Pheasant status

[HAppnhook]

Overall, 2011 was a pretty good pheasant year, but it was a first for many things that are not necessarily good for the pheasant.

1)60% of the crops in the birds we shot (21) were empty. This ranged in all areas hunted including western, southern and nw areas. Of this one had soybeens, 2 had grasshoppers, one had what looked to be pumpkin seeds and a couple had corn

2)No available water, no birds.

3)few deer

4)most were 2nd year birds

5) dramatic decline in hens seen, though we did find 8 hens in our last outing.

6) Farmer sightings of birds was nearly zero.

7) 3 coveys of huns

8) 1 road bird seen, 3 shot in the ditch.

9) Birds were grouped and in heavy cover.

10) Birds held tight

11) substantial coyote traffic, we need to start cleaning this up.

12) fasted opener fill, 19 minutes, right after a conservation officer told us he hadn't seen a bird in 6-months!

I have a number of other observations but I have wasted space. Anyone else see similar or substantially different characteristics of this season?

Happ

[BLACKJACK]

My conclusion after the season is that the spring hatch is more important than I realized. The wet spring and early summer doomed the hunt. There were spots where I saw 15-30 birds last March yet this fall those areas held few birds. Most of the roosters I shot were old birds.

It was discouraging to hunt big swamps and see only 1-3 birds. We're back to the old days of if you see a rooster and don't get him, you might not see another one, or you follow him across to swamp, hoping to flush him again. The only reason I got out toward the end was to watch the dog work and work off some holiday cheer, any birds harvested were a bonus.

Interesting to open the crops and see what they've been eating, whether its grapes, grasshoppers, or seeds, especially if they're along way from crops, but I don't think an empty crop means much, I shot birds with empty crops that had plenty of fat along the back.

Hope for the mild winter to continue and a dry spring!!

Also hope for a change in the farm programs to encourage conservation (see Dennis Anderson's column in the Sunday STrib).

[herm]

This was only my 3rd pheasant season...so consider these the offerings of a newbie.

1. We saw and harvested more roosters than the previous 2 seasons - by a wide margin. Basically, we averaged 1 rooster harvested every hunt. (That alone was stunning given the DNR counts.)

2. We flushed more hens than previous 2 seasons. Again, lots more. Example: First three trips of the season we put up dozens of them.)

3. We saw very few hunters through November. Ran into many more in December. (We hunt only public land.)

4. If a rooster's crop was full, it was corn. Otherwise, most were empty.

5. No water - no birds. Most definitely!

All in all, it was a banner year - thanks to good hunting buddies and a dog that gets better every trip!

[Musky Buck]

No one in our section pheasant hunted this year, numbers were down and no one had the time so we'll see what 2012 looks like. Seeing more turkey than pheasants, never really thought that would ever be the case but that's the skinny at present time.

[carpshooterdeluxe]

11) substantial coyote traffic, we need to start cleaning this up.

The more coyotes you shoot, the more they breed. Yotes are a lot easier on pheasants than fox, skunks, crows, hawks, and racoons.

[Musky Buck]

yo carp, I doubt Happnhook was simply referring to pheasants, he's right though I am overrun with coyotes, in my lifetime I've never heard so many nearly every night and the ones we will get won't be able to breed again and I doubt the rest will tell each other, but then you are right about owls,hawks,raccoons,skunks,cats, etc. Can't do much about the winged predators but will put asleep the rest as many as I can. Good skunk weather now, smelled one last night, crows are tough on pheasants haven't heard that before but do they destroy nests or something ?

[Arago]

My experience is the same as many of you. Birds down, but the crops of the ones I got were full of seeds & corn (no snow)! Success came really the Thursday before closing! Saw very few hunters this year though we did find a few optomistic guys like us out by Marshall. Just very, very worried about crp lose into the next few years. Saw a ton of farmers tiling this year too. Saw more ditch cover with less mowing & burning. Saw very few birds driving. Tryed the new walk in areas and got a few out of them. HABITAT!!!!!! That's what we need to maintain. Join PF.

