2013-14 NEVADA CHUKAR HUNTING FORECAST

How NDOW Surveys Chukar

The Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) began aerial chukar density surveys in 1975 with the use of a helicopter. Modifications were made over a ten year period and the survey methodology can be considered consistent since 1986. There are 13 survey plots, or transects, that have been surveyed since then and care is taken to survey these transects in the same fashion each year. These transects are flown in a grid pattern where the aircraft flies up a drainage, fairly close to the ground, and down the adjacent ridge. Biologists record the number of birds observed with care not to double count coveys. Statistical applications show that biologists usually observe about 1/3 of a population in any given survey plot. Additionally, the reliability of a count is estimated to be about 70%. This means that if a biologist counts 100 birds per square mile in a study area, the actual number of birds would likely be between 210 and 390 birds, 95% of the time.

Chukar Biology
Gender Distinction Determining male from female chukar is not an easy task, even for experienced persons. Some would quickly point to the 1 presence of a metatarsal spur as the distinguishing characteristic, but these are present on both sexes and Christiansen (1954 ) determined that this could not be used with full confidence. Overall size may be a consideration, but for juvenile birds noticeable 2 differences may not be evident. Cunningham (1959 ) provided six characteristics that could be considered: 1) males tend to be larger and blockier, 2) the bill and tarsus of the male tends to be a brighter orange than the female, 3) the bill and tarsus are larger and heavier on males; 4) the metatarsal spur is more prominent on male birds; 5) the throat patch enclosed by the black mask appeared more buffy in males; and 6) the gray superciliary line appeared lighter and extended higher up on the crown on males. Aside from these characteristics, the most reliable method is the examination of internal organs. Fall Food Items 3 Fall food items found in 105 Nevada chukar crops from 1961-1965 (from Weaver and Haskell, 1967 ) (for those items 1% by volume)
Food Item Plants (seeds unless specified otherwise)
Cheatgrass (leaves and stems) Cheatgrass Fiddleneck Fiddleneck (leaves and stems) Lithophragma sp. (roots) Curly dock Sunflower sp. Rye brome Red-stem filaree

Percent by Occurence
29.5 64.8 16.2 5.7 20.0 7.6 6.7 4.8 9.5 29.5 6.7 10.5 12.4

Percent by Volume
25.0 24.9 7.7 2.7 4.2 4.2 3.8 3.5 1.6 6.4 2.3 1.3 1.0

AnimalsGrasshoppers Scales Rodent feces Ants

For more information on chukar, please see The Chukar Partridge by Glen Christensen (1970) available on the NDOW website at http://www.ndow.org/hunt/resources/ or Chukar in The Birds of North America, Number 258 (1996).

2013 Survey Results Aerial chukar density surveys were conducted from August 19-22, 2013 which was the same week of August that these surveys were conducted in 2012. Weather conditions were considered adequate across all transects with temperatures in the low to mid 90s and mild winds; however, a noticeable amount of smoke was experienced on several transects stemming from wildfires burning in California. The overall average number of birds observed per square mile across all transects was 41. This represents a 35% decrease from the 2012 average and an 18% decrease from the long term average of 49 birds per square mile. Even though this suggests that overall bird numbers are down, most biologists reported at least some reproduction observed during the surveys, which was a bit of a contrast from the 2012 surveys where very little to no production was noted. 2013-14 CHUKAR HUNTING Although fall conditions in 2012 likely benefitted chukar by providing much needed green-up of forbs and grasses, December snowstorms brought some heavy snowpack that forced chukar to lower elevations where food sources were scarce. This coupled with weeks of very cold temperatures where inversions lingered well into January likely led to some winter mortality. February and March were relatively dry months in 2013 with some improvement in April in May, but likely not enough to set the stage for good production and chick recruitment overall. A few areas experienced some localized storm events which positively influenced production, while others areas that did not experience these storms may have also had good production for which there may be no good explanation. Go figure! Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, the overall outlook for the 2013-14 chukar season is poor to fair with a few bright spots. Chukar hunters will likely experience fewer coveys and smaller covey sizes this year, which will create some frustration. Hunters may experience better success by moving to an adjacent mountain range if they are not finding birds. As an example, i t

