Thursday, June 08, 2006
Bill Cochran's Outdoors: Hunting propects are promising
Bill Cochran is a Roanoke Times outdoors columnist.
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Look for above average hunting this fall and winter. I know, it is early to make such a prediction, but a bunch of things have lined up to enhance the well being of most wildlife species.
To begin with, the 2005-06 winter was relative mild, with few major snows. What’s more, the mast crop last fall was decent. Put these together -- the absence of harsh winter weather and the abundance of food -- and nearly every species that is hunted comes through the winter in healthy shape. This enhances the weights and reproduction success of wildlife, and, in the case of deer, promotes antler development.
The mild winter meant an early and quick green-up in the spring, a condition that benefits most wildlife species with shot-in-the arm food supply.
The spring has been dry, too dry, really. But this has meant the absence of long, cold rains that can be catastrophic to young turkey and grouse poults.
The absence of hard freezes this spring should benefit all kinds of seed and mast production, meaning plenty of food this fall. Soft mast species, including blackberries and hawthorns, have experience heavy blooms and young fruit. Flowering on several oak species was heavy.
What is needed now is ample rain to bring mast crops to maturity and to stimulate vigorous growth of cover to help game species find protection from predators.
Here is a species-by-species look at what is happening:
Remember during the spring gobbler season how big the toms were? There were tons of 20-pounders. Well, this means the hens were in good shape, too, thanks to a mild winter, a decent food supply and a quick green-up. Hens that are healthy are better equipped for nesting success. On the downside, March was a tad cold and low temperatures that time of year can delay the onset of breeding and nesting, which can diminish reproduction success.
There was an absence of heavy rainfall during the nesting season. Rain can assist predators in finding nesting hens and it can increase the mortality of poults when they hatch. When you do want some rain is in June, in order to improve habitat quality and insect production. Late May and early June have been extremely dry, and that is starting to impacted habitat quality and could lessen the quality of soft and hard mast.
At this point, there are more positives than negatives for turkeys.
Everything said about turkeys also applies to grouse. Like turkeys, grouse have suffered through a string of poor recruitment years, and the species is due a break.
The deer I am seeing have a sleek, healthy look. When they come through the winter in good condition, the result of mild weather and a decent food supply, the does are equipped to produce larger, healthier fawns and the bucks have more body reserves to put into antler development.
Look for the 2006-07 hunting season to be a year of trophy bucks, especially in areas where the herd is in balance with its food supply and where sportsmen practice quality deer management.
What is needed now is ample rain to provide quality habitat and mast production.
I am seeing and hearing more quail this spring than I have in recent years. Last year pretty much was a silent spring when it came to the call of the Bob White. What quail need now into the summer months is rain to produce lush habitat conditions with plenty of nesting cover and lots of insects for broods. If we get that, we may see more birds than we have in a long while, but populations have fallen too low to expect anything that resembles a return of the good-old days.
Look for an outstanding squirrel season this fall. Squirrels came through the winter in excellent shape meaning they were equipped to bring off healthy litters February through March and the same should be true of July through August. The large number of squirrels being observed dead on roadways is an indication of an overflow population.
If the mast crop is abundant this fall the woods will be alive with squirrels.
The mild winter certainly favored this species. I have been seeing large numbers of rabbits this spring and they are big and healthy. Look for them to take advantage of favorable conditions with their legendary reproductive capabilities. I’ve already observed several sizes of young-of-the year bunnies.
What rabbits need now is more rain to provide escape cover and lots of nutritious green foods. The cover is good now, but continued dry weather could become a negative factor.
These birds have benefited from a mild, mostly snow-free winter. I am observing good numbers of them as they pair up go into their nesting activities. Rain is needed to enhance doves' food supply, which includes weed and grain producing plants.
The blackberry vines are white with blooms, an indicator that bears should find plenty of soft mast to consume this summer. They already have benefited from a mild winter and decent mast crop in 2005. Conditions are prime for Virginia’s growing bear population to climb even higher. I get the feeling that early season bowhunters will score big with bear this fall.
