Ice storm

Won't be there long which is a good thing. Looks like Monday and Tuesday will warm back up. They should be alright especially with the excellent cover this year.
 
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That's what I would have thought, but hearing some guys talk about finding quail frozen to the ground has me a little worried
 
JSMITH said:
That's what I would have thought, but hearing some guys talk about finding quail frozen to the ground has me a little worried
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It's not going to last long enough to hurt the birds any. The ones I shot last weekend were loaded with fat, and could handle a week of stress. This ice will only be on a day or two. So far the forecast ice storm has been a big bust. Schools were cancelled here yesterday in preparation, and the highways were dry all day.
 
Crossing shot said:
Not too worried about the birds. How about the wheat?
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The wheat can use the moisture it won't hurt it any either. There is some wheat that doesn't look good, very uneven emergence. I dug some up and the seed is sprouted in the bare spots but not emerged. This could actually be good for the pheasants, if it emerges this spring it will delay harvest. It won't yield very good, but crop insurance wont zero it out if it comes up.
 
The birds stayed in the milo well past noonwhere I was today. Getting to feed shouldn't be much trouble. It rained the entire time and continued raining on us all the way across the state. It isn't nearly as bad as the weather folks predicted it'd be.
 
It is pretty bad out here. Lots of tree's down. Over a 1/2 inch of ice. It's the ice balls on the beaks that cause the problems.
 
This weather we are getting isn't bad enough to affect the birds, if it were we wouldn't have any pheasants or quail. Look at the forecast for this next week. It's 32 in Dodge now, with 34 for a high tomorrow, then 44 Tuesday and then 50's for the rest of the week. Now if it were to last several more days, or get a foot of snow on the back side of the storm followed by severe cold I may be worried. This isn't anything to worry about.
 
Just got back from hunting in western Kansas. This is going to be very bad for the pheasants and quail. You have to be on site to understand how bad it is! Sure, it will warm up Tuesday or Wednesday but by then tons of birds will already be dead. I left hunting early because I couldn't stand to see all my hunting spots covered with ice. It rained all Saturday night and froze instantly. It was raining hard this morning and turned to snow at times. Glad I got back home safely where it is a balmy 47F. By the way, the back roads are a MESS!
 
It's taking its toll on my big Maple...and isn't finished. I'm hoping it survives but now snowing and more is coming down.

 
fsentkilr said:
This weather we are getting isn't bad enough to affect the birds, if it were we wouldn't have any pheasants or quail. Look at the forecast for this next week. It's 32 in Dodge now, with 34 for a high tomorrow, then 44 Tuesday and then 50's for the rest of the week. Now if it were to last several more days, or get a foot of snow on the back side of the storm followed by severe cold I may be worried. This isn't anything to worry about.
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I agree. I was near Dodge and didn't see anything that concerned me.
 
If you look in the picture you will notice there is no ice on the road or as much on the ground as off the ground. I will say it one last time then I am done, it's not cold enough to hurt the birds. Ice balls won't form on their beaks at 32 degrees like it is now in Dodge. It will be above freezing all day there. The link posted above about the birds dying was when the temperatures were much colder than they are now, read through the thread. I will let you know because I am headed out Wednesday to hunt thru Sunday.
 
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Biggest concern is starvation with these types of things. With good cover, the ice shouldn't be a major concern. I could be wrong but this one isn't sticking around as long as some past bird killers. It takes more than three days to starve them.

I've seen birds make it through worse. Actually, western Oklahoma had a bad ice storm a year ago in early December. Birds were getting skinny after four or five days but they made it fine.
 
akp said:
Biggest concern is starvation with these types of things. With good cover, the ice shouldn't be a major concern. I could be wrong but this one isn't sticking around as long as some past bird killers. It takes more than three days to starve them.

I've seen birds make it through worse. Actually, western Oklahoma had a bad ice storm a year ago in early December. Birds were getting skinny after four or five days but they made it fine.
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Exactly, its suppose to be in the upper 40's and the 50's starting Wednesday, and above freezing today and 40's tomorrow. Also the ground is warm enough the ice will go right off, I bet its gone off the ground after today. The ice balls forming on beaks is caused by their breathe freezing when it's extremely cold, not them sticking their beaks up in the freezing rain and letting them freeze shut.
 
Bilbo Baggins said:
Just got back from hunting in western Kansas. This is going to be very bad for the pheasants and quail. You have to be on site to understand how bad it is! Sure, it will warm up Tuesday or Wednesday but by then tons of birds will already be dead. I left hunting early because I couldn't stand to see all my hunting spots covered with ice. It rained all Saturday night and froze instantly. It was raining hard this morning and turned to snow at times. Glad I got back home safely where it is a balmy 47F. By the way, the back roads are a MESS!
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Exactly. About an inch of ice on the ground. It had been cold out here so the ground was already froze hard. About 2000 people here locally without power. Now the wind is starting to blow. It is not going to be as warm as expected.
 
This storm is causing a lot of problems. I have lost a lot of my shelter belt on the east side of the house and have big limbs that have fallen on the house. One big one so I am sure I have roof damage. With the wind the blowing, more trees will come down.
 
I woke up this morning to find a big elm limb down on my kennel. Two pens were crushed. Had a male out touring the containment pen. Had damage to 4 total panels, 2 gate panels and two solid. Took 2 hours to replace them. Will go out after the ice is off and haul off the 2 destroyed panels. Glad I had some spares bought!
 
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