The average covey size in January was 11.6, and it declined 

 to 7.2 in February. Covey break-up and pair dispersal takes 

 place in early March. The Hun appears to be able to quickly 

 recover from severe winter loss. With good spring nesting con- 

 ditions, average summer brood sizes have actually increased 

 despite two severe winters. 



Eastern Segment 



Huns have widespread distribution in the study area (Constan 

 1976, 77, 78 and Appendix Table 8) and they are commonly found 

 in all vegetation types except the breaks type, where they are 

 only occasionally found. No winter concentrations were found 

 during the study; however, during the two severe winters many 

 Huns were associated with feedlots, haystacks and grain elevators. 



Brood observations in 1978 averaged 6 juveniles per brood, 

 down from 13 juveniles per brood in 1977 and 15.4 in 1976. 

 Region 4 Hun production ratios taken from the fall wing analyses 

 also showed decreased production in 1978. The 1978 ratio of 

 220 juveniles per 100 adults was the second consecutive year 

 that the ratio was below average. In the 3-year period 1974-76, 

 production ratios were above average. 



The 19 78 Fergus County Hun harvest from hunter questionnaire 

 data declined 50 percent from the 1977 harvest. This drastic 

 change took place after 4 straight years of increasing harvest. 

 Data collected at the Lewis town-Brooks prairie grouse checking 

 station on opening day of the 1978 hunting season substantiated 

 the drastic harvest decline, as hunter kill dropped from .34 

 Huns per hunter in 1977 to . 9 Huns in 1978, which made 1978 

 the lowest kill ever recorded. Data collected at this checking 

 station on the opening day of the 1979 hunting season and during 

 the entire hunting season indicated that the 1979 Hun popula- 

 tion was also very low. 



Covey size was observed during December 1978 and January 

 1979 (Table 20). The average covey size was 7.7 Huns which is 

 much lower than the covey size in similar periods during the 

 1976-77 and 1977-78 winters. 



Table 20. Hungarian partridge covey size, winters: 1976-77, 

 77-78, and 78-79. 



Date 



Dec. 19 76 & Jan. 

 Dec. 1977 & Jan. 

 Dec. 1978 & Jan. 



1977 

 1978 

 1979 



No. of 



Groups 



57 

 10 

 44 



Average 

 Group Size 



10.6 



10.6 



7.7 



61 



