NOT WHAT WE NEED RIGHT NOW!!!!!

[grab the net]

I was down in the SW last week also. Have friends and fmaily that live there. It is brutal weather right now. If you have never experienced a SW Minnesota blizzard you can't really describe it, other than complete white out. Not being able to see across the street in town. Drifts that get so hard you can practically drive a small car over them. So tall you can change a yard light by hand. I grew up in the area and this will make it extremely difficult on the remaining thermal cover. It will blow alot of the cattail sloughs completely shut. I saw the biggest concentrations of birds in groves last week. Anywhere there was an active farm with cattle and grain bins, lots of birds in and around the grove. Not much roosting cover there. Maybe under the evergreens and cedars, but not much else. A few will always make it through but this could put a hurt on a bunch of them.

[muc33]

Just to add to Tom7227's post which is very good, that no one is saying absolutely DON'T feed the birds, but more of learning what to correctly do to make it less ineffective for them. Contact PF, they will gladly help in placement and procedures. Also as I added in another post. If you are going to do this, ADD GRIT, it is really very critical for them and that is many times what you see them struggling for.

[lawdog]

This winter just never quits... UGGGH.

Will be a miracle if we have any birds to shoot next fall!

[rundrave]

pheasants are hardy birds, yes some die every winter but for the most part they do what they can to survive

the biggest factor in your numbers each season is not the severity of weather over the winter months, it is more the quality of nesting habitat in the spring. those spring months is what will determine a good or bad year of pheasant hunting

[ac777]

there is plenty of birds left. They are smart, its not like its an ice age, there is still plenty of cover in groves, river bottoms, and other areas. Yes the winter has been tough, but Ive been seeing a lot of birds around still.

[Musky Buck]

Saw more pheasants in the last 2 days then I've seen in quite some time, if they have a successful nesting season somewhat I'd be thrilled.

[lawdog]

Like everyone else, we were seeing birds all over here when it first got bad. I can honestly say I haven't found a pheasant to look at now in two plus weeks. This corner of the state has had the worst winter we've had in 13-14 years easily. You can wear rose colored glasses if you'd like, but I'm telling you they are getting hammered around here like we haven't seen in a long time.

[RumRiverRat]

The sky is not falling.

Pheasants are not made of ceramic, they are not fragile helpless creatures.

[mattson]

I was just reading this post and was wondering how they came out of the winter?

[BLACKJACK]

I've actually been pleasantly surprised with the number of hens and roosters that I saw this spring, I thought the winter would be tougher on them. The bad news is that this wet, rainy weather right now is not good for pheasant chicks!!