WDFW and game birds

[Intruder]

Growing up in Colfax and belonging to a farming family, I would have to strongly disagree with lack of habitat, 10 dollar wheat, etc as exuses for lack of birds in Whitman.  In 1994, there was very little CRP in Whitman county - the amount of CRP cover that we have today is 10 fold what we had 10 or 11 years ago.  We had 10 dollar wheat for one year - have you looked at recent wheat prices?  I can also tell you that very little CRP came out to plant crop!  Farmers could barely afford to plant the fall crop this year with inflated diesel and fertilizer costs.  The harsh winter and wet spring are the reasons you are not seeing birds.  Three years ago was the best pheasant year we ever had.  You would see 500 birds a day easy on our place.  This year you will be lucky to see 40.  This is not from overhunting or lack of habitat - we allow very limited hunting and the habitat was outstanding this year with the wet spring.  My

Your facts are spot on correct in respect to the amount of CRP and certainly the market influences on farming.  However, there is one aspect to the whole CRP scenario that I've seen in Eastern WA, it is by and large very poor quality habitat for pheasant nesting and wintering.  Also, the quality of CRP varies drastically state by state.  There also seems to be major differences in how it is managed.  CRP fields that aren't managed tend to hold fewer and fewer birds year after year.  Those that have regular management maintain their levels.  

For pheasants, the wintering and nesting habitat is where the rubber meets the road and that's why there's such inconsistencies in E. WA.  When you compare habitat in the states that have huge numbers of pheasants like MT and SD, the abundance of thick heavy wintering/nesting habitat is astounding.  Couple that with higher quality CRP and the effects are easy to see.   

[bobcat]

You dont know much about sustaining a good Elk heard do you bobcat.........dont feed them = dont hunt them. 

Sure I do. If they had good habitat and good winter range that man hadn't converted to housing and crops, then they wouldn't need to be fed. Do you realize not all states have to feed their elk? How do you think elk survived the winters before we got here?

[270Shooter]

Bobcat, if we didn't feed the elk at cowiche, tieton, and oak creek I would have elk living in my yard every winter. Which would be cool. But many people would not like it and there would be alot of dead elk. Hit by cars shot by farmers who have orchards ect... We have a small orchard and if elk got into it our trees would be ruined . Our elk herds would be much smaller if we didn't feed the elk. I agree though that feeding elk is not the best thing for them but now we have to because washington simply isn't big enough to support winter range for a herd as large as the yakima herd.

[bobcat]

270Shooter, I understand and agree completely with everything you say.

[hornhunter]

What states dont have Elk feeding programs?      How many of those states have you hunted in?  Im not here to argue this issue, Im here talking about wild birds that need a little help with some winter feed from the state.   Like the Elk need to be fed, the birds need to be fed as well.  ALOT less money in feed goes alot further with the birds.  I was just a little bummed on the condition and the obvious neglect of the feeders along the Columbia river.

[fishunt247]

hornhunter,
By just volunteering to manage a feeder or two, the state should give you feed. My dad and I help manage a feeder for turkeys outside of yakima, and all we do is drop by the game dept to pick up the 50lb sack. Give it a try.

[hornhunter]

fishhunt

I think that sounds like a great idea.  I will look into that.  Ill continue to look for hurting feeders the rest of the season. 

[guyg]

For nesting and reproduction, some years are good, some years are bad. This year, not so good.
For habitat, in dryland areas, things are worse than the 60's-early 70's, when all the fencerows were in. Things are better than the late 80's-90's, when everybody plowed and farmed everything.

In irrigated ground, frankly, given the chemigation programs and the practices of industrial agriculture, it's amazing anything is alive.

Wild bird production went gunnybag the year the idiout legislator from Gig Harbor decided that pheasant release as practiced on the west side should be done statewide. After that, all the funding left the wild bird program, and now they release prison raised birds. In western WA, so be it. In eastern WA, it feeds the coyotes and the hawks.

We could have both, but we won't because there isn't enough money for both and the majority of W.Washington hunters want release programs in Eastern Wa. Look at where they are.  Yes, they are exactly like planted trout programs, and it is easy to measure performance: raised x birds, deployed x birds, observed y hunters, = x/y birds per hunter. Success.

Promote habitat, access and wild birds through chick raising programs in 4H and other civic clubs along with limited feeding programs, promote ethical hunting and tourism, and all of a sudden it works, the populations become able to naturally survive down condition years, but success is difficult to measure precisely. See turkeys.  Promote hucking chickens out of the back of the truck so prisoners have something to do, and you have what we have.

Promote wild fish and the values that create them, and you have a sustainable fishery.  Promote hatcheries, you have  what we have. Can't wait until they try to fix the "mule deer problem".

I think to fix this minds need to change in the public, the legislature, and the department.


 

[Intruder]

You make some good points Guyg!

[yelp]

GuyG your spot on...The pheasants are prisoners and washington has the death penalty.  Each prisoner has a number too. LOL  Its not hunting..it become killing and it puts a shadow on the sport itself.  I would rather they spend my money on habitat development and hunting access.  I want them to spend more money also working with private lands and enhancing them.  That is how you build wildlife populations.  CRP influenced thousands of acres in Eastern Washington and has created more positive benefits than negative.  Our state loses more habitat every year to development and human encroachment.  Wildlife Areas and DNR plus Federal land is all we have.  Private lands assistance is the only way for us in the future.

[singleshot12]

For nesting and reproduction, some years are good, some years are bad. This year, not so good.
For habitat, in dryland areas, things are worse than the 60's-early 70's, when all the fencerows were in. Things are better than the late 80's-90's, when everybody plowed and farmed everything.

In irrigated ground, frankly, given the chemigation programs and the practices of industrial agriculture, it's amazing anything is alive.

Wild bird production went gunnybag the year the idiout legislator from Gig Harbor decided that pheasant release as practiced on the west side should be done statewide. After that, all the funding left the wild bird program, and now they release prison raised birds. In western WA, so be it. In eastern WA, it feeds the coyotes and the hawks.

We could have both, but we won't because there isn't enough money for both and the majority of W.Washington hunters want release programs in Eastern Wa. Look at where they are.  Yes, they are exactly like planted trout programs, and it is easy to measure performance: raised x birds, deployed x birds, observed y hunters, = x/y birds per hunter. Success.

Promote habitat, access and wild birds through chick raising programs in 4H and other civic clubs along with limited feeding programs, promote ethical hunting and tourism, and all of a sudden it works, the populations become able to naturally survive down condition years, but success is difficult to measure precisely. See turkeys.  Promote hucking chickens out of the back of the truck so prisoners have something to do, and you have what we have.

Promote wild fish and the values that create them, and you have a sustainable fishery.  Promote hatcheries, you have  what we have. Can't wait until they try to fix the "mule deer problem".

I think to fix this minds need to change in the public, the legislature, and the department.


 

You are right on guyg,but the only problem with it is it just makes too much sense.

[fishunt247]

Yeah for washington, we can't make that much sense, especially with our game dept. Perfect though. If only our game dept. had the same ideas.