by: Barry Sabean
SUMMER/FALL 1992
Harvest results of the 1991 upland game season were encouraging. Harvests of both ruffed grouse (partridge) and snowshoe hare (rabbits) were up substantially from the year before. Pheasant harvest was also up, although slightly, remaining close to the average of the last 10 years. Harvest improvement can likely be attributed to a much better year for reproduction. Warm, dry conditions dominated this spring in sharp contrast to the spring of 1990 when cold, wet conditions prevailed.
Our upland game harvest is calculated from the return of the hunter report cards attached to the Small Game license. In 1990 only about 7 per cent of hunters sent in their report cards. This low level of return makes it difficult for us to calculate overall harvest, particularly for each county. Hunters! Remember, the information you need can only be as good as what you send in.
License sales were up 3.5 per cent from last year, with 30 per cent of license holders reporting that they did not hunt upland game in 1991. By comparison, 35 per cent of license holders in 1990 reported they didn't hunt.
It is interesting to note that although hunting effort was up 1 0 per cent in 199 1, those who did hunt reported little difference in the average number of days hunted in the last three years. (A result of increased license sales and a lower proportion of license holders reporting they did not hunt.)
The snowshoe hare harvest was up almost 50 per cent from the previous year, but it is still the second lowest harvest since records were started in 1968. Although the upward trend is encouraging, the population is a long way below the long-term average.
Despite a high coyote population, hare harvests remained constant between 1988 and 1989. The sudden drop in 1990 is at least partially related to the cold, wet spring of that year, which caused many of the young hares to die of exposure. The more favourable spring of 1991 helped the population to recover, but whether this is part of a sustained increase remains to be seen. The relatively high coyote density will likely slow a quick recovery in the hare population. (1991 is the first year that fur harvesters reported a decrease in coyote numbers.)
Ruffed grouse harvest fell from its highest point in 12 years (1989) to its lowest on record in 1990. However, levels in 1991 returned to normal. It is apparent that the cold, wet May of 1990 caused poor reproductive success and resulted in the meager hunt that fall. The favourable weather during nesting season of 1991 has allowed the population to rebound. The outlook for this season looks promising.
Many people blamed coyotes for the low grouse population of 1990. However, a number of factors-high grouse population of 1989 (at a time when coyotes were plentiful), food habit studies indicating coyotes take few grouse, and the quick recovery in 1991-all suggest that coyotes have little impact on grouse populations.
The ring necked pheasant harvest was up about 15 per cent in 1991, close to the 10 year average. This spring's censuses showed that the population had over-wintered well. A successful nesting season should produce good numbers this fall. However, high numbers of nest predators such as raccoons and skunks combined with healthy populations of foxes in areas of better pheasant habitat may keep pheasants from reaching high densities.
The following table shows the calculated harvest for each species for the last three years. Please remember when examining this table that a direct comparison between two counties may not always be accurate because of the low return of report cards. This is particularly true for pheasants where numbers of pheasant hunters (and pheasants) in some counties and even regions tends to be very low.