2021 RINGNECK OUTLOOK

BRITTMAN said:
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A state of emergency order signed Tuesday by South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem will allow producers to begin mowing ditches for hay. A Department of Transportation rule prohibits mowing ditches in eastern South Dakota until mid-summer primarily to provide cover for pheasant chicks.
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No, your governor said it was an early spring, which means early hatch, and this won’t affect the birds...she said things are looking great as far as pheasants go, so plan your hunt now!
 
There is 30 years of GFP data that suggests peak hatch is always the first week of June. My suspicion is that this year was no different than any other year.
 
She’s hot, yes, but has no credibility when it comes to biology, wildlife, etc...they outright admitted that they cancelled the brood count survey because they didn’t want to deliver bad news, and further inhibit NR hunter #’s...your assertion about peak hatch probably was aided/verified by biologists, maybe even including the aforementioned survey that was cancelled...
 
I talk to lots of farmers/ranchers who acknowledge that they kill lots of chicks cutting hay every year...reality is, the longer it can be put off, such as ditches, the better...I feel for those trying to feed livestock in a year like this...
 
ok, if the landowner gets the CRP payment, then money from SD for opening their land up. PLUS NOW ALL THE HAY.
I WANT MY DAMN HABITAT MONEY BACK TOO! let's share the pain here folks!
 
benelli-banger said:
There’s a limit of how much can be hayed/grazed, so you can request to get $12.50 back, as 50% is the limit of what can be hayed/grazed. I’d take an 8” x 10” pic of kristi in a flannel Oxford blouse unbuttoned 3 holes down...show a bit of a blaze orange push-up bra!🥳
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don't think i have ever seen 50% left uncut, much more like 20% if that.
who would enforce it this year anyway? even my $12.50 is going into someone's kitty.
my point is the hunter gets the leftovers, barely. it's ok, i know what to do.
 
hunter94 said:
don't think i have ever seen 50% left uncut, much more like 20% if that.
who would enforce it this year anyway? even my $12.50 is going into someone's kitty.
my point is the hunter gets the leftovers, barely. it's ok, i know what to do.
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I own ground and did a cattle owner a favor in 2012...did the haying deal, it was limited to 50%...maybe mine was different...WRP, vs CRP?
 
benelli-banger said:
Piling on to the cancellation of the brood count survey, the 40% drop in NR licenses sold over the past decade, etc...
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I don't have a dog in the fight so to speak, and agree with you on the brood survey, but I don't see the connection between a 10 year slide in NR license sales with a governor who has been in office for 2.5 years? Sensationalize much?😏
 
Bob Peters said:
I don't have a dog in the fight so to speak, and agree with you on the brood survey, but I don't see the connection between a 10 year slide in NR license sales with a governor who has been in office for 2.5 years? Sensationalize much?😏
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Sorry, I failed to fully construct the point I was making; the cancelation of the survey occurred last summer, in the throes of the NR license slide...not suggesting any governor should focus on license sales...certainly her administration is trying to revive and grow license sales, given the marketing $ they are directing to that, and any other lip service they can give to the sport, such as the tag line she added when the ditch mowing dispensation was granted. I would suggest that politicians focus on the factors that create wildlife, like habitat, and let the biologists do their thing, and trust that hunters will come (as somebody else stated, “build it and they will come!”). I would interpret her decisions/statements to be a bit on the disingenuous side, but to each his own. Yes, I sensationalize a lot...gotta quit that!😜 Kidding...I don’t think I do that, I try to offer constructive information that will help fellow hunters who are here for the right reasons...I tend to shy away from hotspotters.
 
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a lot of the frustration (low bird numbers) coming up this season is going to be due to the drought and it's affect on bird recruitment.
the timing with the additional $25 habitat fee (started last season) sure doesn't help.
i have last years maps, so i can see if any habitat ground was added, which i doubt has occurred.
my point is throwing money at a problem rarely works. emergency grazing will help the cattle guys, stripping the ditches of cover, early, will be detrimental. a lot of motels and others will suffer too. i just wish the state would be straight up with the bird numbers.
 
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The drought is a very minor inconvenience if the habitat exists on the ground. The birds can overcome a bad weather year or two very quickly with an abundance of good habitat. SD can advertise til the cows come home but we won’t have bird numbers that are worth traveling for until habitat acres increase substantially.
 
Bob Peters said:
I don't have a dog in the fight so to speak, and agree with you on the brood survey, but I don't see the connection between a 10 year slide in NR license sales with a governor who has been in office for 2.5 years? Sensationalize much?😏
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labrador said:
The drought is a very minor inconvenience if the habitat exists on the ground. The birds can overcome a bad weather year or two very quickly with an abundance of good habitat. SD can advertise til the cows come home but we won’t have bird numbers that are worth traveling for until habitat acres increase substantially.
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Great article from a year ago entitled “SD now flying blind when it comes to bird#’s”....don’t know how to import it here, but quite critical of that decision, which wasn’t open for public comment...
 
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