Confused?

[fishinphilth]

Why are so many ditches mowed? Ditches are where up to 50% of pheasants (hens) make their nest, but by mowing them we loose most of these nest. Look at South Dakota barely any of their ditches are mowed. Now I know that the pheasant population is up compared to years past, but I personally feel that the population would be much greater if we could stop mowing so many ditches. I know that the major roads are mowed for vehicle safety, but the amount of county roads and back roads that are being mowed down and distroying a lot of habitat is rediculas.

Sorry just a rant and i might be uneducated in reason's that they are mowed down, but I know that minnesota could have a better population of pheasant's.

[sparcebag]

In Kandiyohi county there's a no mow rule just for that purpose.However in Aug they do mow them for snow buildup and plowing.

[metrojoe]

I think it's a shame myself. I can see mowing a few feet along the road but most of the ditches are manicured from the road to the R/W better than some golf fairways. There was a lot of heated discussion about this topic in another post awhile back. (It may have even got deleted.) I would think that a "no mow" rule could only mean good things for the pheasant population in Minnesota.

[setterguy]

Joe - drop me a line, haven't talked to you in a while.

[email protected]

[Pistol Pete]

Most ditches now do NOT get mowed till after aug 1st. They do this for the wildlife that has a nest in the ditch. In the fall, like now the ditches are mowed to prevent snow from building up in the grass and weeds that will eventually plug up the road. Here in western MN it is flat and wide open and snow drifting is common. If the ditch is not mowed snow on the road becomes a huge problem. Also a ditch that is mowed this fall will drain water and run off in the spring. If the ditch is plugged with snow the water goes out into the field. Lots of erosion then, very bad. A ditch full of grass and weeds and one snow storm with wind also equals every bird in there is dead. Covered up and drifted over by the snow. They can not dig themselves out when covered up by snow.

[fishinphilth]

You have some good points Pete, but I am sure that South Dakota gets just about the same amount of snow as Minnesota and it is also flat and the ditches do not get mowed there.

[Pistol Pete]

Sorry, I live 25 miles from the SD border. I also hunt alot in SD. From coyotes,pheasant,deer,prairie dog. There is alot of difference from there to where I live. I almost call along the MO river mountains Here it is just flat and I do mean flat. Don't think so drive up US hwy 75 from a little town called Gracevill to Fargo,ND. There is nothing to stop drifting snow. We also don't have a big enough breeding stock to sustain and losses. Road ditches are not the answer you are looking for. A place to hunt?? That a ditch can be, but not a place for a pheasant to live and survive

[carpshooterdeluxe]

where i hunt roosters in sodak; almost all the ditches are mowed. infact an electrician i worked with in aberdeen on a project a few months back told me that the township required him to mow his ditches; that was up by sand lake. i know a lot of livestock owners mow their ditches for the grass hay, and many property owners will mow their ditches in south dakota so road hunters pass on by without being too close to buildings, stock, etc.

[Jarrod32]

Another part of the reason the ditches are mowed (and probably the reason the township required it in one of the examples above) is to help control weeds from going to seed.

[yakfisher]

So much for ditches...

I took these driving back to school during the winter of 96-97. This is along HWY 75 near Wheaton, it sure was flat up there. No wonder the spring got a little wet that year.

At least the bird population was able to bounce back from this.

[fishinphilth]

I was taking information from a couple of articles I had read in the past, but I guess from what you guys are saying I shouldnt blieve everything I read. One of the articles was on the MN DNR HSOforum so I was taking that to be mostly true. Maybe I should rant about something else that bugs me. Like explaining to my wife why I needed a new bird gun.

[yakfisher]

Explain what? How many pairs of shoes has she bought this year! All kidding aside I'm sure your old bird gun is just that, old and outdated. I mean how many of us are still driving around in the first car we ever had? So go ahead just get that new gun all it will cost is a couple of pairs of pumps (I mean the shoes) for Christmas