A recent study undertaken by the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks and South Dakota State University shows that in many cases, predator trapping can increase the nesting success of waterfowl and other game birds.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – Trapping predators to protect duck and pheasant nests produces mixed results that a researcher says appear to be tied to the habitat and what kind of marauders are destroying nests.
A 3-year study compared nesting success on a 36-square-mile land block in which predators were removed against the nesting success in a comparable block without predator control.
“There’s no mistake about it, for the most part very intensified trapping efforts on a year to year basis obviously does have, for the most part, an impact on increasing nesting success,” said Chad Switzer, terrestrial program administrator for the GF&P.
As mentioned in the article, predator control isn’t the only factor involved. Habitat and initial predator populations are believed to play a large role in the importance of predator control in game bird survival.
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