Idaho Chukar Numbers Low Again
September 12, 2008
Chukar numbers in Idaho’s most reliable hot spots are low again this year.
Recent aerial counts at Brownlee Reservoir on the Snake River showed chukar numbers below last year’s and only about one-third of the 10-year average. Observers saw 453 birds, compared with last year’s 506 and the 10-year average of 1,325. This was about 38 chukar per square mile; 111.8 birds per square mile is the 10-year average.
The number of groups of chukar is also down from 70 last year to 61 this year. The average is about 107 groups observed. This is the third year in a row of below average chukar populations at Brownlee, dropping sharply from 2005 when the bird count was 2,085, the second-highest on record.
Idaho Fish and Game upland manager Don Kemner said chukars tend to follow a “boom and bust” cycle affected by severe winter snows and spring nesting success. The winter in the Hells Canyon area was heavier than usual and cut into a carryover of birds that was already low last year. Two years of favorable weather could, however, have chukar numbers back up to a level high enough to bring a smile to a pointing dog’s muzzle.
Chukar hunters had an unusually long run of back-to-back good years from the late 1990s through 2005 at Brownlee with birds per square mile figures of 109 to 174.
Lucky Peak chukar numbers show a less sharp decline, though overall populations around the reservoir east of Boise have never approached those of the Snake River canyon. Observers saw 176 birds there this year, compared with a 10-year average of 243. Birds per square mile are 17.6, compared with an average 24.3. Groups per square mile are 1.7 compared with the average of 2.5. Birds in each group, though, are a bit above average at 10.4 compared with an average 10.2.
Farther north in the Clearwater Region, the chukar news is not much cheerier. Big wildfires in chukar habitat there in 2007 then a wet, cool spring kept numbers low. No counts were done in 2006 and 2007 because of a lack of helicopter availability. Bird numbers are down more than one-third from the five-year average.
Observers saw 64 birds per square mile along the Snake and Salmon rivers, down 34 percent from the 96.6 bird average. Groups seen were down 31 percent from 108.8 average to 75. Those groups, however, averaged a little larger than in 2005 and were only off seven percent from the average of 10.8.
The decline was not as steep on a separate Salmon River count area where observers saw 33 birds per square mile, down from 54 in 2005 and 19 percent off the five-year average. Groups seen were down just nine percent. Birds per group were off from 2005 - from 16 to 11 - but that is just 8 percent below average.
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Sockeye Released in Redfish Lake, Hatchery Opens
September 12, 2008
State, federal and Shoshone-Bannock officials released more than 50 adult sockeye to spawn in Redfish Lake Tuesday morning September 2.
Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter and officials with Idaho Fish and Game, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, the Bonneville Power Administration and NOAA Fisheries released the fish as part of the ongoing collaborative effort to ensure the continued existence of sockeye salmon, the first salmon species listed as endangered in 1991.
“This morning we put some red back in Redfish Lake,” said Fish and Game Director Cal Groen at a ceremony at the Eagle Hatchery later that day.
“These fish are so special. They are part of the landscape.”
Later in the day, officials dedicated a new sockeye salmon broodstock facility at Idaho Fish and Game’s Eagle Fish Hatchery. The facility doubles the hatchery’s capacity to maintain adult sockeye broodstock and triples the hatchery’s ability to produce sockeye eggs.
“This is a safety net,” Otter said. “This is an example of the untold good we can accomplish if we come together and set aside our biases and prejudices.”
The building cost nearly $4 million, paid for by Bonneville Power Administration, It is 14,400 square feet and will allow Fish and Game to raise 700 adult brood fish and produce 800,000 to 1 million eggs.
Nathan Small of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes recalls when the red fish of Red Fish Lake was just about extinct and when the tribes filed a petition to list the fish as endangered.
The fate of the fish depends on what states, tribes and federal agencies working together will do.
“The result is we have this place here,” Small said. “This is what we’re going to do with this fish - we’re not going to let it go extinct.”
The new hatchery building is an important part of salmon recovery, BPA Director Steve Wright said.
“But we can’t stop here,” he said. The agency also is working on habitat restoration and downstream survival through the eight federal hydropower dams on the lower Snake and Columbia rivers.
“Something we’re doing in the region is working,” he said, indicating the building holding 549 sockeye in tanks behind him.
The sockeye captive breeding program was started in May 1991, months before the fish was listed in November of that year under the Endangered Species Act.
