Hungarian Partridge – Wish they were still around.

I really miss the Hungarian Partridge. The last time I saw a covey was on a remote corner of my uncle’s farm near Canby, MN about 12 years ago. We did not shoot at them all season as my uncle was concerned then that they were disappearing. He was right.

There are a couple of questions here.

1. Is anyone still seeing huntable numbers in MN? I’m not trying to horn in on your hunting, just wondering if there are still huns anywhere in decent numbers? If so, what are the characteristics of the area?

My father grew up in ND and he said in the 1950s there were more huns than pheasants in some areas, mainly due to the small grain farming that is now almost extinct in MN. He also speculates that there may have been some kind of ideal nesting cover as well?

2. Has anyone tried to raise and re-introduce huns to an area? Is rearing huns especially difficult and/or are the survival rates for chicks very low?

I was thinking of doing a little science experiment and maybe raising 100 or so for release. If nothing else, the kids would LOVE it. I understand that released birds are a low survival business in general, but over the long haul if a few covies could get established, it would be just fantastic.

Grouse

They are a cool little Bird. Like you I wish there were still more of them around ( here in Minnesota and elsewhere) The last time I saw any of them was in ND while goose hunting about 10 years ago. This was North of Devils lake. We did manage to harvest 4 or 5 out of the large covie we saw. That was the last time I’ve seen one. I did have a friend who did raise around 50 of them many years ago. If I remember correctly he was rather successful on his survival rate. He raised them in a old grain bin. Once they were ready for release he would just open the opening at the top and allowed the birds to be released as they became strong enough to be able to fly out the top of the bin. He did this with many other game birds over the years – All rather successfully. I believe this release method made sure the flying skills of the birds was a little stronger before the birds were released. We always joked with him that the even if the # of birds in the area were not going up, that the size of the barn cats and yotes in the area sure should be.

I usually get a shot at them every year where I hunt in Iowa. The bird likes droughts. Seeing less is not always a bad thing.

FT, it seems like northern ND and then into the prairie provinces are now the last strongholds of the Huns in North America. I’ve heard Montana also has some in certain areas.

Interesting way of flight conditioning with the grain bin. That would also be a very safe rearing pen.

I agree, predator control would be huge with Huns. AFAIK, they do not tree roost at all, so they are vulnerable 100% of the time unlike pheasants or turkey which can tree roost to escape.

I don’t have high expectations, but would like to give it a try. I think the main limiting factor may be that small grain farming is SO out of style right now in most of MN. It’s now surprising to even see a wheat or rye field, where 40 years ago they were fairly common even in central and SW MN. Overall, I think the food sources will be a big limiting factor.

I was thinking of releasing some Huns near my property where we have alfalfa fields, open pasture, etc and in that area I could just run a feeder for them. But establishing them out west would be a lot more challenging.

Grouse

Probably the main question is: Is your area in Pine County too forested? I’d bet they never naturally spread to that area. Maybe a good starting point is to find out the habitat requirement differences between Huns & sharptail and see where things stand. Sharptail have become pretty sparse in east central MN which may not bode well for success.

I havent seen one while hunting in Iowa for several years. The only place I ever got to shoot any was ND and that was probably 8 years ago. I do remember how good they eat. Like a Grouse only smaller.

Suzuki, do you just hunt the Iowa great lakes area? Winnebago, Hancock, Kossuth, AMD Wright counties are were I see them. I have seen them on christopersons slough complex at the IGL

I have been asking this question for years? What happened to the Hungarian Partridge? Asked Game Biologists and have never received a good answer. In the 70’s they were common in Eastern SD, and you could count on bumping a couple of coveys a day and by the 90’s they had all but disappeared. The NW corner of SD still has Hungarian Partridge and that is the last place that I saw a couple of decent size flocks of the birds. A friend of mine ran into a covey of birds grouse hunting west of Pierre this fall and managed to bag a couple of Huns. I never see them anymore in central SD, they were a fun bird to hunt and good table fare. I would like to see how my GSP would handle them. Western ND and Montana are the last strongholds for the Huns that I am aware of at this time.

I ran into some west of Chamberlain, SD in the fall of 2012. Other than that, I’m not sure if I’ve ever even seen them before.

suzuki wrote:

I havent seen one while hunting in Iowa for several years. The only place I ever got to shoot any was ND and that was probably 8 years ago. I do remember how good they eat. Like a Grouse only smaller.

Actually I think they even eat better than grouse!

