Harvest

Abstract

Harvest management of upland game birds has evolved from restrictions on harvest seasons and release of captive-reared birds toward a scientific approach based on the demographic concepts of compensatory versus additive mortality. Modern harvest strategies are based on an adaptive approach of establishment of population goals, designing hunting seasons to meet those goals and implementing a monitoring system to reduce uncertainty. Market hunting of Lesser Prairie-Chickens ( Tympanuchus pallidicinctus) was common in the late 1800s and contributed to population declines that resulted in halting commercial harvest of the species by the early 1900s. Sport harvest of Lesser Prairie-Chickens was characterized by wide deviations in season dates, length, and bag limits within and among states. Extreme fluctuations in population densities of Lesser Prairie-Chickens due to annual variation in environmental conditions resulted in a series of closed and open seasons that were based on anecdotal perceptions of abundance up until the mid-1960s, followed by stabilization of harvest regulations until the late 1990s, and then closure to harvest to protect remaining populations. Sport harvest is not considered to be an important impact on the population demography of Lesser Prairie-Chickens but all states closed sport harvest of the species between 1996 and 2014. Reasons for closures included concerns about low population numbers, consideration of listing the species as state threatened, and official listing of the species as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act in 2014. Lesser Prairie-Chickens have the ability to quickly respond to improved environmental conditions if quality habitat is available, and sport harvest could be reinstated if population recovery eventually exceeds stated goals for population numbers. In the future, an adaptive approach to harvest management could be used to reduce uncertainty regarding the influence of sport harvest on population demography of Lesser Prairie-Chickens.