Are Pheasants Toast?

BritChaser

BritChaser

Well-known member
What do you think the impact of the drought has been on the existing adult and young of the year pheasant populations?
 
I personally am more concerned with the potential long-term impact if this winter is a bad one. A local cow/calf operator said he's got 18month old heifers with 3" of hair, which is almost double what he expects for this time of year. He believes this is a preliminary indicator of the kind of winter we can expect. Point being, the lack of thermal cover in some areas concerns me more than the immediate consequence of having a slow season.

To the original question, I think we're going to get a lot of exercise this fall;)
 
I can't speak for anywhere else but I am guardedly optomistic for the birds close to home. Many of the creeks and ponds still have a little water left and it seems to be a decent year for grasshoppers and other bugs. I saw more birds than last year in several places, and heard more quail whistling this year than last year.

I hope they aren't toast. :eek:

KB, I need exercise anyway...
 
I agree that the lack of cover will become a problem. My contact out west is not overly optimistic. He said the hatch was good, but early harvest of wheat combined with the lack of rain has taken it's toll. He said there are still some birds but it will be spotty. Sounds like last year. I love walking in cow crap in thin CRP, doesn't get much better than that:eek:. On a positive note, farmer in SD said drought has had little effect on his birds. He said his wheat harvest was best ever, and his food plots are holding up well. Said the little buggers are all over, and we should have a blast this year. Can't wait for October.
 
carptom1 said:
He said the hatch was good, but early harvest of wheat combined with the lack of rain has taken it's toll. He said there are still some birds but it will be spotty. Sounds like last year. QUOTE]

I'm hearing the same thing. Hatch was good; don't know if they're "hiding" now or if lots of them died/are dying in the heat.

What part of SD did your report come from? Hate to "highjack" a thread, but I too am looking forward to my SD trip and if I remember correctly, we primarily hunt the same quadrant of SD (NE).
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I sure hope they aren't toast. 2010-2011 was the first year I ever hunted Kansas and we were seeing 150ish birds a day, in SW KS. Last year I hunted NW and saw maybe 60-75 a day, which was enough to keep us highly entertained and interested! If we had a repeat or a little bit better from last season, I'd be grateful! The fact that there are a lot of bugs is a good sign. It "should" start cooling off within the next 30ish days, hopefully......i think....maybe....And if it does and KS can get some rains in the fall it may help the crp a little.
 
Where I hunt they had a good hatch!! But they are not seeing young birds anymore! Adults only!!! Might switch gears and head North to the adjoining State!! Not seeing a Fall harvest of any consequence! Milo in one field ranges from belly button high to 2 inches if any!!! Maybe we should just all go out anyway and help out on the farm and spend some money in town! Drought is hurting all aspects of local economy out there!! My dog points Meadowlarks, I am sure there are a few of those for bird work! Just don't shoot!!!!:cheers:
 
ElectricShorthairs said:
I sure hope they aren't toast. 2010-2011 was the first year I ever hunted Kansas and we were seeing 150ish birds a day, in SW KS. Last year I hunted NW and saw maybe 60-75 a day, which was enough to keep us highly entertained and interested! If we had a repeat or a little bit better from last season, I'd be grateful! The fact that there are a lot of bugs is a good sign. It "should" start cooling off within the next 30ish days, hopefully......i think....maybe....And if it does and KS can get some rains in the fall it may help the crp a little.
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Look on the bright side, I probably didn't see 75 pheasants all season last year but I did see a covey of 75 or so.:cheers:
 
Not a problem. These birds are drought resistant for sure. Going to be a better year throughout their range IMO. My VERY preliminaries are as follows:

KS +20%

NE +15%

SD +25%

ND +30%

MT +25%

MN +15%

IA +40%(already an IA DNR estimate)

But longer term I see problems: Loss of CRP, burned up CRP, and IF a bad winter and a bad nesting season in 2013 = well, you know what they say about 13! Not good.
 
Is this science or optimism? :rolleyes:
 
RK Special K said:
Not a problem. These birds are drought resistant for sure. Going to be a better year throughout their range IMO. My VERY preliminaries are as follows:

KS +20%

NE +15%

SD +25%

ND +30%

MT +25%

MN +15%

IA +40%(already an IA DNR estimate)

But longer term I see problems: Loss of CRP, burned up CRP, and IF a bad winter and a bad nesting season in 2013 = well, you know what they say about 13! Not good.
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Drought resistant to an extent they may be, but they're not tempurature resistant, especially in the first 2 weeks of their lives when they can't regulate body temp on their own. The #'s are going to vary greatly across KS like they always do. A simple "20%" increase statewide is pretty difficult for me to believe...many a day exceeded 100 degrees in all of our counties...while parts of E/NE KS may see some improvement, from almost nothing to almost something, it will not offset the losses I expect in the western part of the state. I might buy a 20% statewide reduction in #'s, with some counties actually seeing as much as a 50% increase (areas with 2 roosters per square mile that increase to 3;-). I'm not trying to be offensive, just stating that this projection is "broad-brushed" IMO. I do appreciate the optimistic nature of your predictions though:cheers:
 
These are definitely not "science" and are "broad-brushed" by intent. They are based, however, on my fairly good understanding of the affects of easy winters, good nesting seasons and the moisture requirements of pheasants. Granted, heat could be an issue with very young chicks but that is a relatively small window of time. Mama-hen does a very commedable job of protecting her young after that critical time.

These are not "serious" predictions. They are "fun" estimates based upon a decent knowledge of pheasant biology AND a healthy dose of optimism.

I'll also say that the Iowa DNR predictions of a 40% increase gave me a "peek" at this fall. Can this be extrapolated to other areas? To some degree it probably can, but who really knows at this point. In a month or so we'll be flooded with "scientific" estimates from all the pheasant states, right down to each and every micro-area.
 
I am definitely not an expert, however don't the predators (all types) and man do more damage than mother nature (excpet for hail storms, which I think would be far worse than heat/drought) :confused:

Greg
 
Kansas is burning up again, for the second consecutive summer. as usual, there will be some areas that appear to have some pheasants, but overall, a 10% increase, especially in the SW and NW would be about the best one could expect. SD will remain the best bet for success, Kansas will be poor again.
 
The effects of predation on pheasant #'s is highly overrated. SD has huge #'s of predators BUT has exceptional pheasant habitat that supports large pheasant #'s. Large #'s of predators will take a share of birds but percentage-wise, it really isn't the issue.

Unless you shoot hens and hunt roosters to almost extinction, hunting has NO affect on #'s. Study after study after study confirms this!

Pheasants thrive(and co-exist with predators) where there is huge expanses of good habitat.

Mother nature in all its vengence will have the BIGGEST affect on #'s BUT where there is excellent habitat, this affect will be minimized, but if this habitat is marginal, pheasants will disappear in great #'s

Areas with marginal habitat will have ok #'s UNTIL Mother Nature exerts her rath.

Areas with exceptional habitat, to one degree or another, will withstand the pounding of Mother Nature and almost always continue to have at worst ok #'s. When Mother Nature is kind to these areas, watchout, you may be trampled by herds of stampeding pheasants AND all of their predators chasing them!

Forget about pesticides, predators, hunting pressure etc.

HABITAT, HABITAT, HABITAT
 
No Habitat in the Kansas Desert!!!!!!! 90% of the Habitat was gone when I was there last year after the drought! Can't imagine the Habitat after yet another Drought year!!! That is why I wait for guy's on the ground to tell me what they are seeing!!!!! Seeing , not hearing or hoping!!
 
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