I seem to usually see at least one or more small coveys in ND when we pheasant hunt. Have not shot a one in several years.

brad-o wrote:

Suzuki, do you just hunt the Iowa great lakes area? Winnebago, Hancock, Kossuth, AMD Wright counties are were I see them. I have seen them on christopersons slough complex at the IGL

North west mostly. Usually base out of Sac City.

Your answer seems easy:

1) Procure a few hundred acres
2) Plant wheat, rye, etc.
3) Raise and release partridge

Ma and I saw one laying dead on a bridge a week ago. That’s the first sign of a Hunkie I’ve seen in maybe 20 years. I always liked hunting them and as far as food value they beat a ditch chicken hands down.

I saw and shot at a few on the Western edge of McLoed County in the ’70’s and early 80’s.

There was never a large enough population to seriously hunt them more of a pheasant hunting bonus.

Same with the large jack rabbits.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

Same with the large jack rabbits.

I’m a young guy, so I wasn’t alive when you guys say things such as haven’t seen _____ since the 70s or 80s. From what I understand jackrabbits are something that has really gone down in population since then? I have a friend with a ranch near Winner, SD, and they have a huge population of them that we have hunted over the years. Outside of that, I have rarely seen one.

A few years back I saw a jack rabbit run through an industrial park in Anoka county and it sort of freaked me out. I’d never seen a rabbit that big in person!

We used to have a whole bunch of jackrabbits near my office in St Cloud. In the winter they were everywhere. Probably close to a dozen. Now the whole area is built up and I haven’t seen one in 10 years or more.
Regarding Huns, I haven’t flushed one in probably 15 years and that was out in the Montevideo area. The DNR roadside surveys actually noted a sizeable increase in counts Year over Year in the Mankato area. I was talking with a guy from that area and he has been seeing them fairly often.
Fun bird. Never shot one, but have bumped a covey of them multiple times on a given hunt. Heart is pounding just thinking about 20 of those little buggers getting up at once!

A covey flew across the road about 2 weeks ago here in SW Wi. First I’ve seen around here in at least 20 years.

I probably see 4-5 coveys a year during deer season. Always real skittish. I have only bagged one in my life in MN about 25 years ago. We can never get close enough to them it seems.

Grouse great post. Like you I grew up chasing them in my youth and had a blast hunting them. They shared much of the pheasant habitat that has long since been ripped out in favor of farming right to the ditch. I don’t blame the farmers….economics have really driven that practice. Growing up in Steele County they were plentiful in the area and a great bonus bird or two on a days hunt.

Though I don’t hunt pheasant anymore (I need to retire so I have some time to do it again). I drive about 50,000 miles a year and see a handful of coveys each year. I see a couple each year in the rochester area flushing in a ditch and the others are scattered around WI and the dakotas . I feel bad for the kids growing up not even knowing what they are. Sadly if you aren’t in your late 30s or older you probably don’t even know what they are…. Beautiful little game bird!

I used to see them at one farm in particular just north of I-80 near Durant, IA almost every time I hunted there. My GSP even got them to hold for a point in a brushy fence row on an extremely windy day. I have not hunted that farm for about 8 years now. This summer I did see 3 on the edge of a road not far from my home in Cambridge, IL. This was a rare event as I have not seen them around here in many years. I agree they are not as plentiful as they used to be, but neither are pheasants or quail.

Quail have all but disappeared in Iowa just like huns… large patches of CRP don’t benefit these two species like it does pheasants. The best thing for huns and quail are ‘edge’ habitats which is why they did so well when fields were smaller… lots of edges. “Progress” has eliminated much of these areas.

The Dakotas still have good numbers of game birds but they are “progressing” at an alarming rate. Iowa was rivaled South Dakota in pheasant harvest in the 90s with harvests commonly in the millions. At one point, pheasant harvest was just over 100,000 a couple years ago. People blame weather and predators but ultimately its habitat that drives populations. Pheasants, huns, quail, etc can all overcome bad winters and high numbers of predators with good habitat. Humans survive Midwest winters because we have houses for shelter… if you remove enough houses so that only 1 in 3 people had a house for the winter, how many of us would survive?

SW, SC MN and NC Iowa are the EXACT same landscape type as South Dakota… but no one there will believe you if you tell them the pheasants are in trouble. They always feel like they’re only one good nesting season away from the good ol days. This year is a good example. Where populations are described as way up in terms of percentages. Well most people see that and say.. “see we’re fine”. But if you have 200,000 pheasants and lose 50% of them you have 100,000 pheasants. If the next year numbers are up 50% from the 100,000, that is a gain of 50,000 pheasants. Now the population is 150,000. If there is a bad year or a series of bad years, it takes that much more to gain back past losses. With less birds and less available habitat, how are the birds supposed to come back?

