Hot and Dry Weather

Geez, I just post yesterday about the high temps and the fact there is little to no precipitation in the forecast and in the evening we had several cells develop in our area and the skies opened up. We had wind and some hail along with it but ended up in the Watertown area with 1.59" of rain.

Just remind me that the next time we need some rain to just post it out here. :)
 
Watched the small storms go across the state last night. They were pretty small cells leading to isolated heavy rains. Need a nice border to border rain to sweep across the state.
 
I haven't made it back recently, but how dry is the Aberdeen area? I hear just West of there is the hardest hit area. I am wondering if this dry weather will not only impact the pheasants, but bring back the disease (EHD) that hurt the deer heard last year due to the dry time last summer.
 
I haven't made it back recently, but how dry is the Aberdeen area? I hear just West of there is the hardest hit area. I am wondering if this dry weather will not only impact the pheasants, but bring back the disease (EHD) that hurt the deer heard last year due to the dry time last summer.

Pretty darn dry in the Aberdeen area. Aberdeen is on the edge of the Severe Drought area that extends West and SW of Aberdeen. Then out by the Missouri River there is an area in the Extreme Drought area. Check out this link for SD drought info.


https://www.drought.gov/drought/states/south-dakota
 
They have statistics that show the weather conditions we've experienced recently are likely to negatively affect a crop. We believe the related news to be accurate. They have similar pheasant statistics that probably show areas hit by a somewhat tough winter, coupled with severe drought, will experience a decrease in population. I can understand why you'd LIKE it to be fake news, but I don't see anything fake about it. Weather DOES affect pheasant numbers & drought at the wrong time (like now) usually affects them negatively.
 
Here's the problem. There is no factual data or metrics in the article to support the title. "It's definitely a concern," Runia said. If I had a dime everytime somebody was concerned about weather affecting pheasants!

The state GFP has gotten in big heat from tourism based on the fact that their statistical forecast data doesn't tell "the whole story". A hailstorm can hit one township in one county in the whole state and big God pheasant numbers are plummeting statewide.

We were in the same drought in 2012. We are not now. It does not reflect my situation at all.

The biggest piece of news in this article is that the pheasants are moving west only Runia gives no info as to why. Crop acreage metrics will give you the reason.

I make assessments on pheasant numbers in about mid Dec. State wide forecast pheasant forecasts are worthless except for those that want to use bad or fake news to discourage out of staters from coming to the state so they can have it all to themselves. While this sounds good and probably reflected the way i would have thought 20 years ago I now realize that if you want to have good bird numbers you have to have good cash flow because good habitat leads to good habitat which produces good bird numbers. And thats a fact.
 
Anyone that can believe that weather doesn't effect the pheasant population has to be smoking something. Aside from habitat, weather has to be the next biggest factor. Severe winters (i.e. '96-'97) can have a huge negative effect in some very large areas of the state. Very hot and dry weather during the hatch also can have a big negative effect on young birds. While hail can wipe out areas of birds those areas tend to be quite small. It's hard to believe there is no statistical information to back the fact that weather can effect pheasant numbers.
 
I'm with you, George. There may not be any stats regards to weather, but I can't believe blizzards/deep snow, cold spring rains and hail do not affect the birds. Add shrinking habitat, another factor that affects the population; all part of the mix. It's a wonder any birds survive!
 
A friend sent me a picture of a formerly somewhat marshy quarter. Cows have now grazed it to the nub and there's not a marshy spot left. Land upon which I have hunted multiple sloughs in years past have had every slough baled for the first time in a decade.

I wonder what effect that will have.
 
You could look up our harvest numbers in 12 and 13 and still tell me weather doesn't effect wildlife? Extended drought and heat is bad news.
 
You could look up our harvest numbers in 12 and 13 and still tell me weather doesn't effect wildlife? Extended drought and heat is bad news.

I agree. I hunt private (mostly) irrigated ground in SW Kansas. Before the drought the bird numbers were crazy. Drought hit and I thought we might be ok with all the irrigation, boy was I wrong! It was terrible hunting out there for about 3 years, so bad one year we left opening day private ground in SW Kansas to head back East and hunt public ground with the other 1,000's of hunters! Hunted one time out there in the middle of the drought and kicked up one hen in a half day and as I was walking back to the truck with tears in my eyes I thought it'd never bounce back. But the rains returned and slowly so are the bird numbers.
 
The last major drought the state had was 2012. GFP survey posted 4.2 pheasants per mile statewide. Population was 7.6 million. Harvest 1.4 million. And birds harvested per person 8.9. All highest numbers in the most recent 5 years.

20121030_sd_trd.jpg
 
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The last major drought the state had was 2012. GFP survey posted 4.2 pheasants per mile statewide. Population was 7.6 million. Harvest 1.4 million. And birds harvested per person 8.9. All highest numbers in the most recent 5 years.

20121030_sd_trd.jpg

2013 had 1.5 pheasant per mile. What happened overharvest or weather.
 
I believe it's what time of year the "drought" is happening. If birds got off a decent hatch and the chicks can fly / walk to water you can be ok. This drought was happening during the "peak" nesting time in the N/NC part of the state. I'm fearful it's going to be bad in those areas (which is my area. No precipitation means no insects which means dead chicks. Plus, a hen won't re-nest if her eggs hatch. Only re-nests if eggs are destroyed.
Time will tell.....
 
I live in the bullseye of this drought. I have seen some chicks. They are all about the same size so there must have been a window of opportunity at some point. My concern is also cover. With .85 maybe some of the cover crops that I have planted will come up, but it will take more to make it huntable cover. I am turning big sloughs into smaller ones and some of the CRP will be cut, so the hunters and the cows will share this year. I do not know what we will do with corn but I doubt it will be combined.
 
The last major drought the state had was 2012. GFP survey posted 4.2 pheasants per mile statewide. Population was 7.6 million. Harvest 1.4 million. And birds harvested per person 8.9. All highest numbers in the most recent 5 years. [\QUOTE]

1. Comparing 2012 to the last 5 years isn't a good indicator of whether drought affects bird numbers, because as we all know, they've been pretty much in a decreasing trend for the past decade due to habitat problems (with kind of a plateau recently).
2. The brood count survey is no more than an indicator of what MIGHT be happening w/ pheasant numbers. It doesn't follow harvest data very closely. 4.2 was considerably lower than 8 of the 9 previous years.
3. Harvest of 1.4M lower than the 9 previous years.
4. 8.9 birds per hunter lower than 12 of the previous 13 years.
5. 7.6M birds only higher than 2 of the last 5 years and lower than 8 of the 9 previous years.
6. 2012 drought didn't start to become a big problem until about late August, after chicks were big enough to withstand some hardship.
7. Now look at 2013!!! Everything way down, even compared to 2014-2016.
6. 2013 affected by 2012 drought much more than the 2012 season was. Pheasants entered 2012 winter in pretty tough shape. 2013 nesting season too.
7. Pheasants/hunter harvest has been falling basically steadily since 2007 w/ 2013 seeing a sharp decline. That was following a pretty average winter & spring. So what happened??? 2012 drought.
https://gfp.sd.gov/hunting/small-game/images/pheasant-stats.pdf
 
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