its been bad out there in oil country for a good 3-5 yrs now guess the sharptails & huns are hanging on thow??? got a buddy who sold land writes out by new town he checks on the area well his $$$ once in awhile hes not a bird hunter but he said i see the little gray birds all the time & the grouse to... so i assume he means huns & sharptails??? no mention of pheasants thow???
there used to be pheasants & bob white quail out in OK wear i turkey hunt but the oil boom hit there recently & they have tore up the area bad now no pheasants no quail & turkey numbers are not what they were ven 2 yrs ago???
there wrecking the water out in that country hope the same is not happening out in NW ND???
Two years of record setting drought and heat have taken the toll on Oklahoma birds, not the oil industry. I'm sure the expansion hasn't helped, but it sure isn't the cause of the bird decline.
wear i hunt they had 30 some inches of snow this last winter if not more & there was green up & food plots planted the last 3 yrs around there... there was a major drought i agree 100% & pheasant numbers out there sis take a toll from drought but in the last 3 yrs they have put 5-7 active wells in & i dont know what they do with that long thick black pipe that runs along roads for miles going from water/rivers/creeks but i assume they are sucking water? i may be dead ass wrong??? but the area has been changed for ever in that exact area the turkeys had no need to hang around 2 crews of oil rig boys work 24-7 when they could just move away it changed the hole area this past spring especially with the non stop truck & 18 wheel traffic not to mention tons of trash on roads it was a mess out there no respect for the land at all!!!
i also have to say the lesser prairie chickens dont like the oil boom very well that goes for sage grouse out in MT/WY look it up there are studys being done on the gas/oil boom & the decline of certain prairie grouse species...
once things settle back down & all the plum thickets & good besting habitat near some creeks & ponds come back there will be quail & turkeys all over just not in the next few months or years??? not like they once were...
the locals who hunted there said they were seeing turkeys in spots they never seen them B4 i assume due to them having to move off there usual hang outs???
the oil boom by no means helps wildlife in any way sorry to say...