CHUKAR SEASON FORECAST

When forecasting the 2009-10 chukar season, one must consider almost the entire year of events beginning with the fall of 2008. During this period, only mild precipitation was received that led to moderate “green up” at best in most areas. Fall “green up” is necessary to improve body condition and deal with the onset of cold temperatures and winter snow. Storms in late December brought much needed snowpack to most of northern Nevada, but relatively few storms occurred through the end of February. In early March of 2009, storms again brought snow and helped elevate a much depleted snowpack throughout the heart of chukar country, but this was followed by another dry period that concerned upland game biologists. Then, beginning in May and lasting through June, a generous moisture pattern provided most of the state with record or near record precipitation that improved the shrub and herbaceous plant life in the uplands... Read the entire forcast here.