Birds are very sensitive to clianges in habitat conditions, 

 including weather, and their response to such changes is 

 often manifest in drastic fluctuations of population levels. 

 Such fluctuations affect the size of the harvest. In general, 

 Montana's upland birds are underharvested. Again populations 

 are presently being maintained at substantial levels although 

 the trend of decreasing habitat may preclude maintaining 

 them at those levels in the future. 



Via ter fowl 



The number of waterfowl available during the fall in 

 che state is almost solely dependent on weather conditions 

 commensurate with habitat conditions. In 1959 the duck 

 harvest was approximately the same as 1958 which was in excess 

 of 23,000. The 1969 goose harvest of 12,000 exceeded that 

 of 1958 by about 4,000 birds. 



Game Management Problems 



The demand for more outdoor recreation and increasing 

 development of all natural resources produces a situation of 

 supplying more game with less habitat. This is a biological 

 impossibility. At the least, a compromise is feasible only 

 if rigid and strict planning incorporates the needs of wild- 

 life. 



13. 



