usual winter this year's season doesn't look like it's going to be much better.
Posted on 06/10/2008 10:30:18 AM PDT by Domandred
Bird populations are down due to harsh winters, drought. Biologists say spring weather and nesting success are crucial for them to recover.and they may take years to rise
Southwest Idaho's chukar population has taken a dive in the last two years due to harsh winters and drought, and it might take that many years for populations to recover even under improved weather and nesting conditions.
That's the word from Idaho Department of Fish and Game biologist Andy Ogden.
This could be a pivotal year for chukars because they typically live only two years. A high proportion of Idaho's chukars are already 2 years or older, and if adult birds don't reproduce this spring, most won't be around for another nesting season.
If that happens, it may take four or more years to recover chukar populations.
Last winter, deep snow hit southern Idaho's chukar habitat, but weather conditions probably were not severe enough to repeat past population crashes when heavy snow was accompanied by frigid temperatures.
(Excerpt) Read more at idahostatesman.com ...
No actual counts yet, they won't be in till July or August I think, but after last year's dismal season and the rougher then usual winter this year's season doesn't look like it's going to be much better.
I love Chukar hunting. I hate Chukar hunting.
LOL yep you’re a chukar hunter.
All I know of chukar hunting I learned from Pat McManus. I think he agreed with you on the love-hate relationship with this Idaho marathon event.
I have my spot up on the Tucannon Rvier in Columbia County, Washignton. Steep ass basalt hills covered in slick cheet grass...Going up is a real treat but once you get into them it is all forgotten. Then the real fun is having to go back down the hill. Those basalt stones just roll under your feet and it is twice as hard as going up hill...
Decided once to take the rim road to the top and hunt down on them...Big mistake. We broke over the hill and the dog went on point. When they busted they all flew downhill, unlike coming up on them when they bust sideways and then you sidehill them...
Best game bird God ever invented!!!!
I hunted them (and actually got some) near a Godforsaken gap in the map called Trona, California. Exciting, frustrating, thrilling bird.
Bird populations are down due to harsh winters
I have it on the best authority, a Nobel Prize winning scientist and former Vice President's word, that due to extensive anthropogenic global warming, where we may already have passed the tipping point, we have had a long series of increasingly warm and mild winters. Chukar populations must be UP, but they have migrated north due to the warming trend (to what used to be polar bear territory?), and that's the only reason why we're not seeing them as often in their previous ecosystems.
Surely, the Statesman isn't trying to tell me that Al Gore would lie?
I was wondering how long it would take for someone to pick up on that. Was gonna point it out in my comment, but decided not to :)
I think that Chukar are one of the things that God created just so he could laugh at us mere mortals trying to hunt them.
It snowed this morning in Moscow (Idaho) - yep, on the 10th of June. Hard. Lots of snow still in the high country which means that the deer have been all over the place down here. Dodged a moose on US95 last weekend. Nuts.
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