Minnesota Road Side Pheasant Count

[djlong]

It actually looks pretty good considering the winter and wet spring. I like that the roosters were up from last year but they will be the smart ones. I also think that there are a lot of hens still with broods.

http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/outdoor_activities/hunting/pheasant/roadside_survey_08.pdf

[lawdog]

LEAST reliable "data" put out each year...

[Jaspernuts]

I have seen more birds this year than last year. And lots of young birds at that!

[sparcebag]

And I've seen fewer this year than last.Yet lots of birds!

[CodyDawg]

Lawdog,

Why do you say that? If you look at the index vs harvest graph, it appears to be quite accurate. Curious why you think it is not reliable? Is it because you look at the statewide increase/decrease percentage and relate it to your area or do you look at your area's percentage as well?

[lawdog]

Here is my beef with the count, they pick one day to drive around and do the roadside count. If its raining or foggy that day, don't you think the numbers will be substantially different than if its nice and sunny and was raining the day before? I knew a guy who used to help do the count for the DNR and he said the number he came up with on his annointed day didn't necessarily reflect what he saw on average over period of time. Maybe they've redone their methods now, but if they are still going by one day's drive, I just don't see how they can say that's scientific at all.

[hanso612]

I'm with lawdog on this one. I have fifty pheasants on my farm and most times of the day I never see a one. But if the conditions or the time is right I see tons. There is no way to start a drive in the morning and end later in the day and compare the first farms you drive by with the later.

As for the harvest data being more reliable- I have hunted pheasants for 20 years and have never once been asked how many I harvested and I know no one else who has. If they take the data from the few CO stops and on creel/bag surveys and extrapolate-that's not good science either. The sample size is way too small.

How do they come up with harvest data? Is it available to the public?Hans

[123fish]

The way I understood it they took there counts on days that are clear, dewey, and relatively windless. If they don't have a morning like that they wait until they do. As far as that hunter survey goes I've hunted pheasants for 43 years and never have been surveyed or know of anyone who has.

[harvey lee]

I believe that the best way to find a accurate number of birds would be to talk to the farmers and the people that spray the fields as they are always afield.

I know some people that spray fields and they could tell one what they are seeing in those fields as they spend all day long in spring and early summer in the fields.

This could give one a pretty good count of what the bird population is doing.

[CodyDawg]

Harvey Lee,

With all due respect, anecdotal testimony is not reproduceable nor is it science. And some of the farmers I talk to have no clue about pheasants. I cant tell you how many times I have asked a farmer and he said "go ahead and hunt but I havent seen a pheasant in years", then I go and see 25 on his land.

Read the report and I think it will answer a lot of your questions, it is pretty decent science. They do lots and lots of trips. Pretty hard to argue with how it compares to the harvest graph.

And I have been asked on numerous occasions about how many I have gotten.

[hockey_19pro]

123Fish, you're just about dead on with your information. I've done roadside surveys in SW MN, both spring and summer, from '05-'07 and we had about 10 runs each of the two seasons. We had a supervisor that called us each morning after checking weather conditions...if windspeed was 10+, we didn't go. No dew, didn't go.We didn't just pick a random day to count. And yes, I agree, there are a lot of birds again this year and I've seen quite a few that must have had a 3rd hatch. Get ready for some more great shootin' boys!

[hanso612]

I look forward to the roadside count every year and the information is definately worth gathering. The comparison from year to year is close to an apples and apples comparison, but as hard science there are just to many variables for the information to be used by a hunter to determine how the numbers are on any given hunting spot. So a comparison based on a 9:00am count in one part of the county and a noon count in another is as comparable as apples and oranges.

I suppose that's a good thing or hunters would pound the highest density areas if the info were broken down to a township level.

Every year the Outdoor news prints a map of the pheasant densities across the state and every year it looks earily similar. Who generates that map and how is made?

I have areas here in Northfield pushing 50 birds a section but never see any numbers like that represented in this map.

Cody Dog, when you were asked was the information recorded by a CO- like they do with a creal survey or was it anecdotal and just reported in the weekly cuffs and collars report? Who was asking researchers or CO's? Just curious not doubting-and would also like to hear from others about how they were surveyed.

Anybody even been asked when buying a liscence like Hip for migrants? Anybody ever get a mailing? I never have.

Great topic guys, kep it up.Hans

[koonie]

Third hatch? I think you mean late hatch.

[CodyDawg]

Hans,

I have been asked by COs many times, but also have been formally surveyed twice. I think there was a topic on it here a few years back if memory serves me correct.

The thing you have to be careful of is you cant take statewide or even regionwide info and relate it to your area. That wont work. But as a general trend....I think it is pretty decent.

[brittman]

Outdoor news publishes the DNR map. DNR draws the lines around their routes. Not sure how they make the conversion from birds observed/100 miles to birds per square mile.

The MAP disclaimer: This map is based on August Roadside counts and is intended as an indicator of relative density. Boundary delineations should be interpretted cautiously. Theremay be sites with "good" pheasant density within "poor" areas and vice versa.

[Rooster Chaser]

Here is the link to the page it is on, just click on the map link:

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/hunting/pheasant/index.html