benelli-banger
Well-known member
I love it...I am one who "peels the onion" a bit too much...but that is OK...have a good time at the meeting...report back what you learn!
Drought is Good News for Pheasants!
- Thread starter UGUIDE
- Start date
Keep peeling it is a big onion. I am going to that meeting too, having breakfast with David Montgomery Monday morning. I don't always agree with Chris but he is not all wrong here.
I'm not a farmer. I do believe they should be able to farm in the manner they see as most successful. What the drought really points out is the need to end the current CRP program, and go to a more permanent, long term formula. Take erodable lands out of production permanently, and manage those lands locally, for local benefits. Recreation, hunting, wildlife. After billions spent on CRP, we are going to end up right where we started.
There are easement programs right now that will do what you are talking about.
The CRP program needs to have the "reserve" portion maintained. We may need that land at some point in the future.
Farming in the manner they see as most successful has caused us to lose about half of the organic matter in our soil, but I agree with you on that. What needs to change is what is percieved as most succesful. We need to take a long term approach to agriculture as opposed to what will make me money this year. That is a paradigm shift and that will take time.
reddog
Well-known member
Totally agree.
Im not a farmer, but any stretch of the word, although I do raise a healthy garden.
Ive had farmers tell me that the BT stalks take several years to "break down" whether thats true or not, maybe someone else can elaborate. They say the stalk is more like plastic than organic matter in regards to breaking down.
The primary area I hunt, received 23 inches of rain this year. Another farm 18 miles north, received a little over half that. Obviously, the yields are going to be better where there was more rain, but for now, the bird count is higher up north according to the landowner..
UGUIDE
Active member
Maybe see you there. I actually learned how mob grazing can help build soil!
UGUIDE
Active member
Conservation Agriculture is more like "healthy gardening". My farmers are pretty good at it and they farm corn, beans and wheat on 9000 acres so it is scalable.
Soil Organic matter is the one measure you can look to to tell what state your asset is in. If I were a landowner who had a tenant farmer producing on my ground, soil organic matter, it the one measure I would want them to report back to me, each year, that they are building up and not degrading my asset. We are a long way from having something like this in place because so many producers have such a dollar chasing short term time horizon to manage from.
BRITTMAN
Well-known member
This site will not replace PF.
Be careful of purchasing any product that kicks money back to a cause (any cause). Often you can purchase exactly what you want at a far lower price. If so inclined, take the difference and donate to the cause of your choice. Your personal donation will most always exceed the portion of the sale donated by the company.
Many of these promotions are more feel good sales. To often these "sponsored" products donate a very low percentage of sales to the sponsor organization. That said, if these sponsor donations (from percentage of sales) are pulling in money from people that would not be donors, than it can be a good thing... and everyone feels good.
Be careful of purchasing any product that kicks money back to a cause (any cause). Often you can purchase exactly what you want at a far lower price. If so inclined, take the difference and donate to the cause of your choice. Your personal donation will most always exceed the portion of the sale donated by the company.
Many of these promotions are more feel good sales. To often these "sponsored" products donate a very low percentage of sales to the sponsor organization. That said, if these sponsor donations (from percentage of sales) are pulling in money from people that would not be donors, than it can be a good thing... and everyone feels good.
I have been following this and other threads about brood counts this year
I think UGuide made a few off color remarks about the counts.I have never hunted at one of his lodges but would like to in future .He seems to be knowledgeable about farming and pheasant hunting.
I think to prove his point he should list all his lodges by name and total
Pheasant kill for 2016 and then show results for 2017.
Not the week kill but total kill for each lodge I think
This will show if he is wrong about counts or if he is right. Then that could
Show prove that his way of farming
Should be looked at in the future by other farmers who are interested in
Having pheasants on there farms
Just a thought jim
I think UGuide made a few off color remarks about the counts.I have never hunted at one of his lodges but would like to in future .He seems to be knowledgeable about farming and pheasant hunting.