In 2012 when duck hunting in SD, it was very dry. There were areas we couldn’t even scout for ducks because there were so many people out burning wetlands that the air was filled with smoke. Once the cattails were burned off they’d go in and disc it up and then tile it out in many cases. Those little cattail marshes are the only options in the winter on the prairie and without them there aren’t many options.

People hate driving across Iowa because its such a boring landscape and there is nothing to look at except corn and beans. Yet we sure do seem to be in a big damned hurry to create more “Iowas” in the Midwest.

This probably sounds like an indictment against farmers. But not all farmers are doing this and indeed there are plenty of examples of good stewards still today. But the industry trends are for more acres in production with bigger equipment etc, and its just not sustainable. I drove to SD from NE IA last week and much of the harvest is done and now the fields are being turned black. Come spring, there will be drifts of black dirt laying in the ditches and puddles in the fields where wetlands used to be. There are not even fences between fields anymore because those have been rubbed out too.

Sorry about the rant but these things are all connected. It affects our water (and fisheries), wildlife, soil and quite frankly, our quality of life. So when I see a post like this it just makes me sad… because yes the huns are barely around anymore and in many places not at all. Huns are game birds and people barely notice.

At what point do we step back and say enough is enough

Youngfry I like your points. Everytime I am out in the Dakotas I shake my head at the marginal land that is farmed today.

That said love him or hate him MN Gov Dayton did a good thing with the buffers. I would love to see Iowa do it to.

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

Your answer seems easy:
1) Procure a few hundred acres
2) Plant wheat, rye, etc.
3) Raise and release partridge

Unfortunately, I don’t think it is this simple. As others have indicated, I think the available cover for both day to day use and for nesting is the #1 factor. As much as food seems like a big issue, birds are tough and tend to find a way to eat, it’s the nesting and the predators that control the overall numbers.

In looking at areas like Alberta, northern ND, Saskatchewan, that have larger populations, the thing I see in common is that in these areas in addition to small grain production, is they tend to have low, brushy cover available interspersed in the fields. Either fencelines, pasture, or as areas still in the fields where they low spots are not drained and farmed.

My father said that in the partridge heyday in ND, his favorite spots were abandoned farmsteads where the old shelter belts kind of canopied out over the adjacent fields. They would sit right on the edge where they could run into the overhead cover if necessary. He also said that grain harvesting was vastly less efficient back then, with swathers or windrowers being used to cut grain first and they were leaving fairly long stubble back then. The swathing process caused some spillage and then the pickup on the combine was less than perfect as well, so every time the grain was handled, there was some spillage % in each step that resulted in more grain left for the birds.

In reply to Tegg’s comment, my Pine Country property is likely too far north, but like with the pheasants, I think that today’s vastly more intensive cattle ranching in the area have created a sort of “micro climate” where small numbers of “open ground” upland birds might be able to exist. Years ago they said wild turkey would never make it that far north, but with cattle ranching providing both predator control and a constant food source, the turkey can make it. Overall, you are correct though, my area is way too wooded for any kind of numbers of upland open ground birds.

It’s nice to see the reports that there are still partridge around. I agree, the habitat loss from farming to the edge of everything is a huge driver. Hopefully, with the crash in grain prices, marginal ground will go back out of production in the coming years and we’ll start to gain conservation acres instead of losing them.

Currently, reports are that most of MN, WI, and IA are seeing near record or outright record corn and bean yields. That’s actually bad news for the farmers as prices are already depressed. Something’s going to give as prices will most likely be heading further down.

Grouse

I have no illusions about bird (all wildlife) populations. I dont think any of them will be as high as they once were. Especially when the human population keeps increasing.

We used to hunt huns in Canada so I don’t think anywhere in MN would be too far north… but of course the habitat still has to be right

We saw a group of about 30 in Fillmore County last Saturday. They were right off the road and they flushed when I was making a u-turn after I went past my turnoff. I shot one down there a few years ago in the middle of a big snowstorm.

I saw only one covey of ten, Sunday morning in Fillmore county. Usually see more than that over the deer season

Just saw a pair this weekend while hunting deer for the first time this year western mn swift country

I see huns in north east nebraska while bow hunting,first time i saw a jack, a fox was chasing it out in a plowed field,dam rabbit was biggar than that fox. DK