For more information on the sockeye program visit the Fish and Game Web site at: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/cms/fish/sockeye/
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Error in Idaho Waterfowl Rules Book
September 12, 2008
The single word “not” dropped out of the new 2008 waterfowl hunting rules brochure in a sentence explaining possession limits, creating an error hunters should note.
The sentence should read: A person may not have more than the possession limit, even when such birds are stored at home or being processed at a commercial preservation facility.
Federal rules on waterfowl hunting have traditionally allowed no more than a single possession limit to be kept by any person, regardless of the location of the possessed birds. This rule remains in effect.
Fish and Game regrets the error. The misprint on page 16 of the Idaho rules brochure does not, however, change the rule nor provide an excuse for violation of the waterfowl possession limit.
In addition, to clarify the youth water fowl hunt, the season on canvasback ducks is closed.
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Ask Idaho Fish and Game: Powerbelt Bullets
August 19, 2008
Question. I’m confused about whether the pure lead series of Powerbelt bullets is legal in muzzleloader-only big game hunts. Can you clarify this?
Answer. The current Idaho equipment rules for muzzleloader-only big game hunts require that the weapon be “loaded only with a patched round ball or conical non-jacketed projectile comprised wholly of lead or lead alloy. Sabots are not allowed.” The Idaho Fish and Game Commission and Fish and Game staff have confirmed the plastic gas check on the pure lead series Powerbelt bullet does not meet the definition of sabot - defined as “a sleeve placed around a projectile so that it can be fired from a weapon with a larger bore.” The bullet specifications meet the minimum diameter, lead or lead alloy, and non-jacketed requirements.
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Big Game Rule Book Change For Idaho in 2008
August 19, 2008
The 2008 big game rules brochures looks a little different this year - with some noticeable changes in look and organization.
As the big game hunting seasons open, Idaho Fish and Game reminds hunters of changes that included shifting the order or the content and moved the regional maps and game management units into a separate publication.
Booklets with game management unit descriptions were printed separately and are available at regional offices and license vendors.
Game management unit descriptions are available in the Idaho Game Management Unit Boundaries booklet and on the Fish and Game Website: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/cms/hunt/rules/gameManageUnit.cfm.
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Idaho Fish and Game Hunter Orange Policy
August 19, 2008
The Idaho Fish and Game Commission is considering adopting this policy on the use of hunter orange at the November 5 commission meeting in Lewiston.
The proposed policy is available on the Fish and Game Website at: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/cms/rec_add/. Or contact a local Fish and Game office for a printed copy.
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Coeur D’Alene Lake Kokanee Fishery Closes September 2
August 19, 2008
The Coeur d’Alene Lake kokanee fishery will close effective Tuesday, September 2, after the Labor Day Weekend.
Idaho Fish and Game Director Cal Groen signed the emergency closure order Monday, August 13, requested by Panhandle regional fishery staff.
Recent surveys of the lake showed numbers of adult kokanee destined to spawn this fall are similar to the past two year’s record low numbers.
“Although juvenile abundance is promising, the low number of adult fish once again has Fish and Game and anglers concerned that there won’t be enough spawners to produce next year’s fry if we allow a fishery,” Regional Fishery Manager Jim Fredericks said.
Most kokanee spawn near Higgins Point and Beauty Bay starting in late October or November. The low number of spawners, combined with their relatively large size and tendency to congregate to the north end of the lake in September and October leave them vulnerable to over-harvest.
“The worst case scenario would be to allow excessive harvest on the depressed population and have a year-class failure,” Fredericks said. “That could set kokanee population recovery back by three to four more years.”
On a brighter note, for the second straight year, the surveys revealed improvements in younger kokanee year classes. Two-year-old kokanee improved from about 136,000 fish in 2007 to an estimated 1.7 million in 2008. One-year-old kokanee, which numbered 2.36 million in 2007, continued to improve and were estimated at 3.6 million this year.
“One and two-year-old kokanee are the primary forage for Chinook in Coeur d’Alene Lake,” Fredericks said, “so it’s very encouraging so see that predation on young kokanee seems to be improving.”
Trawl surveys show survival from 1- to 2-year-old fish increased from about 10 percent last year to 74 percent this year.
In addition to the fishery closure, Fish and Game will continue to try to reduce the predation pressure on kokanee by limiting Chinook, and for the third year does not plan to stock hatchery Chinook in the lake next summer.
