As far as trapping birds on the east side, I don't think you can trap too heavy and screw up an area. If it's a good spot, the next year or two it will be loaded with birds again. They come there for a reason. It may take several years, but they will return. Unfortunately, it is usually because the landowner is feeding them. I am all for bird populations expanding, but I think it should occur naturally. Take away the food supplementation and the bird numbers will go down or at least stabilize. Instead you get people feeding chopped corn and alfalfa to the birds to get them through winter. Then they gripe and complain that they make a mess and become a nuisance. No $#!+. If they get too bad, they want the WDFW to remove them. What should be done is the landowner should HAVE to allow hunters on their place to control the birds before the state foots the bill for a transplant.

I'm not sure this state can ever hold a stable number of Easterns on the west side. Between fungus, predators, and poaching, the birds just aren't doing as well as they'd hoped. And it is almost impossible to know accurate numbers due to the vegetation and terrain. Last I heard, they(WDFW) weren't interested in transplanting any more birds right now on the west side. Has anyone heard different?