Forecast is out

watermen

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http://ksoutdoors.com/Hunting/Upland-Birds/Upland-Bird-Forecast
Looks like ksbowhunter was right, pheasants are down in the in the west and SW, likely due to a spring Blizzard, suprise! The northern high plains will be down in a mirror of SW NE. I could not find brood counts yet. Overall looks like a fair season with quail still kicking butt;) Everyone is crying habitat, but numbers will be down in most of the last of the pheasant stronghold in the middle of the country this year for the second, yes second, year in a row. Take away the regional drought and there is a lot of pheasant habitat that is not populated where it should be. Something is going on other than weather. 2015 was the recent peak of numbers, and brood counts are half that in most of the pheasant range.
 
http://ksoutdoors.com/Hunting/Upland-Birds/Upland-Bird-Forecast
Looks like ksbowhunter was right, pheasants are down in the in the west and SW, likely due to a spring Blizzard, suprise! The northern high plains will be down in a mirror of SW NE. I could not find brood counts yet. Overall looks like a fair season with quail still kicking butt;) Everyone is crying habitat, but numbers will be down in most of the last of the pheasant stronghold in the middle of the country this year for the second, yes second, year in a row. Take away the regional drought and there is a lot of pheasant habitat that is not populated where it should be. Something is going on other than weather. 2015 was the recent peak of numbers, and brood counts are half that in most of the pheasant range.

Habitat loss. Everyday I see a CRP field being cut for hay. Lots of CRP being tilled under. Guys get on here and say all summer how good the habitat looks and that could not be any further than the truth. For the last 3 years, habitat has been lost at a high rate. As far as seeing cover on field edges, ditches, and draws, it isn't any better than any other year. You just have people on this site that drive through the state a couple of times a year and once a summer and think everything is great and that just isn't true. I live here and I am an avid upland hunter and have been since the early 70's. Had we not had the ice storm, blizzard, the rain, and the hail, we would have had a decent year. Lots of birds were paired up early due to the warm weather and then we got hammered in late April. Lots of areas had 100% hail damaged wheat crops. More hail this year than I have ever seen. And we lost adult pheasants and not just chicks. Just a disaster. I read the report and it is much worse than what the forecast reads. They won't report that because they want to keep out of state hunters coming to Kansas. I hate to toot my own horn, but I warned everyone how bad it would be. Sometimes I think we have a few on here that serve the commissioners.

By the way, I would take drought conditions over a very wet spring any day for a quality pheasant hatch.
 
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i came out last season, birds were damn scarce.....i follow the reports all summer long, the blizzard in May, the hail all summer long.......not this year, thanks.
and i have no use for GF or their over paid biologists.....this ain't rocket science, boys.
 
There you have it. Some just can't wrap their minds around the habitat thing. Look at what the quail have done. Good habitat + good weather = birds. West Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas.... some of these areas have been as good the last few years as they've EVER been. Pheasants don't have the same requirements. You can't lose 10,000,000 acres of prime habitat and not expect a reduction in numbers.

Take quail where I live near Tulsa. There will NEVER be birds here again. We've altered the landscape too much. Too fragmented. Move west of I 35 and you're in good shape. It really isn't rocket science but many want something more ominous to blame.. hawks, disease, etc. sure all play a role but they're not the driving force. Study after study after study has shown the importance of habitat.

Unless things change, Kansas hunters should just remember 2010 as the last great year for pheasants. Change expectations and maybe you won't be disappointed. Unless the trend on that graph changes, you better get used to it.
 
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There you have it. Some just can't wrap their minds around the habitat thing. Look at what the quail have done. Good habitat + good weather = birds. West Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas.... some of these areas have been as good the last few years as they've EVER been. Pheasants don't have the same requirements. You can't lose 10,000,000 acres of prime habitat and not expect a reduction in numbers.

Take quail where I live near Tulsa. There will NEVER be birds here again. We've altered the landscape too much. Too fragmented. Move west of I 35 and you're in good shape. It really isn't rocket science but many want something more ominous to blame.. hawks, disease, etc. sure all play a role but they're not the driving force. Study after study after study has shown the importance of habitat.

Unless things change, Kansas hunters should just remember 2010 as the last great year for pheasants. Change expectations and maybe you won't be disappointed. Unless the trend on that graph changes, you better get used to it.
See here we go again. You would have to be completely crazy to think that Kansas quail hunting is anywhere near as good as it has "EVER" been. It is improved, yes. Is it anywhere near what it was in the past, not even close. If you have only hunted quail in the last 25 years, then it is easy to be mistaken. Quail habitat is worse than the pheasant habitat in Kansas. The pheasant and quail hatches occur at completely different times of the year. Plus quail will raise several broods a year wear pheasants basically only raise one.
 
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West, you're welcome to reread my post five or six times..... SOME... ask the guys in west Texas if it's ever been better than last year. Damn, you like to argue. I thought I was agreeing with you to some extent but you can't even recognize that.

If 25+ coveys a day is not as good as it's ever been then I stand corrected. Maybe not where you hunt but I was generalizing.
 
West, you're welcome to reread my post five or six times..... SOME... ask the guys in west Texas if it's ever been better than last year. Damn, you like to argue. I thought I was agreeing with you to some extent but you can't even recognize that.

If 25+ coveys a day is not as good as it's ever been then I stand corrected. Maybe not where you hunt but I was generalizing.
This is the Kansas forum and you are giving the impression that Kansas quail hunting is as good as ever whether that is what you meant or not. I could care less about hunting in Texas. I read your post once, that was enough. Disagreeing with someone is not arguing. This is a discussion forum.
 
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Ok west... some areas of Texas and Oklahoma. I was trying to make a point about habitat. Sorry if you misunderstood what I meant. I thought I clearly said some areas. I guess I wasn't clear. You're right. My post was misleading.
 
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Definitely...ethanol, commodity prices, the economy, National Debt and on and on. We know what produces birds and as long as we rely on State and Federal Governments to fund CRP etc. we will just have to go with the ebb and flow. This is not just some state biologists problem to solve, it is all of ours.
 
Guess there are consequences to deregulating agribusiness and disregarding the ecology after all.
 
CRP reduces health care costs. In decades of bird hunting, the only time I have seen a doctor was for a hernia. Six feet tall, 185 pounds with 110/80 blood pressure. If I didn't hunt, I'd weigh 250 lbs. A couple of seasons, I have quit hunting before the end of the season.

I have to believe it's a good thing for millions of adults to get out and exercise. A little preventative medicine. Multiply this by millions of people wanting a couple roosters and you have considerable health care savings. Bringing income for small communities having trouble keeping their hospitals open. Everybody wins.
 
All I read on the forecast was fair pheasant hunting at best. Looks like everyone will flock to the NW opening week.
 
Drove around for 3 hours tonite and saw 1 hen pheasant and 2 160 acre CRP fields that were WIHA scalped to the ground. I have hunted these 2 fields for the last 20 years. Seems like I see a new CRP field scalped every weekend.
 
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