[Musky Buck]

One other observation is the local canary or whatever those mailbox stuffers are, must be $ in it, many many postings of looking for farmland to rent, if it wouldn't help you profit, no one would rent land.

[gspman]

Quote:

My conclusion after the season is that the spring hatch is more important than I realized.

In my book the spring hatch means everything.

[Musky Buck]

Had no way to really know with certainty about the spring hatch, I've lived on the same farm since 1996, as sloppy as April and May were I expected it to be kinda ugly, this November,December,January were the first months I've ever lived there and driving the same gravel for that many years part of getting me out of bed is knowing I can count pheasants and turkeys on the way to work, but never saw a single bird and the months prior like Sept. Oct. etc. saw a random bird or 2 here or there. I also know this much about my area no 1 hunts them or allows anyone to hunt them and that had 0 bearing or minimal on the birds at all, they are back to the 1980's level, seeing 1 would bring a smile. In retrospect, a usual run to work you'd see 10-20 most mornings sometimes a lot more some days less, but you knew they were around, now it's recovery time.

[Roosterslayer05]

Your absolutly right Carp. You need to harvest over 50 percent of the coyote population to do anything to the density. Plus if you dramatically reduced the coyote population you would be shooting yourself in the foot because the coon/fox/skunk population would explode and those are the animals that do real damage to game bird populations. Shoot a coyote and give three fox a home. 20 percent of a fox's diet in the spring are nesting duck hens, they eat nesting pheasent hens too. Spare a coyote, save a pheasant brood!

[harvey lee]

I have hunted the area I live in fgor the past 35 years.

Last fall I did not hunt as I choose not to harm the bird population as I have in all those years never seen it this low.

I was talking to a guy I know the other day who delivers mail and asked him how many birds he has seen this winter and he said next to nothing. Exactly what I also have seen.

I agree we need a great spring hatch and we do not need a wet spring at all or those chick numbers will fall.

I normally am not negative about anything but our bird population locally is sick. I am sure I will more than likely not hunt locally this fall either as the birds cannot come from next to nothing to ok in one season.

[rundrave]

if I determined my reason to hunt soley off the number of birds I saw off of the side of the road I would have never shot a bird last fall and I am in SD.

Yes the numbers were down and sure you had to work a little harder but there were plenty of birds out there if you were willing to put the work in to find them.

From all the reports shared on this site last fall regardless of what state you hunted, if you went out and worked for birds you had success.

So far the winter has been fairly mild and easy on the birds. I hope it continues and we have a dry spring.

[TylerS]

if I determined my reason to hunt soley off the number of birds I saw off of the side of the road I would have never shot a bird last fall and I am in SD.

Yes the numbers were down and sure you had to work a little harder but there were plenty of birds out there if you were willing to put the work in to find them.

From all the reports shared on this site last fall regardless of what state you hunted, if you went out and worked for birds you had success.

So far the winter has been fairly mild and easy on the birds. I hope it continues and we have a dry spring.

What he said.

[harvey lee]

if I determined my reason to hunt soley off the number of birds I saw off of the side of the road I would have never shot a bird last fall and I am in SD.

Yes the numbers were down and sure you had to work a little harder but there were plenty of birds out there if you were willing to put the work in to find them.

From all the reports shared on this site last fall regardless of what state you hunted, if you went out and worked for birds you had success.

So far the winter has been fairly mild and easy on the birds. I hope it continues and we have a dry spring.

Most times I would agree with your statement but not in Sibley county.

I know many hunters who have very good bird dogs and started hunting but quit as they were seeing next to nothing. We have next too no birds and one could go out all they want but that does not mean they are out there.

I also talk with alot of farmers and they also say the bird population is waaaay down. The guys at the fertilizer plants who are in the fields all spring and most of the siummer had the same reports.

between the farmers, fertilizer plants and being on the road, that is a great indicator for what the bird population is in any area. Plus what the other hunters have to say overall.

I am sure some areas have some birds but as I stated, in our county, it is saaaad.

