Favorable weather gives boost to game bird hunting.

Byline: The Register-Guard

You might say it's for the birds, this upcoming 2003-04 hunting season.

While big game rifle hunters will have their work cut out filling deer and elk tags this fall, there is cause for ample optimism among shotgun hunters.

Upland game bird hunting is expected to be much better than average, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is predicting very good waterfowl numbers in the Pacific Flyway.

"There's more grouse and mountain quail around than we've seen for many years," said Bill Castillo, an ODFW wildlife biologist in Springfield.

"So I'm expecting a pretty good season this year for upland game birds in this area."

The game bird picture, in fact, is bright statewide, according to the ODFW's annual "Fall Hunting Forecast."

Favorable weather conditions allowed early nesting species like chukar, pheasant, grouse and Hungarian partridge hens to produce more and bigger broods.

Meanwhile, quail remain on a four- or five-year run of excellent nesting production.

"Quail just keep getting better and better," said Dave Budeau, upland game bird biologist at ODFW headquarters in Salem. "It's the best upland hunting in the state."

Mountain quail hunters generally have the best success in young timber plantations and clear-cuts, especially on south-facing slopes before the fall rains.

Castillo said blue grouse are available in good numbers at higher elevations of the Cascade and Coast ranges. Hunt around clear-cuts or natural meadows or openings, "especially openings with little patches of trees scattered around in them."

Ruffed grouse, meanwhile, "do best at mid-elevations," Castillo said. "You don't find a lot of them at lower elevations."'

Grouse and mountain quail seasons are already under way and will continue through Jan. 11 in Western Oregon (grouse season east of the Cascades ends Nov. 30).

Upland game bird hunting gets in full swing in mid-October. Chukar and Hungarian partridge season opens Oct. 11, as does mountain quail season in Klamath and Wallowa counties, the only east-side locations where mountain quail hunting is permitted.

Baker and Harney counties and the Hells Canyon drainages in Malheur County had the best chukar nesting success this year, according to the ODFW report. Production was not as good in the lower Deschutes or John Day drainages.

The statewide rooster pheasant season opens Oct. 18, as does hunting of California, or valley, quail west of the Cascades.

Pheasant broods have doubled in the Umatilla District, while populations in most other areas remain comparable to last year, or a little better.

Meanwhile, duck, goose and coot hunters take the field statewide on Oct. 11.

"They're going with another liberal season this year because of good conditions on the northern breeding grounds," Castillo said.

Duck and merganser season in Western Oregon is Oct. 11-Nov. 2 and Nov. 5-Jan. 25. Pintails and canvasbacks, however, may be taken only Oct. 11-19 and Dec. 6-Jan. 25.

Waterfowl hunters have heard optimistic forecasts before, only to find that relatively few ducks and geese migrated as far south as Oregon because winter conditions to the north were too mild to push the ducks southward.

"Waterfowl hunting opportunities are variable, with a lot of different factors affecting distribution," he said. "It's hard to predict what to expect on the local level."

A couple of factors that could impact local hunters include the possibility that Fern Ridge Reservoir might not be allowed to fill completely, due to the need for repairs at the dam. Also, goose hunting opportunities in the Northwest Permit Zone will be down 25 percent, with hunting allowed only three days a week instead of four.

The reduction - along with the elimination of two check stations (including the one at Greenberry, south of Corvallis) - stems from the federal government eliminating the $100,000 annual grant it has paid to support the hunt.

On the other side of the coin, however, populations of resident waterfowl (those that stay here year-round) continue to grow, biologists say.

- Mike Stahlberg

CAPTION(S):

Mountain quail should head a good season for upland game bird hunters.