Ice storm

Yeah, thanks Tom. It smashed Trapper and Birch's pens. Dogs were ok, but totaled 2 6x10 panels and put the hurt on 2 gate panels. I had extra 6x10's but had to patch up the gates. I hate Elms!
 
This storm ( for Texas, Oklahoma and western Kansas) will produce big time benefits ,in the long run, for pheasant and quail.

The meteorologist calls the storms hitting Calif. the "pine apple express" coming out of the so. pacific, they will keep coming. But those storms don't just stop at the west coast, they keep moving east bring valuable moisture to the southwest and the Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas big wheat country.

According to Joe Bastardi, with Weatherbell a weak El Nina will last all spring and summer 2017. The moisture from those storms last spring and summer (2016) produced the best quail crop in Texas in 30 years. The Panhandle pheasants also bounced back big time surprising a lot of people.

The reason for the good hatch is the nutrients produced by the abundance of healthy green vegetation produce by the abundance of moisture.

Before we get healthy pheasant and quail chicks we first need healthy pheasant and quail eggs. In the hens we need a healthy fat uterus to produce more healthy eggs.

The late Jan. and Feb. sun will work on that moisture laden wheat to turn it green and healthy. The hen pheasants will also feed on the green wheat that is full of nutrients and tiny insects and gain weight.
 
Preston1 said:
This storm ( for Texas, Oklahoma and western Kansas) will produce big time benefits ,in the long run, for pheasant and quail.

The meteorologist calls the storms hitting Calif. the "pine apple express" coming out of the so. pacific, they will keep coming. But those storms don't just stop at the west coast, they keep moving east bring valuable moisture to the southwest and the Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas big wheat country.

According to Joe Bastardi, with Weatherbell a weak El Nina will last all spring and summer 2017. The moisture from those storms last spring and summer (2016) produced the best quail crop in Texas in 30 years. The Panhandle pheasants also bounced back big time surprising a lot of people.

The reason for the good hatch is the nutrients produced by the abundance of healthy green vegetation produce by the abundance of moisture.

Before we get healthy pheasant and quail chicks we first need healthy pheasant and quail eggs. In the hens we need a healthy fat uterus to produce more healthy eggs.

The late Jan. and Feb. sun will work on that moisture laden wheat to turn it green and healthy. The hen pheasants will also feed on the green wheat that is full of nutrients and tiny insects and gain weight.
Click to expand...

The ice also breaks up the canopy of the trees allowing more undergrowth in wooded areas which is good for quail. I just talked to a good friend of mine who has two different feedlots both of which have a couple dozen pheasants running around when he feeds. ( I thin them out every time I'm out there across the road where they roost). He said they acted perfectly normal this morning, and the roosters were actually playing around fighting. He doesn't think the ice is going to last long enough to have bad effects either. I will be hunting for 5 days starting Wednesday, if the storm had any ill effects I will know.
 
We didn't hunt on Sunday, but drove around SC Kansas. Everything off of the ground was frozen, but everything on the ground was not frozen with highs in the upper 30s and raining steadily. There was a little bit of ice late in the afternoon on Saturday but the birds already had their crops full by that point I am sure.

Temps in the high 30s yesterday, high 40s today and 50s for the remainder of the week -- those birds will be fine. Looks like the entire state is going to be in the same type of condition. I doubt this storm has much of an effect on bird populations.
 
While the impacts of ice storm are hard to study b/c we can't predict where and when they will happen what we do know from studies that happened to get hit with storms is ice can have both direct an indirect impacts to survival. Quail are going to be much more suseptable then pheasants.

In marginal habitat without the approriate protective cover birds will be exposed more to the initial impacts of the storm and not be able to seek adequate refuge from covey headquaters. In these conditions you can observe some birds that will have ice form on beaks preventing breathing/eating or even birds frozen to the ground in extreme cases. see below from MDC on observations of collared birds during severe weather.

https://mdc.mo.gov/blogs/more-quail/quails-life-during-snow-and-ice-storms

In good habitat with good escape cover birds can find shelter from the initial impacts of the storm and may spend several days in a thicket or other cover. But if there is enough ice to encase food for an exteneded period of time, quail are not strong enough to get through the ice to get the appropriate food resources and can die of starvation due to higher energetic needs to stay warm during these same conditions.

The ice from the current storm was not on long enough to create real concerns of starvation. However, a lot of our marginal habitat has filled over the last 2 years to help create the large populations we're currently enjoying. We are likely to see some direct mortality in these areas but we won't have a good feel for how serious the impacts are until our spring whistle survey in June. With good nesting/brooding conditions quail can quickly recover from any winter losses we would see and next falls numbers are much more reliant on summer production.
 
KDWPT Small Game Program said:
While the impacts of ice storm are hard to study b/c we can't predict where and when they will happen what we do know from studies that happened to get hit with storms is ice can have both direct an indirect impacts to survival. Quail are going to be much more suseptable then pheasants.

