NORTH DAKOTA OUTDOORS MAGAZINE

Welcome News as Bird Number Climb

Ron Wilson

Last winter was hard on some of our big game species. The difficulty of dealing with feet of snow on the landscape for six months in places is reflected, for example, in the reduction of nearly 11,000 deer gun licenses compared to 2022.

This fallout is not a whodunnit. It’s not a mystery why an untold number of animals starved or died of exposure. What’s puzzling, but certainly welcome news, is how well North Dakota’s upland birds – some native to the Northern Plains, others not – fared, considering the unfriendly circumstances.

So, what the heck?

“Just how birds survived such a tough winter, especially pheasants, is one of the big questions we’ve had from people. And, you know, it’s OK to say we don’t exactly know how or why,” said Rodney Gross, North Dakota Game and Fish Department upland game management biologist. “But, we do have a few ideas based on past tough winters.”

Gross said it’s easy to compare last winter to the winter of 1997 because that was the last time North Dakota had over 100 inches of snow on the ground in places.

“The difference in those two winters is that last winter we didn’t have those prolonged 40 below temperatures that North Dakota is famous for,” he said. “And last winter we had a good warmup in January and there were some areas that cleared. So those birds, not just pheasants, could get out there, pluck around and dig up some food. Even though it was a long winter, they came through and we had a good population, good production last year, so we had kind of an excess of birds to pull through the winter.”

Also, the northwest didn’t have the snow central North Dakota had, so not everywhere was as severe, Gross added.

Heading into spring, Gross expected his pheasant crowing count runs to be mostly quiet. The noise he did expect was from his phone as people called in to report dead pheasants and other grassland birds.

Group of pheasants in winter with snowy background

Nonnative ringnecked pheasants battle the elements thrown at them last winter.

“I know that sharp-tailed grouse and Hungarian partridge can winter better than pheasants, but we still had 100 inches of snow on the ground and that’s brutal,” he said. “But I guess pheasants are tougher than I give them credit for. I wasn’t as worried about grouse because they can burrow in the snow and stuff, but I was still pretty worried.”

At times last winter, the landscape, especially in central North Dakota, looked like the surface of the moon. You couldn’t see the top of the grass. Stubble fields were buried, and it was a wonder what pheasants were eating to get by. And with cattail sloughs packed with snow, where were birds hunkering to endure the elements?

“Thankfully, they have wings and can fly, without expending too much energy, to get to where they needed to go to feed,” Gross said, “while deer and pronghorn had to trudge through all that snow, and if they weren’t anywhere close to where there was winter food, they were in big trouble. And considering that we got so much snow in early November, a lot of the deer weren’t necessarily in their winter ranges yet.

“Pheasants, on the other hand, they’re basically there in November. They’re grouped up. Even when we’re getting into October, they’re in their winter groups. They’re by those cattails and places like that and they’re set to go for winter, which is an advantage they have,” he added. “On my drives to work a lot of mornings I’d pass pheasants and a lot of times all I would see was a tail feather sticking up out of the snow because they were burrowing down into the wheat stubble field getting that food. They’re a lot more resilient than we give them some credit.”

It wasn’t until mid- to late May that Gross knew by looking at the pheasant crowing count data rolling in that things were going to be better than just OK.

“About that time, everyone has two crowing count runs in already, and I’m looking at the data, comparing, and thinking in my head, that even on my run, I think I heard more than I did last year,” Gross said. “And you go back and look and see that was indeed the case. And then you look at other people’s and I’m finding increases. If I were a betting man going into spring, I would have a lot less money because I wouldn’t have bet this would have been the case.”

Another thing Gross wouldn’t have bet on is the continued rise of Hungarian partridge. The last two to three years he said talk was that it was unlikely that partridge numbers would get any better that they were then.

“Well, they proved us wrong, and they did better again this year. Partridge numbers are tied with an all-time high, dating all the way back to 1991,” Gross said. “I think we need to start telling people if partridge are on their bucket list, it’s time to come to North Dakota because it shouldn’t get much better. Like I said, we’ve been saying it wasn’t going to get any better, but here we are.”

Huns respond best, Gross said, during drier conditions, and these birds started their rebound in 2020, a drought year.

“Partridge nest later in the season compared to sharptails and pheasants. So, we’re getting into July where their peak hatch is, and what happens during a drought, a grasshopper explosion. Well, it’s pretty simple, when you hatch and you don’t have any insects to eat, you’re not going to survive. But if you hatch during a locust plague, you’re golden,” he said. “There’s food everywhere, and when you can have a clutch of 20 as partridge can and your survival is going to be that good, it doesn’t take very long in the numbers game for the population to come back up.”

Upland Game Bird Survey

North Dakota’s roadside surveys conducted in late July and August indicate pheasant, Hungarian partridge and sharp-tailed grouse numbers were up.

Sharp-tailed grouse

Rodney Gross, state Game and Fish Department upland game biologist, said survey conditions were exceptional this year, which might have led to increased observations, but survey conditions shouldn’t have large effects on brood sizes or age ratios, which were also up.

Hunters, he said, should expect to find similar or higher numbers than last year, with good numbers of hatch-year birds in their bags.

Total pheasants observed (65 per 100 miles) are up 61% from last year and broods (7.5) per 100 miles are up 70%. The average brood size (6.3) is up 2%. The final summary is based on 282 survey runs made along 100 brood routes across North Dakota.

Observers in the northwest counted 13.5 broods and 113 pheasants per 100 miles, up from 11 broods and 96 pheasants in 2022. Average brood size was six.

Results from the southeast showed 5.4 broods and 49 pheasants per 100 miles, up from five broods and 29 pheasants in 2022. Average brood size was six.

Statistics from southwestern North Dakota indicated 9.8 broods and 86 pheasants per 100 miles, up from five broods and 48 pheasants in 2022. Average brood size was six chicks.

The northeast district, generally containing secondary pheasant habitat with lower pheasant numbers compared to the rest of the state, showed one brood and seven pheasants per 100 miles, compared to two broods and 18 pheasants last year. Average brood size was five.

Gross said sharptails had above average production and have rebounded back to the good years of 2011-15. He said hunters should expect to find a good ratio of hatch-year grouse in 2023. Much of the increase in sharptail observations was driven by a rebounding population in the southwest district.

Sharptails observed per 100 miles are up 116% statewide. Brood survey results show observers recorded 2.6 broods and 29 sharptails per 100 miles. Average brood size was six.

Partridge observed per 100 miles are up 200%. Observers recorded 2.4 broods and 36 partridge per 100 miles. Average brood size was 11.

Generally, Gross said, most of the partridge harvest is incidental while hunters pursue grouse or pheasants. But this year, partridge numbers looked impressive, as for the first time more partridge were observed than sharptails on brood routes.

Return to North Dakota Outdoors October 2023 Edition