Two seasons for bird hunters
Upland game bird hunters have two seasons every year — the fall hunting season and the summer worrying season.
Right now is the time to worry. Did the Memorial Day weekend snow hurt nesting birds? What about that hail a week ago? When and how often will game birds renest?
Most Montana upland bird hunters look past the mountain grouse species and pay scant attention to sage grouse. Rather, they focus on Hungarian partridge, sharp-tailed grouse and ring-necked pheasants; or simply Huns, sharpies and pheasants.
In June, all three of these prairie birds usually hatch their eggs, and their success is largely weather dependent. That means bird hunters worry a lot about the weather, over which they have no control.
The belief in bird hunting circles is that pheasants will renest several times if a nest fails for whatever reason, but Huns and sharptails will not. That’s not quite true, however.
First, a look at Huns, the least managed of the upland prairie birds. Wildlife biologists count sharptails on their spring leks, or mating grounds. And some biologists travel prescribed routes each spring, tallying male pheasants crowing.
But Huns? They are left on their own and do quite nicely, thank you. Huns begin nesting in mid-April, with the peak of nest starts in mid-May. Each nest holds an average of 15 eggs. Hatching begins about June 1, with the peak of hatching during the third and fourth weeks of June.
For those folks worried about a late May or mid-June deluge, here is the important part: Huns will renest if a nest is destroyed or abandoned early in the nesting cycle.
As for sharptails, nesting runs from mid-May to mid-June, with an average of 12 eggs per nest, which hatch 23-24 days after incubation begins. So for birds to hatch June 7, for example, the hen had to start incubating them about May 15. Again, contrary to some beliefs, sharptails will renest if the nest fails early in the nesting cycle.
Finally there are pheasants, the bird that upland bird hunters seek by a wide margin, typically two or even three to one. Pheasants typically have 10-12 eggs per nest with an incubation period of 23 days.
If the nest fails or is abandoned, the hen will try to renest again, and even, occasionally, a third time. It all depends on how close the eggs are to hatching. Sometimes this results in very late nests, which is why we occasionally see small pheasants without any color on opening day — this year Oct. 6.
While all three upland bird species will renest, none will do so after the eggs hatch. That means, going back to worries about the weather, a spring snowstorm is not as bad as a July hailstorm. Eggs that have not hatched may be replaced by a new nest. But chicks that die from a wet, cold snap in June or a summer hailstorm will not be replaced that year.
Another thing about renesting — the number of eggs in the second or even third nest will usually be fewer than the first attempt. And the later in the summer chicks hatch, the less their chance of survival by the fall.
So if worrying gets you through the summer, go ahead. It’s still many weeks till the fall bird hunting season.
Bruce Auchly is the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 4 information officer.