Fish and Game also will monitor the number of wild Chinook spawning and evaluate whether it will be necessary to try to limit natural reproduction.
Not only do the increased kokanee survival rates indicate that attempts to decrease predation are working, the Chinook fishery seems to be telling the same story. Anglers reported fishing during the Big One Derby was the worst they’ve seen.
“I know this has been extremely frustrating for Chinook anglers,” Fredericks said. “I can only ask that they continue to recognize the importance of restoring the kokanee population before we try to rebuild the Chinook fishery.”
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Waterfowl and Sage-grouse Seasons Set in Idaho
August 19, 2008
The Idaho Fish and Game Commission on Tuesday, August 12, adopted waterfowl and sage-grouse seasons for 2008.
The 107-day goose season, unchanged from last year, will run from October 4 through January 16, 2009 in northern and eastern Idaho and the Fort Hall Reservation; and will run from October 11 through January 23, 2009 in the southwestern part of the state.
The bag limit would be four geese.
For most ducks, the season will be 107 days, running from October 4 through January 16, 2009 in northern and eastern Idaho and the Fort Hall Reservation; and from October 11 through January 23, 2009 in the southwestern part of the state.
The bag limit would be seven ducks.
The season is closed on canvasbacks.
A shorter scaup season will run October 25 through January 16, 2009 in the northern and eastern parts of the state, and from November 1 through January 23, 2009 in the southwest.
A youth waterfowl hunt for goose, duck, coot and snipe will be September 27 and 28. Limits are the same as the regular season. The season on canvasback is closed.
Commissioners also set the seasons for sage-grouse, opening September 20 in:
- Southwestern Owyhee County, 23 day season, two-bird bag limit.
- Northwestern Owyhee County, seven day season, one-bird limit.
- Eastern Owyhee County, closed.
- Magic Valley, seven day season, one-bird limit.
- Parts of Power, Oneida and Cassia counties, seven day season, one-bird limit.
- Most of the Upper Snake Region as well as Lemhi and part of Custer counties, 23 day season, two-bird limit.
- Big Desert area West of Interstate 15 and south of U.S. Highway 20, seven day season, one-bird limit.
- Southeastern part of the state, east of Interstate 15 and south of U.S. Highway 26, closed.
- Please consult the 2008 Waterfowl Seasons and Rules brochure, available later this month, for details on waterfowl seasons. For sage-grouse seasons and rules, a pamphlet also will be available.
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Pronghorn Archery Season Opens Today in Idaho
August 15, 2008
Archery pronghorn season opens Friday, August 15, and continues through September 15. In addition, in many units, archery seasons on mule deer, white-tailed deer and elk open August 30 and run through September.
In the warm weather of summer, hunters should consider the higher country.
Hunters are reminded that archery permits are required. And archers using blinds on federal public lands should consult the big game rules brochure or contact the Bureau of Land Management for the latest rules on hunting blinds on public lands.
For more information and for help with planning hunts, visit the Hunt Planner on the Idaho Fish and Game Website: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/ifwis/huntplanner/.
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Fly Fishing Clinic Planned to Hook Idaho Women Anglers
August 15, 2008
Women interested in the sport of fly-fishing are encouraged to sign up for a clinic designed to introduce the beginner angler to casting techniques, equipment use, knot tying, fly selection, and a personalized fishing experience on a scenic North Idaho river.
The clinic will include two presentations, from 6 to 9 p.m. September 10 and 17, in Lewiston, then an overnight campout and two days of fishing on September 20 and 21.
Sponsored by Kelly Creek Fly Casters and Idaho Fish and Game, the goal is to introduce women to fly fishing by providing them basic information and hands-on experiences. More importantly, the clinic will provide the foundation for women to become outdoor leaders and to develop a network of women with similar interests.
The registration cost is $60 for adults and $20 for young women 12 to 17 years old, which includes a Saturday evening Dutch oven dinner. Fly rods and reels will be provided to those who do not own equipment, but students must bring all other camping gear, meals and waders.
For more information or to register, contact Zack Funkhouser 208-816-8314, or Jill Green 208-798-0215, in the evening. Registration forms are available at the Idaho Fish and Game Office, 3316 16th Street, Lewiston, ID 83501. Space is limited and registration will be first-come-first serve.
A participating parent or guardian must accompany young women who register.
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