A perfect storm?

[quail hound]

With all the heavy early rain the green up is coming along great. That coupled with this new storm, things are shaping up for another banner upland season. Last year I witnessed triple hatches from our valley quail and juvenile mountain quail during early season led me to believe they had a possible double hatch. I also think the chukar and pheasants should also hatch nicely if things keep up this way and we don't get any bad storms once broods hit the ground. Here is hoping for a great hatch.:thumbsup::cheers:

 

[bobeyerite]

Yes, Quail, are the only game bird that has more than 1 hatch per year. It sure would be nice if the other birds you mentioned did the same thing. Here in Washington they would be very welcome to our low populations...........Bob

 

[Preston1]

Yes, Quail, are the only game bird that has more than 1 hatch per year. It sure would be nice if the other birds you mentioned did the same thing. Here in Washington they would be very welcome to our low populations...........Bob

If weather conditions are right and moisture and nutrients are available (green vegetation and insects) wild pheasants will have a second hatch, it has been well documented.

Fifty or more years ago before radio-telemetry (radio-tagged hens) the "second hatch" was a big debate. Radio-telemetry proves that it does happen, but it is rare and the conditions must be right.

The second hatch or "Double-Brooding" is rare, but it has been documented in two publications. I will give the two references just for back ground information.

1. "A Natural History of the Pheasant" by Peter Robertson. Read page 66 of that book and the author explains that in areas of the world where spring starts early and summers are long and mild a second hatch can occasionally happen. A Danish biologist in New Zealand (using radio-tagged hens) found that hens can very occasionally rear two broods in a single year.

2. "Experimental Pheasant Restoration Project" Go to page 49 of that study under the Nesting section. Two radio tagged hens in the wild in that study produced a second brood after successfully hatching the first nest.

Texas panhandle farms have for years said that their pheasants have a second hatch, in wet grassy summers. But in dry years (like 2008 poor dry land wheat) poor hatch or no hatch at all.
2010 was an El nino year in Texas wet snowy winter and wet spring (when I say wet not the kind of wet that drowns chicks but the wet that produces green vegetation and insects).The panhandle wheat was tall and green (lot of vegetation) in late March with warm weather in March and April. The wheat was not cut until mid June.
The hen pheasants could have easily hatched a brood by the first week of May 2010.


Main point, the second hatch for pheasants is rare but when conditions are right it can happen.

 

[bobeyerite]

You hit the nail on head in your #1. A hen must be totally free of her first hatch before she will even consider a second. Most second hatches happen when disaster kills the first. The hen will then produce a replacement hatch. If the hen has just 1 chick from the 1st hatch to care for, she will not have a second.
What I meant in my 1st. Post. Most game birds other than the quail do not routinely have a second hatch. The only reason a quail has a second and sometimes a 3rd hatch. Is she hatches the eggs and gives the newborn chicks to the male. The males cares for them from birth until they can care for themselves. After the eggs are hatched the hen is then free to go find another male and have a 2nd or 3rd hatch.........Bob

 

[moellermd]

Ah the great second hatch debate.

 

[quail hound]

Ah the great second hatch debate.

I wasn't trying to start a debate, just hoping for another good hatch.:thumbsup: I think debates are good though, as long as they are kept civil.

 

[bobeyerite]

I agree with you QH, We here in the west could some good hatches of all Upland birds. Our Quail are dying off faster than they can reproduce. It is sad to see and the DFG as far as I know are only worried about the Salmon runs..........Bob

 

[quail hound]

You are right on Bob. Our dfg fails to see the the great resource that upland hunters provide to them. Every year they sell something like 600,000 licenses and upland stamps before our early dove opener, which is the biggest hunting day of the year down here. Many of these licenses are only used for that 1 day. Not to mention all the shells shot on opening day. Just that one day we are talking serious revenue. Where does that money go? We have some spots that hold great potential for pheasants but they are managed for waterfowl with little or no thought for nesting cover for pheasants. I watch my favorite quail spot deteriorate year after year from over grazing and no work on early successional habitat. They put in water guzzlers to close to existing water supplies that have water even in the driest years and forget the coveys on the hill who will have to travel close to a mile in dry years to use this water. They've let over grazing of our sage flats on public land all but end hunting of what used to be a healthy sage grouse population. They put a halt to the clear cutting in our forrests which has had a negative effect on blue grouse and mountain quail in the sierras. I could go on and on. The only birds who are immune to dfg short sight are the chukar and ptarmigan, sometimes "out of sight out of mind" is a good thing.