Abstract
Call counts and brood counts are frequently used to evaluate Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) populations and to forecast harvest. Given the variability commonly observed in these counts, I evaluated their utility in performing these functions in the state of Washington. Pheasant harvest, call counts, and brood counts have all declined in Washington State since 1982. Power for detecting trends in call counts was higher than for brood counts, but substantial sampling was required to reliably detect even large changes in the short term (e.g., power = 0.9 for a 40% decline between 2 years with 12 routes). Brood counts predicted harvest with greater precision than did call counts, but predictions were meaningful only at the statewide scale (i.e., not for counties or major river basins). This was true for predicting total harvest and relative harvest (high, medium, or low).
Recommended Citation
Rice, Clifford G.
(2003)
"Utility of pheasant call counts and brood counts for monitoring population density and predicting harvest,"
Western North American Naturalist: Vol. 63:
No.
2, Article 4.
Available at:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/wnan/vol63/iss2/4