I think to prove his point he should list all his lodges by name and total
Pheasant kill for 2016 and then show results for 2017.
Not the week kill but total kill for each lodge I think
This will show if he is wrong about counts or if he is right. Then that could
Show prove that his way of farming
Should be looked at in the future by other farmers who are interested in
Having pheasants on there farms
Just a thought jim
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If you would check he does that by the week for the farm he owns and the other farms he reps for all you have to do is look around on his web site. I have hunted his farm for several years and another of his properties. I've hunted SD for many many years. I believe his assessment over the state or anyone else's. You can believe what you want. Uguide doesnt have anything to prove to you or anybody else
UGUIDE
Active member
You can find UGUIDE News from the homie page and then from there on the right hand side there are a host of various categories of News and Articles. Look for Pheasant Harvest Survey Report for all the harvest reports submitted by each group of hunters at each camp each week of the season.
http://www.uguidesdpheasants.com/news/
http://www.uguidesdpheasants.com/news/
Thank You For Info On Your Site.Looks Like You Had 3262 Birds taken At your Camps In 2016.Thats A Lot Of Birds.If Brood Counts Are Right You Should End Up With About 2000 Birds Taken This Year.Thats Still Alot Of Birds.But if you End Up Like Last Year Than Your Farming Practices Are
Working And Everyone Should Look At These Results.
I Do Believe That The bird Count Is Down This Year.And This Will Be Verified
at end of season.So This Will Be A Good Test For Your Group.
I Mean Know Disrespect To Your Views You Certainly Know More Than Me
About Farming And Pheasant Habitat
Thanks Jim
How do you do that ? Never seen that before.
UGUIDE
Active member
This is why we started posting harvest data in first place to separate us from state data. We find that those that manage locally for pheasants produce different results than what state data indicates.
We find state level data does not do us much good nor serve us well. As such is forecasting really possible or wise?
UGUIDE
Active member
What's really amazing about that number is that this is not only fair chase but self-guided fair chase. We have no control over shooting skills, hunting skills and dog skills.
Hunters like those on this forum submit all their harvest reports to me and I post them.
benelli-banger
Well-known member
It looks like for 2017 UGUIDE is running 72 hunts...8 camps, 9 weeks...assuming each hunt has 6 guys, that is about 400+ hunters stepping afield for a 3-4 day hunt...do the math...you end up with about 3600 birds bagged...no disrespect to UGUIDE...he is doing a nice job...this is what you'd expect from a pay to hunt operation, guided or not...and his hunters are a notch or 3 above the level of most guided pay to hunt operations, IMO...they have dogs and know how to hunt. To the poster that plans on using the 2017 totals to compare the status of the SD bird population vs the prior year, I assume the harvest totals will be about the same...don't assume that the hunters hunted til dark in 2016....lots of limits probably occurred in a few hours...this year, limits may be had, but by hunting longer....so the harvest figures may look similar. may be not. Again, no disrespect, but if you have a total of 20,000 acres of habitat spread across 8 different farms (probably much more than that as far as huntable acres), and you turn 400-500 hunters loose over a 9 week timeframe, they are going to knock down 5,000-7,000 birds...i think at some point a 50% retrieve ratio was uttered by UGUIDE, which may have been a figure used for a portion of the season, or, the whole season, I don't know. The bottom line, this is a fine operation, and this is what happens when you simply work the numbers.
