OCR Text |
Show Winter feeding of game birds After each heavy snowfall, the Division of Fish and Game receives many inquiries from persons concerned about the welfare of upland game birds. Pheasants and quail are the game birds for which concern is most often expressed. These birds have a high annual reproductive re-productive rate and also a high annual mortality. The number of pheasants or quail in a population is primarily dependent upon reproductive success during the spring nesting season, and reproductive reproduc-tive compensate for unusually high losses from severe winter weather or other causes. Feeding of wildlife in winter is one of the oldest and most discussed problems in game lanagement Most conserva tion agencies agiee that: winter win-ter feeding is neither biologically biologi-cally sound nor economically feasible. Most game birds are able to feed for themselves during the winter if they have suitable suit-able habitat. Winter lasses of game birds are always greatest great-est in poor or marginal habitat. habi-tat. Winter feeding, even in good habitat, causes concentrations concen-trations of birds which exposes expos-es them to predators and facilitates fac-ilitates the spread of disease. The best evidence that win-' win-' 'te feeding is unnecessary is the fact that the pheasant population in Utah has survived sur-vived for several decades without an artificial feeding program. In localized areas, populations have diminished over the years, but this is attributable at-tributable to deterioration of the habitat Game birds are a product of their habitat and are limited by its quality. To increase their abundance, we must improve im-prove their habitat. |