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Ptarmigan sightings in Yukon-Kuskokwim area common this year
by The Associated Press
Last Updated Apr 23, 2021 at 10:44 am EDT
BETHEL, Alaska Hunters in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta area in Alaska have been reporting an abundance of ptarmigan this year.
A biologist from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Phillip Perry, said that the department does not track the population of the medium-sized game bird. But based on his own experience and what people have told him, ptarmigan sightings have been much more common this year, KYUK-AM reported Wednesday.
“People are telling me, ‘Wow, there’s a bunch around this year, I’m doing really well,’” Perry said.
Print article BETHEL Hunters in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta area in Southwest Alaska have been reporting an abundance of ptarmigan. A biologist from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Phillip Perry, said the department does not track the population of the medium-sized game bird. But based on his experience and what people have told him, ptarmigan sightings have been much more common this year, KYUK-AM reported Wednesday. “People are telling me, ‘Wow, there’s a bunch around this year, I’m doing really well,’” Perry said. The department’s small-game program coordinator, Rick Merizon, said officials had planned to conduct a survey on ptarmigan population numbers and movements last year, but the study was postponed to 2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Hunting ptarmigan in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta has been relatively easy this year, compared to the last few years.
“This year we’ve got lot of ptarmigan all over,” said Daniel Nelson, an Elder who lives in Napakiak. “They were kind of declining in number, you know. The past two or three years I’d go ptarmigan hunting and I’d barely see some, just a few flocks. Most of the time I get home with nothing, but this year I return with average of 12 ptarmigan per trip.”
Neither the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service nor the Alaska Department of Fish and Game track the number of ptarmigan in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. However, state biologist Phillip Perry said that based on his own experience and what people are telling him, ptarmigan sightings are much more common this year than in the past five or six years.