Pheasant
The Traveling Wingshooter 2014: Pheasant Forecast
by Dave Smith
Kansas has offered some of the Nation’s best pheasant hunting in recent decades but suffered mightily from drought conditions since 2011. The 2012 harvest of 234,000 roosters was the lowest on record, remarkably only two years after a 25-year high of approximately 900,000 birds harvested in 2010. However, the rains came this spring and summer, greatly improving brood habitat conditions in a state where winter wheat and brood habitat mean everything to pheasants.
“The drought had major impacts on pheasant habitat across western Kansas,” said Jeffrey Prendergast, Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks & Tourism, Small Game Specialist. “The cover was poor coming into the spring, but we got some great spring and summer rains and brood habitat conditions are excellent. Brood habitat is a major limiting factor for pheasants in Kansas. My speculation is that brood survival will be very good and that will result in some excellent hunting this fall.”
The Southern High Plains could be the sleeper region for pheasants, where, like Kansas, Colorado and Oklahoma appear poised for a post-drought rebound. Colorado‘s pheasant population declined by 66 percent from 2011 to 2014, but the eastern plains received good moisture this spring and summer, according to Ed Gorman, Colorado Parks and Wildlife. However, Gorman noted the drought was so severe it will have a long-lasting impact on the quality of CRP cover, as it shifted habitat from beneficial warm-season grasses and forbs to cool-season species such as smooth brome. In Oklahoma, pheasant production was expected to be good due to excellent habitat conditions this spring and summer, according to Scott Cox, Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.
South Dakota and North Dakota also look markedly better than last year, when they were hit with cool and wet spring conditions. According to Travis Runia, South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks, weather conditions were favorable for pheasant production over most of South Dakota’s primary pheasant range from late April through June. Runia expects reproductive success to be good in areas where large blocks of nesting habitat remain. Stan Kohn, North Dakota Game & Fish Department, reports a similar trend in North Dakota with warmer temperatures than last spring and good moisture coming on the heels of a mild winter. Pheasant crowing surveys were up six percent statewide from 2013 counts. Kohn’s main concern was the two to six inches of rain that hammered southwestern North Dakota in June while chicks were hatching to 10 days old.
The bad news comes from the Upper Midwest due to a hard winter and extensive precipitation at the peak of hatch. Todd Bogenschutz, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, the region’s premier pheasant expert, said Iowa’s statewide snowfall from December through February averaged 36 inches, and pheasant populations have never increased following winters with at least 31 inches of snowfall. Further, the nesting season was unseasonably cool and wetter than normal. Similarly, Budd Veverka, Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife, reported a 36 percent decline in pheasant crowing counts this spring.
Minnesota experienced the wettest June since the 1800s with an average of over eight inches of rainfall statewide. “It was a cool spring with lots of rain and that isn’t good for pheasant recruitment,” said Nicole Davros, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. “The rains undoubtedly washed eggs downstream, but the cold weather may have delayed the nesting season enough that most chicks weren’t on the ground yet. If so, the hens will re-nest and that could be good since we have excellent summer brood habitat.”
The pheasant experts all stressed that the continued loss of grassland habitat has lowered the pheasant production potential from that of the CRP peak in 2007. South Dakota’s estimated 2013 harvest was 982,627 – the first time it has dipped below a million pheasants since 1997 – which tracks with CRP shrinking from 1.55 million acres to the current 934,700 acres. Likewise, North Dakota and Montana lost 52 percent and 49 percent of their CRP, respectively, a whopping combined 3.48 million acres.
Yet it’s important to keep the habitat trends of the northern Great Plains in perspective: The Dakotas still offer some of the best pheasant hunting in North America. It was a mild winter and moisture conditions look good for nest success and brood survival, so a harvest uptick is likely. With over two million acres open to public hunting access, it’s a good year for a pheasant hunting road trip to the Dakotas!
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