appears from this survey that the Pine Forest Range experienced fair to good production while the Jackson Mountains survey revealed poor production and low bird numbers. This is ironic in that the two ranges are separated by only eight miles at certain points. Similarly, observed chukar densities in the Selenite Range were well above long term averages for that particular range while the east Granite Range transect was below average. In terms of potential places to avoid, biologists observed that survey plots that experienced an extensive amount of wildfire in the past had relatively low bird numbers, especially compared to historical figures. Transects in the Argenta Rim, Izzenhoods and Rock Creek reflected this. Habitat conditions and water availability were considered poor in the Double H Range while the Jacksons Mountains and Lava Beds had poor water availability compared to past years. While our aerial density surveys cover a representative portion of traditional chukar habitat and hunting areas in Nevada, there are certainly other locations that support the species and where biologists have captured relevant biological information. For example, limited brood surveys conducted in Churchill County, also a popular chukar hunting area, indicated 5.0 chicks per hen. Although this is not particularly great, this level of production should stabilize the population. Brood surveys conducted in adjacent Mineral County were much more positive as 10.2 chicks per adult were recorded. This should lead to some moderate to good chukar hunting opportunities for those familiar with Mineral County mountain ranges. Of interest, a few survey plots showed noticeable numbers and production of California quail. The number and size of California quail coveys in the Granites and Santa Rosa survey plots were somewhat impressive while chukar numbers did not necessarily correlate to these observations.

Aerial Chukar Density Survey Survey Plots (1990-2012)

Birds Observed per Square Mile
Year 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 08 09 10 11 12 13 Min Max Avg Double H 62 23 26 6 21 32 18 32 18 77 39 81 32 49 62 59 49 36 6 105 43 Santa Rosa 76 51 40 6 13 17 20 11 45 102 59 85 61 41 87 37 33 44 3 102 39 Pine Forest 57 59 90 51 80 41 61 44 59 81 130 61 195 109 108 89 136 40 195 81 Jacksons 168 134 76 42 66 55 54 109 140 258 156 109 15 82 56 130 47 18 15 258 99 Sonoma 64 3 2 7 18 19 34 37 125 49 31 112 104 66 167 150 58 2 167 57 Lava Beds 47 26 14 16 37 57 52 61 125 44 41 60 70 46 129 77 49 14 129 54 Selenite 8 7 7 6 11 11 5 11 25 17 31 33 21 31 103 25 49 5 103 24 Buffalo 35 46 41 4 22 23 62 31 67 46 32 70 58 76 77 29 4 77 45 Granites 17 23 41 0 6 9 32 53 51 41 100 49 35 66 54 57 33 0 100 37 Argenta 69 33 25 20 20 62 26 26 46 48 37 35 9 28 40 62 33 17 9 95 39 Izzenhood Rock Creek 115 56 36 27 86 68 97 54 39 74 92 56 39 21 46 48 87 17 17 127 62 Sheep Creek Overall Average 65 42 36 17 33 34 38 41 46 87 56 62 44 57 57 82 62 41 9 87 49

23 23 16 15 11 13 6 11 23 25 32 37 59 59 19 6 59 25

17 28 29 18 42 58 112 53 58 3 7 17 37 38 23 3 112 36

Chukar Density Index in Relation to Annual Precipitation

100 Average # of Chukar per Sq. Mile 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 96 97 98 99 00 01 08 09 10 11 12 13

Nevada Chukar Harvest and Density Index 1990-2013 16

Average Annual Precipitation 120,000 100,000 80,000 Harvest 60,000 40,000 20,000 0 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 08 09 10 11 12 13

100 90 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Chukar Harvest Avg. Harvest Index Count Avg.

Index (or Density) of Birds

14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Avg. Annual Precipitation Index Count Avg.

80

Literature Cited 1 Christensen, Glen C. 1954. The chukar partridge in Nevada, Bio. Bul. No. 1, Nevada Fish and Game Comm., 77pp.
2

Cunningham, Earnest B. 1959. Influence of variable diets and time of hatch on development and age determination of the chukar partridge. Final report. PR project W-50-R-8. Wyoming Game and Fish Comm., 98pp.

Weaver, Harold and William L. Haskell. 1967. Some fall foods of Nevada chukar partridge. J. Wild. Mgt. 31(3): 582-584.