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FROM THE DAKOTAS

Last updated: August 6, 2010

Ruffed Grouse Spring Survey, 2009 Harvest Reported

Pronghorn Population Low, NDGF Will Not Recommend a Season This Year

Deer Lottery Held, Antlerless Licenses Remain

Zebra Mussel Discovered in North Dakota

Pheasant Crowing Counts Completed

Game and Fish Summarizes 2009 Pheasant Season

North Dakota’s spring ruffed grouse survey indicated a 10 percent population increase statewide compared to 2009, according to Stan Kohn, upland game bird supervisor for the state Game and Fish Department.

The number of male grouse heard drumming in the Pembina Hills was up 23 percent from last year, while the Turtle Mountains had a 4 percent increase. Overall, the 2010 count was 98 percent higher than two years ago. However, drumming males were not heard in McHenry County (J. Clark Salyer National Wildlife Refuge), and have not been since 2006.

“We are probably approaching, or are at the high end, of the cycle for bird numbers, although our highs are not as high as they once were, while our lows seem to get lower,” Kohn said. “Habitat fragmentation continues to plague our ruffed grouse population, but with good bird production we should see some better ruffed grouse numbers this fall.”

In 2009, a 37 percent increase in hunters did not correlate to more birds in the bag, as the total harvest fell nearly 11 percent from 2008.

Approximately 1,462 hunters took 1,929 ruffed grouse last year. In 2008, an estimated 1,061 hunters harvested 2,163 birds.

“This is surprising,” Kohn said. “You would think with improved grouse numbers and more hunters the harvest would have increased.”

Total hunting trips were up 30 percent, while birds-per-trip were down 31 percent. More than 78 percent of the harvest came from Bottineau and Pembina counties.

North Dakota Game and Fish Department biologists recently completed the 2010 pronghorn population survey, and census data revealed the statewide population is 37 percent lower than last year and down more than 50 percent from 2008 as a consequence of recent severe winter weather. Therefore, the Game and Fish Department will not recommend a pronghorn hunting season in 2010.

Bruce Stillings, big game biologist in Dickinson, said two severe winters with high adult mortality rates, followed by poor production, has dropped the statewide population estimate to 6,500 pronghorn. Since 2003, the statewide population has been at or above 10,000 animals, including two years with more than 15,000.

“We need to give these populations an opportunity to recover. Our numbers are declining with few yearlings observed due to poor production in 2009, which was the lowest documented on record, followed by last year’s tough winter,” Stillings. “Production was better this year, but still below long-term averages in all management regions.”

The aerial survey is flown in early July after young-of-the-year are born and visible. “We have to fly surveys to find out how many animals are on the ground,” Stillings said. “We actually count individual animals so there is no extrapolating.”

Survey results indicate the northern badlands population is doing the best, while pronghorn in the western Bowman management area are in the poorest condition. “Pronghorn in the northern badlands are at higher numbers due to experiencing only one severe winter over the last two years, while the remainder of the range had back-to-back severe winters,” Stillings said. “Pronghorn in the western Bowman management region have not only had back-to-back severe winters, but experienced an abnormally cold and wet spring in 2009, which resulted in an unprecedented low production in 2009.”

Northern Great Plains pronghorn are susceptible to dramatic population declines due to extreme winter conditions, Stillings said. The last two years have been a worst case scenario for pronghorn in North Dakota, similar to 1977-79 when three consecutive severe winters hit the region, resulting in closed seasons from 1978-1981.

“The last thing pronghorn need is another severe winter,” Stillings said. “A mild winter will increase adult survival and leave females in good condition for fawning.”

Biologists will continue to monitor pronghorn numbers in the future, and when the population returns to a level capable of withstanding a harvest the season will reopen.  “The winter of 2010-11 will be pivotal in determining whether pronghorn begin to recover or if a series of closed seasons similar to the late 1970s are needed,” Stillings said.

The 2010 pronghorn season will be closed to both gun and archery hunters. Applicants who have accumulated preference points will maintain their current points. Individuals who have already purchased an archery license will be issued a refund.

North Dakota’s deer gun lottery has been held and individual results are available online at the state Game and Fish Department’s website, gf.nd.gov. Successful applicants will receive their license in the mail in mid-July.

The first lottery application process – deer gun, muzzleloader, youth and landowner – had more than 92,000 applicants. Nearly 70 percent of the applications were submitted online.

Approximately 31,000 antlerless deer gun licenses remain. Unsuccessful resident applicants in the first drawing will be mailed a second lottery application. Resident and nonresident hunters who have not yet applied, or who want additional licenses, must submit a third lottery application. The deadline for submitting applications is July 28. The second lottery will take place immediately prior to the third.

The third lottery application will be available July 7 online at the Game and Fish website. Paper applications for download and from license vendors will be available mid-July.

Additional concurrent season doe licenses can be used during the archery season with a bow; the deer gun season with a bow, rifle, or muzzleloader; or during the muzzleloader season with a muzzleloader. These licenses must be used for antlerless deer only, and hunters must stay in the unit to which the license is assigned.

In addition, youth deer license hunters ages 14 and 15 may purchase additional concurrent season doe licenses to use during the youth season.

Third Lottery Deer Gun Licenses

(B = Any Antlerless    D = Antlerless Whitetail    F = Antlerless Mule Deer)

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department has confirmed the presence of a zebra mussel veliger in the Red River between Wahpeton, N.D. and Breckenridge, Minn. The veliger, the microscopic free-swimming (young) stage of the zebra mussel, was isolated from a recent routine plankton sample taken at Kidder Dam in Wahpeton.

Zebra mussels are an aquatic nuisance species introduced into North America and currently found in many states east and south of North Dakota.

