Pheasants down slightly; waterfowlers wait for weather

By ROB BREEDING

The Daily Inter Lake

Cool weather may have put off hunters traveling east of the mountains for pheasants on Saturday's opener, but reports indicate that the birds are plentiful.

It was wet and cold for Saturday's opener, resulting in fewer hunters out in the field, said Bruce Auchly, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks regional information officer in Great Falls. But for those hunters willing to brave the elements, time in the field paid off.

"Those that did go out had pretty good success," Auchly said.

Still, bird numbers may be off a little from last season, which was one of the best in recent years.

Rick Wolfe, who works in the gun department at Snappy Sport Senter in Kalispell, said hunters have reported good populations of pheasants in the Conrad area, but that gray partridge and sharp-tailed grouse numbers are down.

Jim Williams, regional wildlife biologist for FWP in Kalispell, spent opening weekend at the top spot for pheasants west of the divide, Ninepipe National Wildlife Refuge.

In all, 354 hunters with 259 pheasants came through the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes check stations on opening day, Williams said. That average of 0.73 roosters per hunter is down slightly from last year.

Williams said he received a lot of positive feedback from hunters on the recent additions to the land open to hunting around Ninepipe. Four hundred acres of prime pheasant habitat has been added in the last five years.

"It was really satisfying to see the use of those lands on opening day," Williams said.

The additions are part of a joint effort by the Mission Valley chapter of Pheasants Forever, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and FWP, Williams said.

Closer to Kalispell, Williams said reports of mountain grouse remain good, with plenty of limits.

Wolfe suggests walking closed roads in the mountains in search of grouse, but plenty of birds are taken by hunters behind the wheel who then chase grouse flushed from along forest roads.

Waterfowl hunting in the Flathead has followed the usual pattern, said Bill Kamps at Sportsman and Ski Haus in Kalispell. Reports from opening day indicate there was good shooting on resident ducks, but that the hunting has since cooled. The next round of good waterfowl hunting will come with colder weather, which pushes northern birds through the Flathead on their migration south for the winter.