Hide And Seek Wildlife Refuses To Stand Up And Be Counted By Biologists
Now you don’t see them. Now you still don’t. Biologists are having difficulty forcasting game populations this summer.
A wet spring and summer has provided bountiful cover for upland birds and big-game animals in much of the Inland Northwest. “You can’t count what you can’t see,” said Madonna Luers, Washington Fish and Wildlife Department spokeswoman in Spokane.
The hunting seasons for forest grouse in Idaho and Washington open Friday. Black bear hunting opens Sept. 6 in Eastern Washington and Sept. 15 in North Idaho.
“Grouse numbers don’t look real spotty,” King said. “I always qualify that by noting there’s no practical way for us to do good grouse surveys. But the observations our biologists are making indicate that grouse didn’t have a good year for nesting.”
Those reservations were echoed by Jim Hayden, Idaho Fish and Game Department regional wildlife manager in Coeur d’Alene.
“Brood sizes generally look small for blue, spruce and ruffed grouse,” he said. “This is the third bad year in a row for grouse.”
In good nesting conditions, mountain grouse produce 4-5 chicks per nest. “With all the wet weather of early summer, it seens like the average brood might be closer to one chick,” Hayden said.
Black bear hunters have more reason for optimism. The number of older black bears appears to be growing in North Idaho. Three years ago, the state eliminated bear hunting during the three peak harvest periods - Memorial Day weekend, Labor Day weekend and the opening of elk season.
“Since those season changes went into place, the harvest has declined 30 percent,” Hayden said. “There’s no shortage of bears, except possibly in the Unit 6 area (near St. Maries) were we still might have to make adjustments.”
Eastern Washington has a longer continuous season than North Idaho. However, Washington hunters have stricter regulations on the use of bait.
For instance, bait must be natural and unprocessed. No twinkies. Bait cannot be put afield longer than five days before the season opens. Statewide, hunters killed 1,500 bears in Washington in 1993. Last year, under the new restrictions, the harvest was 1,000. The declines, however, were primarily in Western Washington.
In the 10 easternmost counties, hunters killed 413 bears in 1993 and 414 last year.
Despite strict regulation prohibiting baiting and hound hunting, hunters managed to take 45 black bears out of the special Selkirk grizzly bear recovery zone in the northeast portion of Pend Oreille County.
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