I am just one guy who doesn't do pay to hunt stuff, just love to hunt...normal year I probably host 5-6 hunts...sometimes 7...group size varies...but our annual harvest #'s get kind of eye-popping until you run the #'s...6 or 7 guys are going to normally harvest around 20 birds per day, 60, 80, or 100 per hunt....depending on trip length, obviously...x 5, 6, or 7 hunts...I hunt mostly private land, but rarely do I have over 1000 acres of habitat to hunt on a typical hunt...the farms I hunt change each hunt, depending on what is going on with that landowner...I have my 1/4, which we hunt twice each hunt...day 1, and the last day...that 1/4 would produce 400-500+ birds a season back in the day...and not just the peak, peak years. much less than that now, but still a good piece of ground. again, I tip my hat to UGUIDE...I probably will become a customer some day, as my land partner is about 15 years my senior, and at some point if he wants out, I will probably suggest we sell, and then I will do more wandering, and not be tied to one area...I would still hunt that area a good deal, but I want to hunt the Lemmon area in the worst way! I want to live there, honestly. I will hunt sharp tails ALOT more than I do...favorite game bird to hunt and to eat....but you have about a month to hunt them before they get spooky and the pheasant seasons open and make land access harder....
I did a minute of research: the 2013 blizzard out west occurred right after temps in the 80's...the cattle hadn't grown winter coats. they were in summer pastures, not protected winter pastures. ground was unfrozen, they went to low lying areas and got stuck. rain soaked them first, then the heavy snow and high winds (70 mph) froze them and they died. No real correlation to pheasants...sure, lots of birds froze, as happens in storms like that...but lots of birds made it to heavy cover. A hot, dry drought smack dab in the peak of the hatch is devastating...hey, these birds have been around for over a century...here, that is...we know they are survivors...BUT CAPTAIN UGUIDE, WE CANNOT DEFY THE LAWS OF PHYSICS! If Trump needs another press spokesperson, assuming Huckabee's daughter loses the gig sometime, you could do it! You "stay on message" with the best of them! oops! wrong thread! meant for a thread in the SOUTH DAKOTA section...sorry. but I will leave it.
we need some Blaze orange hats for UGUIDE: MAKE SD GREAT AGAIN!!!! hey, he is kind of doing it...no kidding.
I am just one guy who doesn't do pay to hunt stuff, just love to hunt...normal year I probably host 5-6 hunts...sometimes 7...group size varies...but our annual harvest #'s get kind of eye-popping until you run the #'s...6 or 7 guys are going to normally harvest around 20 birds per day, 60, 80, or 100 per hunt....depending on trip length, obviously...x 5, 6, or 7 hunts...I hunt mostly private land, but rarely do I have over 1000 acres of habitat to hunt on a typical hunt...the farms I hunt change each hunt, depending on what is going on with that landowner...I have my 1/4, which we hunt twice each hunt...day 1, and the last day...that 1/4 would produce 400-500+ birds a season back in the day...and not just the peak, peak years. much less than that now, but still a good piece of ground. again, I tip my hat to UGUIDE...I probably will become a customer some day, as my land partner is about 15 years my senior, and at some point if he wants out, I will probably suggest we sell, and then I will do more wandering, and not be tied to one area...I would still hunt that area a good deal, but I want to hunt the Lemmon area in the worst way! I want to live there, honestly. I will hunt sharp tails ALOT more than I do...favorite game bird to hunt and to eat....but you have about a month to hunt them before they get spooky and the pheasant seasons open and make land access harder....
I did a minute of research: the 2013 blizzard out west occurred right after temps in the 80's...the cattle hadn't grown winter coats. they were in summer pastures, not protected winter pastures. ground was unfrozen, they went to low lying areas and got stuck. rain soaked them first, then the heavy snow and high winds (70 mph) froze them and they died. No real correlation to pheasants...sure, lots of birds froze, as happens in storms like that...but lots of birds made it to heavy cover. A hot, dry drought smack dab in the peak of the hatch is devastating...hey, these birds have been around for over a century...here, that is...we know they are survivors...BUT CAPTAIN UGUIDE, WE CANNOT DEFY THE LAWS OF PHYSICS! If Trump needs another press spokesperson, assuming Huckabee's daughter loses the gig sometime, you could do it! You "stay on message" with the best of them! oops! wrong thread! meant for a thread in the SOUTH DAKOTA section...sorry. but I will leave it.
we need some Blaze orange hats for UGUIDE: MAKE SD GREAT AGAIN!!!! hey, he is kind of doing it...no kidding.
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