Currently mourning dove hunting is legal
in 40 of the 48 contiguous states.
Approximately 25 million doves are harvested annually nationwide.
The Fish and Wildlife Service coordinates an annual mourning
dove call-count in cooperation with state agencies nationwide.
Breeding populations have been monitored since 1966.
"Aside from additional hunting opportunity, a mourning dove
season would also generate significant economic benefits in rural
Minnesota, particularly in southern and western counties of the
state," Boggess said. "Dove hunting is also an excellent
way to introduce new hunters to wing shooting." |
Minnesota upland game bird hunters spend
more than $62 million in retail sales each year, according to
the International Association of Fish and Wildlife.
DNR extends pheasant season for 2004
Minnesota's pheasant hunters will have additional hunting opportunities
this year, thanks to a Department of Natural Resources (DNR)
decision to extend the 2004 season through Dec. 31. Under the
previous season framework, the 2004 season would have closed
on Sunday, Dec. 19.
"The extended season will offer more opportunities for families
and friends to hunt pheasants over the holidays, without harming
pheasant populations," said Ed Boggess, DNR Fish and Wildlife
Division policy chief.
"While we recognize that some hunters did not favor this
extension out of a concern for pheasants, the biology of pheasant
populations supports this change, and the DNR has emergency authorities
to close or reduce seasons if necessary."
The hunting season extension was requested by pheasant hunters
and was supported by DNR biologists and by Pheasants Forever.
Based on the best scientific information available, the extension
should slightly increase harvest without affecting pheasant numbers
during the following year, according to Kurt Haroldson, DNR wildlife
biologist in Madelia.
Although Haroldson said hen pheasants flushed by hunters from
prime winter cover could experience some increased mortality,
such mortality should be compensated by reduced winter mortality
and increased nest success for the surviving hens.
Both sexes of other small game species, such as grouse, are harvested
and all small game populations can withstand some hunting mortality
of females.
"We do expect a slight increase in hen mortality due to
the extension," Haroldson said.
"But studies indicate that the additional mortality will
not be enough to negatively impact future fall populations."
Studies of pheasant mortality from the 1940s, when hen pheasants
were part of the legal bag, showed that pre-hunting season hen
abundance declined when the previous year's hen harvest exceeded
45 percent, Haroldson said. Hen numbers increased when the previous
year's hen harvest was less than 20 percent.
Although hen pheasants cannot be legally harvested in Minnesota,
the DNR estimates that 11 percent of hen pheasants are killed
- accidentally or deliberately shot - during the hunting season.
"Using these studies, we expect that a moderate increase
in Minnesota's pheasant season length will be sustainable and
add some holiday recreation," Haroldson said. More than
100,000 people hunt pheasants in Minnesota. This year's season
will begin on Oct. 16. A small game license and a $7.50 habitat
stamp are required. |
Ruffed grouse count decline may be related
to survey conditions
Wildlife biologists with the Minnesota Department of Natural
Resources (DNR) say an unexpected decline in ruffed grouse survey
numbers may be related to inclement spring weather during the
time when counts were conducted.
Ruffed grouse populations are surveyed by counting the number
of ruffed grouse ?drums? heard by DNR staff and volunteers along
specified routes in the state?s ruffed grouse range. Male ruffed
grouse loudly beat their wings in mating displays each spring.
According to John Erb, a wildlife research biologist in Grand
Rapids, the survey indicated an 8 percent decline in drums heard
on routes in the northwest and a 17 percent decline in the northeast,
while the north-central and central hardwoods regional counts
remained stable. In southeastern Minnesota, drumming counts increased
17 percent.
For the past 55 years, DNR biologists have tracked ruffed grouse
populations as they rise and fall in an approximate 10-year cycle.
Drumming counts had increased slightly last year, prompting hope
that the cycle was on the pswing.
Statewide, drumming counts were down 11 percent compared with
last year.
"It remains unclear whether the lack of an apparent increase
in northern zones represents a real change in the population
or whether it is just a result of sampling variability,"
Erb said. "Overall, winter conditions did not appear detrimental
to ruffed grouse and historic patterns suggest we should have
begun the increase in the grouse cycle. It is possible that the
inclement spring weather may have simply delayed or reduced drumming
intensity in many areas."
Erb said that this uncertainty highlights the fact that the drumming
count survey is most valuable as a long-term trend indicator,
and that year-to-year changes should be interpreted cautiously.
Minnesota continues as a leader in grouse hunting opportunities,
with cyclic population lows often exceeding grouse peaks in other
regions. The ruffed grouse 10-year population cycle occurs naturally.
However, hunters have helped enhance populations overall through
hunting license fees that help fund DNR habitat programs to provide
grouse with improved food and cover. One such program is cooperative
work between DNR wildlife managers and foresters to improve grouse
habitat in state forests.
SHARP-TAILED GROUSE NUMBERS INCREASE
Erb also reported that sharp-tailed grouse numbers increased
in both the northwest and east-central parts of their range.
Observers look for male sharptails dancing on traditional mating
areas, called leks. For comparable leks monitored in 2003 and
2004, surveyors counted 15 percent more birds in the east-central
range and 31 percent more in the northwest range.
Throughout the past 15 years, sharptail population fluctuations
have mirrored the ruffed grouse population cycle. However, superimposed
on these periodic changes, |
