Central Oregonian

Hunting (for the birds)

Now is the time to try some of the best pheasant and chukar hunting spots in the state

SCOTT STAATS SPECIAL TO THE CENTRAL OREGONIAN

Chukar (top) and pheasant (above) are popular game birds in Central and Eastern Oregon.

November 05, 2012

One thing is for sure if you’re hunting chukars in Central or Eastern Oregon — you’ll have a great view of the surrounding countryside.

There will be rocky, volcanic rims and high hills covered with grass, plus you’ll most likely be looking down on a scenic river canyon.

The Malheur River drainage in Eastern Oregon has some of the best public lands chukar and quail hunting in the state. The best opportunities are from the Warm Springs Reservoir to Juntura and along Highway 20 from Juntura to Harper.

Chukars will use the same general area year after year, so hunters should be patient when hunting an area they had luck with in the past. The secret is finding a good water source such as a spring up one of the many side canyons or catching the birds coming up from the river early in the morning.

Dave Budeau, upland game bird coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in the Salem headquarters, said overall numbers for chukars and quail were about the same this year as last, while the numbers for pheasants were up. These are the three main birds that hunters are interested in, he added.

“Many of our wildlife districts conduct summer production inventory, which gives us two different kinds of indices,” Budeau explained.

One is the index of production, which is the number of chicks per adult. The other is the number of birds seen per 10 miles of survey route, which seems to be the best predictor of fall harvest for birds such as quail, chukar and pheasant but not so much for forest species such as grouse.

Last year wasn’t a bad year for chukar hunters. In fact, Budeau said hunters took nearly 80,000 birds in the state — the best success since 2007.

The state conducts game bird surveys in the summer by driving along set routes and counting birds (over 2,000 miles of survey routes statewide for quail, over 1,300 miles for chukars and over 1,000 miles for pheasant). In general, Budeau said the population for the three species of game birds in Central Oregon are stable.

Counts for chukars this year showed 13.8 birds per 10 miles compared with 15.9 birds/10 miles last year. The 5-year average is 13.5 chukars/10 miles. The statewide count for chukars this year found 1.2 chicks per adult, compared with 2.8 last year and 2.2 chicks/adult for the 5-year average.

For quail this year, biologists counted 19.0 birds/10 miles. Last year they counted 19.2 quail per 10 miles, with a 5-year average of 15.7 birds/10 miles. For Eastern Oregon, the survey found 1.5 chicks per adult this year, compared with 2.4 last year and the 5-year average of 2.0 chicks/adult.

For pheasants they counted 4.7 birds/10 miles this year compared with 2.3 birds/10 miles last year and a 5-year average of 3.4 birds/10 miles. For Eastern Oregon the survey found 1.9 chicks/hen this year, compared with 3.5 last year and the 5-year average of 3.4 chicks/hen.

With upland game birds, Budeau said you can expect large fluctuations in the population annually. This is usually due to weather and the fact that the birds generally are short-lived. Most of any given year’s population is that year’s production because they just don’t have a very long life expectancy. Old age for a chukar or quail can be only a couple of years, according to Budeau.

“Hunting makes up such a small part of their annual mortality,” he said. “That’s why we can have long seasons.”

What drives the bird’s population is weather for the short term and habitat for the long term. Given the choice between precipitation in the spring and drought, Budeau said that precipitation is better. “If you don’t get the moisture, you don’t get production with grass and forbs, which provides not only the cover but flowering that attracts insects which are the primary food for young game birds.”

It’s tough being a bird out there in the elements. Hard winters can obviously influence the numbers of birds available for spring breeding. Then spring moisture and temperature can influence the reproductive success. Weather across the state was variable with some areas very wet during June (early brood-rearing) and others exceptionally dry.

There’s so much annual fluctuation that wildlife biologists usually look at long-term trends. A good example is pheasants in Western Oregon. From the 1960s through the 1990s there was a long-term decline due mainly to changes in landscape-scale land use such as switching from cereal grains to grass seed for example.

For chukars, Budeau suggest that hunters should target the main river systems and associated drainages such as the Deschutes, John Day, Malheur and Owyhee. For pheasants, most of the harvest occurs in the Columbia basin (Pendleton, Heppner and Hermiston areas), which is largely private land.

However, there are several state wildlife areas, federal refuges and other opportunities for hunters. The other big pheasant area is northern Malheur County such as Ontario, Vale and Nyssa. Quail hunting is good on the Crooked River National Grasslands and the Prineville Reservoir Wildlife Area.

“In general it looks like a pretty average year,” said Budeau. “Hunters should expect to find some birds out there and have a good year.”

Seasons

Pheasants (rooster)

Statewide: Oct. 6 – Dec. 13, 2012

California (Valley) Quail

Western Oregon: Sept. 1 – Jan. 31, 2013

Umatilla and Morrow counties: Oct. 6 – Dec. 31, 2012

Remaining Eastern Oregon counties: Oct. 6 – Jan. 31, 2013

Chukar

Umatilla and Morrow counties: Oct. 6 – Dec. 31, 2012

Remaining Eastern Oregon counties: Oct. 6 – Jan. 31, 2013

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife offices

Ontario: 541-889-6975

Hines: 541-573-6582

Prineville: 541- 447-5111

Bend: 541- 388-6363