Low Pheasant Numbers.... why?

[IceAge@work]

Last I will say on the subject. For the record during this discussion I have never said winter cover is not important or that all grassland habitat is what is needed. But I have said that maintaining enough undisturbed grasslands (10% of the landscape) is going to be the key to having a healthy uplands. We simply do not have enough healthy undisturbed grasslands in MN to have a good pheasant population.

CRP is on life support in Washington and the major benefit it provides is grasslands and ultimately some element of bio-diversity. Our ability to preserve grasslands in the next Farm Bill will be the determining factor in whether we maintain any sembalance of a healthy farmland ecosystem and ultimately pheasants.

With a less than five minute google search I found the three documents linked below that all acknowledge the importance of winter cover. We live in the upper Midwest. No one disputes that fact. However they all point out the single most limiting factor to achieving and maintaining good pheasant populations is a lack of nesting & brood rearing cover. Grasslands. Not my opinion but the opinion of wildlife professionals.

Have a good season.

http://www.pheasantsforever.org/page/1/pheasant.jsp

http://www.pheasantblog.org/jbeckers/pinpointing-pheasant-needs-dense-nesting-cover/

http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/recreation/hunting/pheasant/pheasantplan_final2005.pdf

[pokerface]

I have relatives and friends in both Dakotas and have hunted in both states. I talked to the one in North Dakota sunday and he said it would be tough hunting if I came out. Three very harsh winters in a row and they had 12" of snow in late May that decimated the young chicks. They have excellent habitat and food. Shelterbelts, wetlands, grass, and brush. When the populations were high about 5 years ago they had 8-10 real mild winters in a row with little snow and cold. The friend in So. Dak bought his 160 ac. 4 years ago which was primarily ag. land. He planted trees, shrubs, and grass for the birds. This year he said his land held many more birds than his neighbors because of the cover and food although the harsh winter did take a toll on some of the birds. I think over all the harsh weather may play a bigger factor in pheasant survival, however without shelter many morebirds would have perished.

[PurpleFloyd]

I have relatives and friends in both Dakotas and have hunted in both states. I talked to the one in North Dakota sunday and he said it would be tough hunting if I came out. Three very harsh winters in a row and they had 12" of snow in late May that decimated the young chicks. They have excellent habitat and food. Shelterbelts, wetlands, grass, and brush. When the populations were high about 5 years ago they had 8-10 real mild winters in a row with little snow and cold. The friend in So. Dak bought his 160 ac. 4 years ago which was primarily ag. land. He planted trees, shrubs, and grass for the birds. This year he said his land held many more birds than his neighbors because of the cover and food although the harsh winter did take a toll on some of the birds. I think over all the harsh weather may play a bigger factor in pheasant survival, however without shelter many morebirds would have perished.

+1

[LandDr]

There are things changing in SD in the way of land use and farming. Just as mentioned, less cattle, less small grain, more corn and beans, more fall tillage rather than putting the cattle out on the field during the winter, more efficient equipment means less waste grain left on the field, etc., etc.

Back in the hay days for MN...it was not much different than the good parts of SD. For example, instead of drying corn, sometimes they would leave it dry over winter and harvest it in the spring. Or if they did harvest in the fall, the old equipment left up to 20% waste in the field. Todays equipment leaves 2 or 4% and almost always tilled under in the fall. Grain storage has also changed...there used to be corn cribs wildlife would come up to eat at...now everything is tightly stored or hauled away.

However, even in the olden days, the birds were still at risk. One old timer told me of a winter where most of the birds got buried in the cattails and it just stunk because of all the rotting birds. Severe storms would still take their toll and cold wet springs would reduce nest success.

What is the balance? In the book "Pheasants of Iowa" that I mentioned earlier, there is a graph showing carrying capacity and % landscape in grass. It is very interesting and what I have based my "PLM's Management by Thirds" philosophy on. In summary...on one side of the gragh there is zero grass (like 160 acres plowed fence to fence) and the result is low carrying capacity (we would all agree with that)...and at the other side of the graph there is 100% grass and ALSO low carrying capacity (this would surprise many people). The HIGHEST carrying capacity started about one third from the left and right...thus "Management By Thirds".