[Tom7227]

IMO a major factor in low bird numbers is the dry conditions in late June-August. Chicks need bugs to eat in order to survive. If it's too dry the bug numbers are low and the chicks starve. It used to be a problem only in the more arid areas of the country but I think it has been a factor here this past year.

[Scott M]

Saw my first 3 birds this winter feeding in a field by Cambria. Probably a good sign this year; they don't need to be near roads or people as they can find food easily.

[harvey lee]

I also saw a rooster and the first since back to probably the first part of Oct.

Hope he makes it.

[Dotch]

2 roosters feeding on a field approach at the neighbors this a.m. So far so good.

[SapperACE]

I would say my year of pheasant hunting was a bit below average, but still very good.

Before the season began, I heard many simular reports from farmers, and people who travel alot, that they were not seeing birds. I myself drive alot for my work and would agree that the numbers were down this fall.

I was pleasantly suprised when hunting season began to find plenty of birds though. It seemed like the birds were bunched up early near water like mentioned above.

There have been some really good comments about what factors can help or hurt our local pheasant polulation. Some I agree with, and others I do not agree totally. Here are my opinions on the above mentioned factors:

Habitat: This to me is the obvious #1 thing that affects the bird numbers. It is crazy to see the number of CRP acres that are going away, and field tile that was going in this fall and well into the winter. I dont blame the farmers, but that stuff is tough on the birds.

Weather: The wet, cold spring as well as the warm dry late summer and early fall had a definate, negative affect on the numbers this year. At the same time, this mild winter makes it much easier to find food, and much easier to find cover. Weather also leads into my next factor...

Hatch and brood survival: The cold wet weather definately took its toll on the hatch this spring and therefore the numbers. I totally agree that a good hatch can make a HUGE difference in bird numbers as much as a poor hatch can make a HUGE difference the other way. I totally agree also about the lack of insects this summer/fall. This is a huge portion of the young birds diet.

Hunting and hunting pressure: I read alot of people talking about the adverse affects of hunting pheasants in a year when the bird numbers are down. I couldn't disagree more. We all know that one rooster can breed many hens. We also know that the biggest culpret taking food away from a hen pheasant is a rooster pheasant. I believe that every rooster taken during hunting season gives at least 1 hen a better chance at survival over the long winter. The only argument that i've heard against hunting birds in a down year, that holds any water, is busting birds from cover into areas with less cover. This happens when the snow and ice is deep and the food sources and cover are burried and are few and far between. I choose to leave the birds alone when the cover and food locations become harder for them to find. The last 2 heavy winters were good exaples of times to leave the birds alone. Other than that, take your 2 birds a day if you can, and 3 in December if you are so lucky.

[Musky Buck]

Yes, hunting pressure can be a 0, no 1 hunts the section I live in and roughly 100-200 birds it varies, but this year there's like 20-30 around so hunting didn't take them out. I am noticing now that we have some snow a decent amount of pheasant tracks even though we're not seeing them. Turkeys are way thick, 3 years ago you were lucky to see 1.

[CaptainMusky]

There is a small tract of land I go by daily to work where I typically see pheasants. Last spring and summer not a single bird. This fall not a single bird. I was seeing in upwards of 20 birds at a time in this spot and its almost in town.

Three weeks ago I saw the first birds out there and there were 4 roosters and 6 hens. I see them daily now not usually that high of numbers but a couple each day. With the snow gone its hard to see them.

so yeah I agree birds are down that's obvious. This winter has been a huge step in the right direction too. There won't be flooding this spring so hopefully we get decent nesting weather too and we will have decent numbers next year. I heard a pack of coyotes from my house last night. Wish I was equipped to hunt them to take a couple out al

[rkhinrichs]

dad went to the tree farm(dads hunting land) i call it that cause he planted a bunch of pine trees there lol. our dog cosmo kicked up a rooster!! heard some more. we will be ok next fall!!

[fivebucks]

Let's just hope we don't get a real wet late May-early June - we need a good nesting/brood rearing season.