2013 Survey of Pheasant Numbers

KBell

KBell

New member
Well it is finally out:

http://www.iowadnr.gov/Portals/idnr/Arsrpt13.pdf

Polishing the irons after a dismal read of the roadside count numbers. It was interesting to see the logic used that last years conditions may have affected the counts so that the birds really haven't increased at all?

Praying the weather holds out for a later than usual golf season!:) May be a good time to start other hobbies.
 
Very sad. Having lived through the severe decline in Michigan's pheasant and quail numbers since the 1970's, trust me when I say how something that we all took for granted for so long, will be sorely missed. Simply depressing.

Frank
 
reddog said:
There's no bunnies either.
Click to expand...

The bunny count was way up, almost the better than the 10 year average! I live in Northwest Missouri, and I'll tell you we got bunnies here, more than we had last several years. I hate admit it, but the quail got a break from due to the drought too. The pheasants not so much! What helped the quail and rabbits was the number 'prevent plant" fields, which were totaled out and became ragweed food plots! I am always surprised that the wildlife officials are amazed when variation in weather don't seem to set back the native wildlife as much as the experts think.
 
Old and new you crack me up! I have a new tagline for the state. Here goes:

Come to Iowa: The rabbit hunting capital of the Midwest!


What do you think?:)
 
KBell said:
Old and new you crack me up! I have a new tagline for the state. Here goes:

Come to Iowa: The rabbit hunting capital of the Midwest!


What do you think?:)
Click to expand...

I like it! I have one for Missouri, "We're not the rabbit capital of the midwest, but we're real close!"
 
Boys...don't give up! I know it's not what your used to, but a harvest of 150,000 wild pheasants is something other states dream of. I think it is encouraging to see that you have the habitat in place to support a harvest of 600,000 to 800,000 birds, not many states can say that.
 
A harvest of 150,000 pheasants is pretty much a joke considering we shoot more deer than that in Iowa. The habitat is not there to support 400,000 birds. They keep saying the same thing for the past 5 yrs. When you go through one of the warmest winters and warmest and dry springs two years ago and only see a 10% increase in the bird pop. something is askew.
 
To a degree, the cycle that helped pheasants in Iowa will swing back....cycles always do.
What is not known is how many dogs that will take or the degree of recovery, compared to the recent past.
What is clear is that the weather or the Iowa DNR will not play the major roles in any pheasant recovery.
 
kbell polish up your irons and take capt coot on in a game of golf. I think more raccoons have been run over this last month than the entire pheasant population in iowa:(
 
I see the dnr has a new food plot mix out to help remaining iowa wildlife. its a carrot and lettuce mix great for bunnies. after a long days hunt for pheasants you can pick some salad for the long trip home.
 
pheasantaddict said:
A harvest of 150,000 pheasants is pretty much a joke considering we shoot more deer than that in Iowa. The habitat is not there to support 400,000 birds. They keep saying the same thing for the past 5 yrs. When you go through one of the warmest winters and warmest and dry springs two years ago and only see a 10% increase in the bird pop. something is askew.
Click to expand...

Not really. Look at the numbers again - you can't expect a full rebound after one good winter and one good spring. Look specifically at 1990 - that year we had approximately 1.4 million roosters harvested with 4.6 million habitat acres recorded. That equates to .3 birds per acre.

Look at 2012 - 200k roosters harvested with 2.9 million habitat acres recorded. That equates to .1 birds per acre. While a significant delta, not a staggering change IMO.

Since 1990 we have lost 1.7 million acres of habitat - that has part of the problem.

The other part, reading the report - we had 5 straight winters of 30+ inches of snow 2007-2011. After 3 straight winters of 30+ inches of snow in the early 80's it took almost 5 years before the population rebounded significantly to where it was before the heavy snow.

Since we've had 5 straight years of that much snow (up until this last winter) it should take about 7-8 years before the population rebounds - based on the historical data.

Combine that with the fact that we had the coolest and wettest spring during nesting EVER (since 1920) I would say Mother Nature is really kicking our butts here.
 
Other states that have more snow and the bird pop. rebounds quicker. What is that 2.9 million acreas of habitat? Is half of it brome grass? How often is it getting mowed? There's more factors than weather at play here in the steadily decline of pheasants in Iowa.
 
pheasantaddict said:
Other states that have more snow and the bird pop. rebounds quicker. What is that 2.9 million acreas of habitat? Is half of it brome grass? How often is it getting mowed? There's more factors than weather at play here in the steadily decline of pheasants in Iowa.
Click to expand...

yup, its mostly disappearing CRP..........
 
pheasantaddict said:
Other states that have more snow and the bird pop. rebounds quicker. What is that 2.9 million acreas of habitat? Is half of it brome grass? How often is it getting mowed? There's more factors than weather at play here in the steadily decline of pheasants in Iowa.
Click to expand...

hunter94 said:
yup, its mostly disappearing CRP..........
Click to expand...

I agree that there is more at play than weather and CRP going away is a major factor, but honestly farming practices in general are more of a burden then CRP loss.

I'm not a farmer and don't know much ado about farming, but I do know what I've seen over the last 15 years that I've been hunting. The weather combined with CRP and other native grass losses are the prime candidates. You can't entirely blame mother nature just as you can't entirely blame farming, but something has to change to combat the two together. We can't look at it close minded - rather we need to figure out a way to bring back nesting and cover habitat that will withstand the harsh weather we have been seeing over the last 5-6 years.

I guess what I'm saying is that prairie grass and brome grass aren't going to allow the population to rebound. We need heavily shrubbed areas with dense cover near water and food sources - some may say "well duh", but honestly it seems as though the DNR looks at these things with blindfolds on and throws a dart at the board.
 
Last edited:
History

Hello DCup,

The problem is history...When an older farmer was young they could remember their youth (history) of when an old fence line with plumb thickets or an abandoned acreage held birds and sustained them through rough weather. My memories include the 1960's when our shelterbelts and windbreaks would hold several hundred pheasants during the winter months. They would in turn produce the populations in the spring. Our younger farmers have tight margins and profits to consider--memories are not a part of that equation.

The DNR staff speak of weather and habitat influences. . .what else can they do? Most of them IMO are too young to remember bird populations and farming practices that created and allowed the birds to thrive. Farming practices included alfalfa, hay ground and pasture ground to accommodate livestock. Suitable winter cover was also derived by the pheasant from these crop areas to survive Iowa winters. To emphasize this point. . . If the IDNR released a report suggesting radishes to plant and brome grass as suitable cover--what historical knowledge is this based on?

You grasp at straws when you do not rely on the history of why something has occurred!

We hunters and lover of the birds speak of our history and historical knowledge of the pheasant. We are the only ones doing this!
 
Last edited:
It's all in the lack of habitat. I live on the east side of the state, on the Mississippi river, and I have seen farms with nice draws, tiled, and the only thing they're good for is hitting golf balls. Really sad.
 
Damn right it's the lack of habitat!
It's a major problem across the Midwest and prairie.
I'm not buying the approach of these farmers that farm "fence row to fence row"....just because they can make a extra buck. It's greed plain and simple!

What about the short term and long term affects of the extreme habitat loss due to intensified farming?

1. Increased nitrogen into our streams and rivers.
2. Depletion of our underground aquifers to irrigate all the additional acres of corn.
3. Loss of millions of tons of topsoil from erosion.

These farmers need to consider their personal impact on our local, regional and national ecosystems!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top