Time table for pheasants to “fully” populate new CRP.

C

cyclonenation10

Active member
Question for you habitat guys. I know there’s no clear cut answer, and tons of variables, but generally speaking if you had to put a “number” on it, how many years does it take for newly enrolled CRP/wetlands to reach their carrying capacity of pheasants?

For example, our family just bid in half of our 180 acres in Iowa 3 years ago into wetlands/CRP program. Before that, the 90 that we bid in was crop ground and the rest was horse weeds/ canary grass all in the flood plain along a creek. There were birds, maybe 20 or so max that we’d see on a late season hunt that first year. However, now we’ve added pollinator/grass mixes where it used to be crops, food plots of sorghum/corn, and it happens to be the ground that is much more suitable for nesting during a wet season. I have to think that should play a huge role in increasing bird numbers.

Bird numbers have definitely increased to where we might see 40 or so on a good hunt last year. What I’m trying to get an idea of is at what point (all else equal) will we “plateau” and reach the carrying capacity. I’d like to think we could see 100 birds in a hunt on this farm some day, and maybe shoot 25-30 off it. Maybe just wishful thinking..
 
I think it depends a lot on conditions on surrounding land, whether it be crops, grass, sloughs, trees, etc. But if your 90 is surrounded by some decent stuff pheasants can use at various times & weather conditions, then shooting 25-30 a season (or at least being able to) would be setting your sights a little low. In my opinion anyway. How long to get to that point??? I could only guess.
 
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There are a lot of variables, our experience, 3 years the numbers were excellent with 125 acres we enrolled with a dozen birds in the area. The CRP of today amazes me with the results.
 
In 2016 we put the remaining 140ish acres of a quarter into CRP. 2 years ago there we a bunch of birds, but we had a population of 40 maybe at the start. Last year there were a ton, guessing at least 100 once the crops came out. Last winter, there were 100s wintering there, granted I don't believe they all started in our cover, but they migrated to the cover as the snow got deep and the temps plumented. After seeing all the birds last winter, we will hunt it every week, had been every other week. Those birds also made me more serious about getting the 5 acres of food plots more productive. When we first started the food plots, I thought we had enough food more most of the birds in the county...not so much now. CRP projects have made a world of difference in the bird numbers locally. Back to the original question, I have to think we are approaching the "carrying capacity" at this point, but who knows. A couple decent springs and a few mild winters and your ground will have the 100 birds....or more.
 
I’m probably coming to this with a “backyard” perspective. All our CRP is bordered on two or three sides by public land. Lots of places for the birds to be.

If the CRP is a block without a lot of other places to be, then I imagine the birds numbers would be higher.
 
Whether you have 80 acres, 90, or 160 (and assuming at least 40 are good nesting & brood rearing acres), I don't think 100 birds on it by summer's end is anywhere close to its carrying capacity. Lets assume your ground has gotten a good start at producing birds for a couple years & there's sufficient winter cover on it or nearby, such that 100 hens nest in that 40 acres in spring. Maybe there are 20 roosters around to do the dirty work. If each nest only has 4 chicks survive the summer, you'd have over 500 birds on it by Sept. 1. If conditions are good, I think that's being conservative. I've seen some pretty small spots (10, 20, 40 acres) with great nesting cover just loaded with young pheasants in late summer/early fall. Again if conditions are good, I'm guessing you could get to that point (500-1000 birds on 90 acres) in 4-5 years. A potential problem as I see it, is that some people (or public ground for that matter) think they have great nesting/brooding cover, but actually don't.
 
With the proper conditions, I'm with A5. I think back 15 years ago when pheasants were like locusts in some places. If they've got adequate food, winter habitat and good nesting conditions, I believe the land can sustain many pheasants per acre. Interesting subject to consider.
 
I’m thinking other things would limit population before they got to those levels. You would have every predator for miles around going there.
 
We have a couple hundred acres of CRP, along with a nice wide creek and cattails running through a crop field on the other half of the property. For the last 10 years, this has been the only CRP in the area. It definitely holds birds, but there are lots of other factors that affect numbers. A few years ago, the neighbor started an aggressive coyote trapping regimen. The first couple of years he snared 50 coyotes a year. Not surprisingly, our numbers really picked up after that.
 
CRP ideally should border stuff like corn, wheat or other food sources. My experience is this combination builds a lot of birds if predators aren't a huge problem. I hunted a 180 acre CRP plot for many years and we easily saw 100 birds each trip usually. This was in Nebraska but unfortunately the field was sold and plowed under and now nothing exists there any more. Really sad and shows the importance of habitat and bird numbers.
 
I agree with the two above posts that the neighbors also make a huge difference. I have unsuccessfully hunted (and tend to no longer hunt) some very nice pieces of CRP type fields in SD that are not boardering any other quality habitat, cattail, sleugh, water, tree line, food source, shelter belt, etc.
 
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