Kansas reports not accurate by dnr

I wish this forum had a "like post" function. Lotsa good posts here, among the bad ones 😄, I'd like to give a thumbs up to without quoting.
 
I believe the quail are just more prolific. They are native to this continent and utilize the native grasses for nesting. Don't pheasants use wheat for nesting for the most part? Couple the necessity of having a wheat crop that is in the proper stage at nesting along with an already low population and with reduced CRP for cover, it adds up to less birds.

Of course, I haven't pheasant hunted Kansas in several years. This is just my opinion. I did quail hunt the panhandle of Oklahoma last year and the quail numbers were astounding. I talked to a biologist there and he told me the pheasants were just not quite as prolific and quick to rebound from the historically low numbers following the drought.

The drought is one of the major reasons the quail have come back. More forbs and suitable cover following the drought.

Maybe a biologist can chime in here and explain.....
 
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Late May and early June were dry and hot. Did not have to mow and heat alerts were common. So far this year I have not shot a pheasant in Missouri. Quail made another good increase. Did late spring weather affect the pheasants?
 
I think along with crp loss it is like troy said. Depends on the ag operation that year. Pheasants travel alot more than quail to eat, nest, and run for cover. Quail stay in pretty much the same areas. And if the habitat is right the quail will do well in a small area. Last year the farmer I hunt on did all beans because he didnt have time to pretreat for milo and he had a bunch of beans left over. We found very few pheasants in the crp and ditches that ran through the bean fields. When the milo is rotated in the same exact fields, the pheasant numbers can be good to great in these areas. But the quail are always there.
 
What many folks call the bird "count" is actually a statistical index. I forget how many routes are run in the state, I'm thinking it is 60 something. Each route is about 30 miles long selected by the area biologist to survey a cross section of the habitat in that given county. It is run 4 times, 2 in the first half of the 6 week period and 2 in the second half. The results end up as birds per mile and the results are run through statistical equations that compare one year's results to another. It won't tell you how many birds are out there, but does tell you whether the population has increased or decreased and whether the size of the increase is statistically significant or not. Any number of factors can influence the index. Weather, dew, cropping changes, ditch mowing and the list goes on. The more routes you have and the more times you run them increase the precision of the index. If major weather events sit on those 6 weeks and reduce the number of routes run, the index is weaker. A significant effort is made to get all routes run 4 times.

Conversely, some wildlife area biologists are running actual counts. In these operations, biologists and volunteers got to listening stations marked on the wildlife area in the dark and listen for morning covey calls, marking the location of those coveys on an aerial photo. After the calling period has ended, they go out and try to flush each of those coveys and count the number of birds in each covey. More statistics and you can end up with a fair estimate of your fall population.
 
Prairie Drifter said:
What many folks call the bird "count" is actually a statistical index. I forget how many routes are run in the state, I'm thinking it is 60 something. Each route is about 30 miles long selected by the area biologist to survey a cross section of the habitat in that given county. "

74 routes, average 36miles, run 4 times one or more runs during heavy dew. Full report can be downloaded below

http://ksoutdoors.com/content/download/47807/487515/file/Brood Survey 2016.pdf
Click to expand...
 
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I personally think the pheasants numbers are up this year in the NC area I hunt. We killed more birds out the pasture grass with water around it than we did the crp and thick cover. You have to match where you hunt to the weather conditions. I also saw many roosts for both pheasants and quail in the cut milo. Right now with the mild weather the birds are everywhere until we get a good snow and cold weather. The season is only going to get better and better but its been pretty good in the 3 days I have been out this year.

zeepo
 
I completely agree with zeepo!

We shot two this morning in a Walk In field, saw a third. There was water, cover and food across the road, just no telling how many birds we walked past with just the two of us and one dog.

The birds are there, just spread out.
 
Three basic rules:

Know your birds!

Know what quality habitat looks like for today's conditions and time of day!

If you're not finding birds, move!
 
I think warm weather and lots of cover with maybe not as many birds as back in 09ish time frame hampered hunting.
 
Pheasant numbers are up, slightly. Legislature has more to do with an inflated pheasant number report than the KDWPT. Dry land corn does not help.
 
Prairie Drifter said:
Three basic rules:

Know your birds!

Know what quality habitat looks like for today's conditions and time of day!

If you're not finding birds, move!
Click to expand...

This is spot on, I have only been hunting quail for 5 years and I never would have thought that I would find them in wheat stubble but I have the past two years.
 
whatsnext said:
This is spot on, I have only been hunting quail for 5 years and I never would have thought that I would find them in wheat stubble but I have the past two years.
Click to expand...

Wheat stubble has been my choice of cover for the last 30 plus years. Especially when you mix in some fire weed.
 
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