“We are disappointed, but not surprised that zebra mussels have entered the Red River,” said Lynn Schlueter, Game and Fish aquatic nuisance species coordinator. “The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources found them in the Red River watershed in the Pelican Lake chain well upstream of Wahpeton-Breckenridge last fall. And again this spring new mussel infestations were documented in Minnesota upstream of the Red River, including in Lake Lizzie.”

Zebra mussel veligers can float along in river currents for weeks before eventually attaching to hard structures and growing into dime-sized mussels. When established, these invasive mussels reproduce at rapid rates. One female can produce up to a million eggs a season and each egg has the potential to develop into an adult.

Adult mussels attach to hard surfaces such as rocks, submerged trees, bridge abutments, docks and industrial or municipal water intake pipes. When in dense colonies they can block water flow in pipes, causing costly damages annually in the United States.

Zebra mussels can also alter natural ecosystems. They are siphon feeders capable of filtering about one liter of water per day while feeding primarily on plankton. These exotic mussels have the ability to alter the food chain and eventually deplete native flora and/or fauna in the affected water.

Earlier this week Game and Fish personnel collected more samples that were sent off for further testing. In addition, department biologists, along with natural resources staff from Minnesota and Manitoba, will continue periodic sampling of the Red River during the open-water season, and will work with local government entities along the Red to monitor boat docks and other hard structures for the presence of adult zebra mussels. Game and Fish staff will also provide preventative and maintenance information to municipalities along the Red River within the next few weeks.

“Zebra mussels, like most aquatic nuisance species, are extremely difficult and costly to eliminate once they are established, but what we can do is minimize the potential for people to transport them elsewhere,” Schlueter said. “We can’t stress enough the importance of following the laws that are already in place to prevent introduction of ANS into new waters.”

Existing ANS regulations include:

1. -          All water must be drained from boats and other watercraft, including bilges and motors before leaving a water body.
2. -          All aquatic vegetation must be removed from boats and construction equipment, personal watercraft, trailers and associated equipment such as fishing poles/lures before leaving a body of water.
3. -          All aquatic vegetation must be removed from bait buckets when leaving the water.
4. -          Live aquatic bait or aquatic vegetation may not be transported into North Dakota. Also, all water must be drained from watercraft prior to entering the state.

In addition, the Game and Fish Department has developed a potential rule change that would require draining all water from livewells and baitwells prior to leaving a water body. This would mean fish, including bait, may no longer be transported in a livewell containing water. If approved, this rule would likely become effective Oct. 1.

“We encourage anglers to implement this practice immediately,” Schlueter stressed. “Zebra mussels are a real threat and we don’t want them to move into any other waters.”

More information:

http://gf.nd.gov/fishing/ans-animals.html

http://www.protectyourwaters.net/hitchhikers/mollusks_zebra_mussel.php

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/aquaticanimals/zebramussel/index.html

North Dakota’s spring pheasant crowing count survey revealed a 6 percent decrease statewide compared to last year, according to Stan Kohn, upland game management supervisor for the state Game and Fish Department.

The number of crows heard in the northwest was down 16 percent from 2009, while counts in the southwest and southeast were relatively unchanged from last year. In the northeast where there are fewer birds, the counts decreased 10 percent.

“This past winter did not appear to have a role in the lower crowing counts,” Kohn said. “It is probably the result of a lower number of adult birds surviving the winter of 2008-09, coupled with poor production in spring 2009 because of cool, wet weather at the time of the hatch, resulting in chick mortality and fewer young entering the population last fall.”

Kohn said the good news from this spring is the quality of cover will benefit birds and broods of all upland species. “Pheasants are finding nesting and brooding cover in fair quantity and great quality,” he added. “Native, warm season plants are doing extremely well and one would anticipate a good number of insects and eventually grasshoppers to become available with this type of habitat component.”

In addition, the early June weather has been better than the last two springs. “Recent downpours in some areas may jeopardize broods in some localized spots, but we have not experienced cool temperatures associated with these showers,” Kohn said. “I think production should be much better than in 2008 and 2009.”

Even though the crowing count survey provides good trend data on the status of roosters, Kohn said it does not provide information on the status of the adult hen population. “Hens are the segment of the population that determines the fall population,” he said. “In spring 2009, field personnel noted the low number of hens with roosters (1-2 hens per rooster) indicating the hen population might be smaller than usual. This spring there were no such observations reported.”

Spring crowing count data has little to do with predicting the fall population. It does not measure population density, but is an indicator of the spring rooster population based on a trend of number of crows heard. Brood surveys, which begin in mid-July and are completed by September, provide an indicator of the summer’s pheasant production and provide insight into what to expect for a fall pheasant population.

Pheasant crowing counts are conducted each spring throughout North Dakota. Observers drive specified 20-mile routes, stopping at predetermined intervals, and counting the number of pheasant roosters heard crowing over a two-minute period during the stop. The number of pheasant crows heard is compared to previous years’ data.

Not as many pheasant hunters in the field meant fewer roosters in the bag in 2009.

Last fall’s pheasant harvest was 651,700, down from 776,700 in 2008. The number of total hunters decreased 18 percent to 88,400. The number of resident hunters was down 20 percent to 59,700, while nonresident pheasant hunter numbers decreased 15 percent to 28,700. Birds bagged per hunter increased from 7.2 to 7.4, and each hunter spent an average of 4.4 days afield.

Counties with the highest percentage of pheasants taken by resident hunters were Hettinger, 7.6; Burleigh, 7.0; Morton, 6.6; McLean, 6.2; and Stark, 6.0.

Top counties for nonresident hunters were Hettinger, 21.4 percent; Bowman, 8.1; Emmons, 5.9; McIntosh, 5.7; and Dickey, 5.5.

Annual pheasant season statistics are determined by a mail survey of resident and nonresident hunters.

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