Pheasant Season Longer In North Idaho This Year

For the first time in several years, North Idaho gunners will hunt pheasants through the end of December.

The Idaho Fish and Game Commission, in response to requests, extended the season despite some opposition from a few landowners and hunters who thought too many pheasants would be shot.

To assure hunters and others that the pheasant population wouldn’t be decimated, the Fish and Game Department included an explanation of the commission’s actions in the upland game bird pamphlet.

The reason given, in a nutshell, is that every rooster pheasant shot by a hunter is one less bird that will die from something else. Wildlife biologists have come to this conclusion after considering several facts backed by research:

Only male pheasants are shot.

One male can successfully fertilize at least 10 females.

Two-thirds of the roosters alive at the beginning of a season will be dead by the next year whether the birds are hunted or not.

This year’s limit will be three cocks a day, with six in possession after the first day.

Although pheasants apparently did well during the nesting season, biologists are not ready to predict good hunting for this fall. They note that the broodstock population in North Idaho early this year was small.

The best that Idaho hunters can expect is fair to good hunting, depending on where they hunt. The most productive areas are in the farming areas of Benewah and Latah counties of the Panhandle and the farming areas near Lewiston. There are some fairly good spots in Kootenai County.

Biologists believe blue and ruffed grouse are plentiful enough in North Idaho for fairly good hunting this fall. Because many hunters, if not the majority, shoot grouse only when they’re hunting deer and elk, grouse hunting isn’t as popular as it is in Eastern Washington.

Partridge and quail hunting should be good. Surveys have indicated that chukar partridges, thanks to mild, dry weather during their nesting season, did well along the Snake, Clearwater and Salmon rivers.

“Chukars are still not at the level they were during the late 1980s and early 1990s,” said Jay Crenshaw, wildlife manager for the Lewiston region of the Idaho Fish and Game Department. “But there are plenty of birds for those who like to hunt them.”

Like partridges, quail did well during the nesting season. Although this won’t be one of the best years for hunting the little birds, it should be good in those areas where quail hunting is allowed.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: North Idaho bird seasons Pheasant: Oct. 12-Dec. 31. Daily limit, three cocks. Partridge: Sept. 21-Dec. 31. Daily limit, eight. California quail: Closed in northern five counties, open Sept. 21-Dec. 31 from Latah and Clearwater counties south. Daily limit, 10. Forest grouse: Sept. 1-Dec. 31. Daily limit, four.