In marginal habitat without the approriate protective cover birds will be exposed more to the initial impacts of the storm and not be able to seek adequate refuge from covey headquaters. In these conditions you can observe some birds that will have ice form on beaks preventing breathing/eating or even birds frozen to the ground in extreme cases. see below from MDC on observations of collared birds during severe weather.

https://mdc.mo.gov/blogs/more-quail/quails-life-during-snow-and-ice-storms

In good habitat with good escape cover birds can find shelter from the initial impacts of the storm and may spend several days in a thicket or other cover. But if there is enough ice to encase food for an exteneded period of time, quail are not strong enough to get through the ice to get the appropriate food resources and can die of starvation due to higher energetic needs to stay warm during these same conditions.

The ice from the current storm was not on long enough to create real concerns of starvation. However, a lot of our marginal habitat has filled over the last 2 years to help create the large populations we're currently enjoying. We are likely to see some direct mortality in these areas but we won't have a good feel for how serious the impacts are until our spring whistle survey in June. With good nesting/brooding conditions quail can quickly recover from any winter losses we would see and next falls numbers are much more reliant on summer production.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply- we appreciate having Kdwpt on this forum
 
KDWPT Small Game Program said:
While the impacts of ice storm are hard to study b/c we can't predict where and when they will happen what we do know from studies that happened to get hit with storms is ice can have both direct an indirect impacts to survival. Quail are going to be much more suseptable then pheasants.

In marginal habitat without the approriate protective cover birds will be exposed more to the initial impacts of the storm and not be able to seek adequate refuge from covey headquaters. In these conditions you can observe some birds that will have ice form on beaks preventing breathing/eating or even birds frozen to the ground in extreme cases. see below from MDC on observations of collared birds during severe weather.

https://mdc.mo.gov/blogs/more-quail/quails-life-during-snow-and-ice-storms



In good habitat with good escape cover birds can find shelter from the initial impacts of the storm and may spend several days in a thicket or other cover. But if there is enough ice to encase food for an exteneded period of time, quail are not strong enough to get through the ice to get the appropriate food resources and can die of starvation due to higher energetic needs to stay warm during these same conditions.

The ice from the current storm was not on long enough to create real concerns of starvation. However, a lot of our marginal habitat has filled over the last 2 years to help create the large populations we're currently enjoying. We are likely to see some direct mortality in these areas but we won't have a good feel for how serious the impacts are until our spring whistle survey in June. With good nesting/brooding conditions quail can quickly recover from any winter losses we would see and next falls numbers are much more reliant on summer production.
Click to expand...

The kind of shape the quail were in going into the storm makes a big difference in how they handle it also. The ones I have been shooting have had lots of fat on them. The pheasants are the same way. There hasn't been any heavy snows or extended severe cold to stress them yet this year. I'm getting in the pickup now for the 4.5 hour drive to Dodge, I have been waiting for the fog to lift here.
 
fsentkilr said:
The kind of shape the quail were in going into the storm makes a big difference in how they handle it also. The ones I have been shooting have had lots of fat on them. The pheasants are the same way. There hasn't been any heavy snows or extended severe cold to stress them yet this year. I'm getting in the pickup now for the 4.5 hour drive to Dodge, I have been waiting for the fog to lift here.
Click to expand...

Oh, sure, drive within 300 yards of the office and don't stop in! Have a good trip:)
 
The roads are getting better with the sun and wind. I know the area good enough to know which ones to avoid. I hunted one spot this afternoon and shot two roosters. I also saw two nice conveys of quail, and 3 flocks of lessers. The dogs pointed several chickens. Both of the roosters had a good layer of fat on them. This was in WIHA in the middle of nowhere so they hadn't been babied. I had been seeing birds here driving from my dog pen to Dodge all year but hadn't hunted it until today. It gets hunted hard early. I also saw a dozen or so hens.
 
Roads in NC Kansas are impassable. Farmers pulled two trucks out of the ditch today around me. I walked far to get to some spots today!
 
KDWPT Small Game Program said:
In good habitat with good escape cover birds can find shelter from the initial impacts of the storm and may spend several days in a thicket or other cover. But if there is enough ice to encase food for an exteneded period of time, quail are not strong enough to get through the ice to get the appropriate food resources and can die of starvation due to higher energetic needs to stay warm during these same conditions.

The ice from the current storm was not on long enough to create real concerns of starvation. However, a lot of our marginal habitat has filled over the last 2 years to help create the large populations we're currently enjoying. We are likely to see some direct mortality in these areas but we won't have a good feel for how serious the impacts are until our spring whistle survey in June. With good nesting/brooding conditions quail can quickly recover from any winter losses we would see and next falls numbers are much more reliant on summer production.
Click to expand...


