Great Season Brewing

[A5 Sweet 16]

Who's ready for another fabulous pheasant season? Ace & I sure are!

I think we're in for another great one in South Dakota. Hardly any of the pheasant range is in any sort of drought whatsoever, & I anticipate none will be, following this weekend's rain (got just over 3" at my house). Lots of pheasants left on Feb. 1. VERY mild winter, so still lots left now. No major flooding that I'm aware of. Nesting cover should be fantastic, given the recent precip.

About the only potential hurdles left to get past would be super widespread hail storms just at the wrong time, & abnormally wet/cold brooding weather. If we can get through, say, June or mid-July without either of those happening, we're going to have even more pheasants than last season! And last season was pretty great!

So let's all be optimistic together. Positive mental attitude matters.

(picture for attention)

 

[gimruis]

June will be pivotal for nesting. A monsoon of rain/severe weather ruins that. But drought does also. Drought seems to be a much more likely problem than too much rain given how things have gone in recent years.

 

[Quailnerd]

That’s great news, we got our lodging locked up and ready to go. I have to admit last year we had more fun chasing sharpies and chickens than Mr rooster…. Those rolling grasslands stole my heart

 

[Matt D]

Just had this discussion with my hunting buddy today. Agree completely with your thoughts. Long ways to go for a great hatch but couldn’t ask for much more at this point in time.

 

[Alaskan swamp collies]

Dang it is really nice when someone is positive. Thank you.

 

[remy3424]

Not SD, but not far from, I think we have easily had 6 inches of rain in the last 30 days. More rain, not so much for warm temps sound like are coming. It looks like only a wet and cold hatch might slow them down. We have had the extremely hot/dry hatches the past 2 years and have been shooting some young birds but maybe more old cocks that young ones last season. We really need are some new CRP sign-ups, you just can't replace these waterways that are being cleaned-out, reshaped and tiled so they just farm through them. Pheasants are getting concentrated on the little remaining habitat we have.

 

[A5 Sweet 16]

Not SD, but not far from, I think we have easily had 6 inches of rain in the last 30 days. More rain, not so much for warm temps sound like are coming. It looks like only a wet and cold hatch might slow them down.

While new chicks are very susceptible to cool weather, I think eggs are fairly hearty. Obviously cold weather would sap more energy from nesting hens, but how that might affect nest success, I don't know. It surely doesn't help. I have to imagine we're maybe 3-4 weeks away from the first hatches, so hopefully things start to warm up by then, if not sooner.

 

[SDinWI]

I'm with you on the positive outlook! Lots and lots of crowing while I've been out planting spruce this spring. Birds should be very stress free after the winter.

I've heard that turkeys smell a great deal when wet and that's not a great thing around nesting time...predators can find those smelly hens better. Not sure if it's the same case with pheasants. But, I'm trying to do my part on the trapping front to help out some.

 

[gimruis]

I am not sure how far along crop planting is in the region either. Its been very wet the entire month of April. Way too wet to get in there and plant any crops yet. If we don't get a few days of drier weather pretty soon, crops are gonna get in very late, which in turns usually means a late harvest in the fall. I know they can plant different hybrids that ripen sooner, but they often lose out on potential yields if they go that route. The majority of the corn by me wasn't harvested until around Thanksgiving last year. Standing corn makes for tough hunting.

 

[Haretrigger]

I am not sure how far along crop planting is in the region either. Its been very wet the entire month of April. Way too wet to get in there and plant any crops yet. If we don't get a few days of drier weather pretty soon, crops are gonna get in very late, which in turns usually means a late harvest in the fall. I know they can plant different hybrids that ripen sooner, but they often lose out on potential yields if they go that route. The majority of the corn by me wasn't harvested until around Thanksgiving last year. Standing corn makes for tough hunting.

But it sure saves a few for later in the season....