The study in land use change and carrying capacity revealed to me, and is shows in the data and graph, that pheasants are not byproducts of grass...buffalo, prairie chickens, bob-o-links and butterflies like all grass...pheasants do the best in a mix of agriculture (food) and grasslands...but because we live in MN, the land of the horrible winters, we need to have another component to get the hens thru the winter...thick dense woody cover consisting of shrubs and conifers.

The result is...1/3 Woody Cover protecting 1/3 Food Source to get the hens thru the winter along with 1/3 Nesting/Brooding cover once you get the hens thru the winter. It is just increadible what this type of management does if implemented and especially if it is implemented on an intense scale. For example, instead of just have the Management By Thirds on the 160 acres, implement it on every 20 or 30 acres of the 160 acres. And if you want this to work on pheasants...you should see what it does for the deer...more doe groups and more dominant bucks!

I was just telling another guy about something that happen a few years back. A customer called me and said the DNR asking him if he had released a bunch of pheasants. He said no, why. DNR guy told him they recorded a 421% increase in roadside counts along the gravel road by their property and was wondering why. My customer told the DNR guy that PLM implemented their plan last year and it pulled a lot of birds in from the area as well as increased the number of reproducing hens on the property. Very interesing stuff and again I would recommend taking a look at that book on pheasants in Iowa.

[pureinsanity]

I was just telling another guy about something that happen a few years back. A customer called me and said the DNR asking him if he had released a bunch of pheasants. He said no, why. DNR guy told him they recorded a 421% increase in roadside counts along the gravel road by their property and was wondering why. My customer told the DNR guy that PLM implemented their plan last year and it pulled a lot of birds in from the area as well as increased the number of reproducing hens on the property. Very interesing stuff and again I would recommend taking a look at that book on pheasants in Iowa.

This is a classic example of a correct habitat drawing birds. And it shows yo could be missing that one vital piece of habitat and they will NOT be there.

[Tom7227]

I think that SD is losing a lot of CRP in eastern Iowa. Things will be changing there as well.

[LandDr]

Exactly...those are the "limiting factors" in carrying capacity.

One of the reasons why people should not consider releasing birds...not to mention that released birds are just dumb birds...but typically the "wild" population has already filled the population carrying capacity of the property. Adding birds will not help (unless you just want to release them to shoot them right away). The wild population will always populate to the carrying capacity...the only way to increase the population is to increase the carrying capacity. To increase the carrying capacity, you have to identify the "limiting factor"...or as Pureinsanity stated "the missing vital piece" or pieces if there are several limiting factors that need to be addressed.

Almost always the limiting factor is food when we start working on a piece of property...I did not say always, I said "almost" always. And with regards to pheasants, it is not that they are starving to death, but that there isn't food "protected, adjacent and suffient with the winter cover". DNR research has shown over and over that the farther pheasants have to go to find food, mortality increases exponentially.

This is so very important to understand and address. When you see pheasants up by the road or out on the knolls of fields...THAT IS BAD. That means the birds have run out of food adjacent to their winter cover and are now having to move further and further out to find food...which increases exposure to predators and inclement weather.

I like to say that on my farms you don't see the pheasants in the winter...because they are tucked away nicely in their winter cover with their food...so they don't have to come out or venture away from the safety of the cover and food. In fact, around my food plots and feeders, the snow is packed down like concrete because that is where the birds stay pretty much all winter. "Dead Hens Don't Lay Eggs" so I am increasing the odds that my hens will have as safe a winter as they possibly can because they are my reproducing population when spring comes around.

Now is the time to identify those thick winter cover areas and get feeders out. Look for the thick woody cover areas first...not tall decidious trees however that provide perches for predators...look for the thick conifer stands if at all possible. River bottoms with thick willows and cattails are good as well but see if you can enroll a CP22 Riparian Buffer program along it to get some conifers planted for future winter core area development. Etc., etc.

[pureinsanity]

I am heading out today for a long weekend in SD. I will post a report sometime this weekend or when I get back.