I'm hoping the first part of this reply explains what I found yesterday. 4 quarters of nothing but crp corners bordered by corn/wheat, weedy fence lines, crp corners on neighboring properties, and large healthy pastures...pastures and corners have interspersed plum thickets.

2 or 3 covies we possibly found with maybe 4-6 birds a piece. We shot 3 total for the day and I'm praying we didnt wipe out last survivors. (PS - we only shot due to what I had found in the past and assumed the covey was just broken up - and due to the amazing habitat and feedback I had been getting about great quail #'s, past experience there and having hunted not far away finding good sized covies before the storm-- we are not blood thirsty folks looking to wipe out a covey...these birds were in close enough proximity that if they were stragglers they should be able to combine with the others we found)


You couldn't artificially create better quail and pheasant habitat. Grass was certainly thicker than the previous 2 years but I did see lots of signs of quail roosts as we found the covey scat rings on the ground - not sure how old they were.

Last 2 seasons I've only hunted these same 2 places in January 2 times each Jan - ABSOLUTE best hunts of the year and best hunts i had had in a # of years - end of last Jan found 9 or 10 covies of 15-20+ birds a piece with plenty of pheasants.

Yesterday the dismal display - saw 1 hen and maybe 4 roosters. We did see one covey of quail across the road in a very old thick shelterbelt we couldnt hunt near a cattle stock tank - about 12 birds.


I'm really praying they were just everywhere we were not yesterday -- I also did not get the best dog work out of my dog. She just wasn't with it and was dragging all day - she could smell a couple of the pheasants but couldnt pin point them...I would have thought with all the dampness the dogs could smell great - my buddy had a lab and a golden with him - but they only flush stuff within 10 yards of him as they dont move or range any further than that. I think my dog was getting bored towards the end and I also dont know if she may have some sort of virus as well.

Either way the ice storm that missed Wichita for the most part sure did a # of on the trees where we went.


Also through the grapevine - a good friend of mine I chatted with on the way home - he's becoming friends with someone our Outdoor writer always does a writeup on every year about quail it seems - he had hunted same place he found 13 covies before the ice storm routinely and only found 2 - so he stopped hunting the area - I've asked him to follow up again with him to see what he's thinking or finding - I think he bird hunts 3-4 times a week if he can.

I'm going out again Sat and maybe Sun -- on the drive home I did see a couple quail not far from where we were cross the road and visited with another farmer about 7 miles away from where we hunted - I could hear the quail whistling in his shelterbelt at his house and there were numerous roosters in what I call his 1/4 section CRP preserve -- it's like a zoo - he doesnt allow hunting on that particular patch as I think he likes seeing the birds there which is my only guess - but it is their mecca and saw a decent # on the road. But that little patch has always been an anomaly. I was able to hunt it on accident due to a miscommunication with his wife 3 years ago and damn near had my limit in a couple hours - luckily he wasnt mad at me as he understood I was only hunting there due to an honest mistake. He's let me hunt his place since then.
 
Last edited:
Did not hunt Sunday, in fact, Bilbo II and I drove back home the 550 miles. But, we did stop at a couple fields to inspect the ice and it was ugly where I hunt. I think many of the pheasants survived but with the quail it might be a different story. I have had dozens of opportunities to shoot quail this year but passed each time. If I get back out in the next two weeks I will check the quail since I know where most of the 12 to 15 coveys hang out on the land I hunt.

On the brighter side, I had great luck finding farmers in the rain Saturday. I reconnected with all my regular guys Friday and Saturday morning. Got permission from two new farmers to hunt where I know there are some pheasants but I did not have permission previously. Already cleaned my gear and put everything away until fall but I could be fully loaded in 15 minutes if lightning strikes me. I don't think I can take Bilbo II out of school any more to drive for me. Saturday he put my new truck into 4 wheel drive/low and drove me to places I never even dreamed about before. Never got stuck but came close in a couple places that didn't even have low maintenance roads, more like a tiny quad trail. That was pretty cool, thanks to Bilbo II.
 
westksbowhunter said:
Roads are getting worse not better. Rain yesterday, rain today, and more rain tomorrow.
Click to expand...

I drove on them all day, there is no doubt they are better where I was. It didn't rain on me. I had a good day, shot my limit of phez this morning, and 2 quail on the way back to the pickup after my fourth bird. I also saw a pretty bad wreck at 283 50 junction about an hour ago, I hope everyone involved is ok.
 
ksRingtail said:
Where abouts are you? Was thinking about hunting republic/Jewell counties. Roads aren't very good up there I'm sure they're a mess.
Click to expand...

I'm hunting north of Jetmore today. The roads are way better than two days ago. The traffic making a path has helped a lot. My first walk I shot one rooster. I saw quite a few birds and one huge convey of quail. They flew up by a friends house.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top