Killer rain

FCSpringer

FCSpringer

Moderator
I now wonder how this rain were getting, is going to take a toll on our pheasant hunting. This stuff is about the hardest thing on birds. We have a 1/2" layer of ice on every thing, hope it warms up enough today to melt it. They were doing fine around here, but now I wonder.:( I might have trouble with my bird netting, I have a bunch in there but don't want to release any now.
 
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The birds in my area have been hit by the trifecta. Deep snow, followed by bitter cold, and now a thick coating of ice. The Bible says God cares for the birds of the air, so I think its reasonable to pray for the pheasants, I do.
 
HHR, Yes, it is all right to pray for the pheasants, I do it all the time. With our population being so small. I have to pray for a mild winter to help the ones there are to survive. So we have a better season next year......Bob
 
So far around Aberdeen we have dodged the bullet. It's been warm enough to just be in the form of rain. But west and SW of Aberdeen in Edmunds and Faulk counties they have had a lot of ice. I understand there are thousands of power poles down and some wide spread power outages. I think the Sioux Falls area and that part of the state got some ice also.
 
We may dodge the bullet too, it did warm up, and most of it melted off the trees, I did get it off the netting, time will tell now. It may be tough for them to scratch down now after it drops below 0 again Mon. they say. it will be hard stuff when it locks up. And we got 3-4" of heavy wet crud on top after the rain now. There is still Ice stuck on the ground though. Well see if my birds pop out tomorrow to feed in the driveway. Nothing came out today.
 
Those pheasants that can get to feed, being a cattle feeding area, waste grain, or grain dumped out by concerned folks will pull through the Winter in good shape.
 
I think things are ok around Sioux Falls. I live just nothwest and the temps were good yeasterday. There were outages Friday in south Sioux Falls, but I do not know where the lines were down.
I counted 7 roosters and about as many hens just west of my house around the neighbors farm. He has cattle there. I hope there are some I am not seeing as there were about 60 birds on the creek behind the farm just before the weather got bad at Xmas.
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BUY GRINDER
 
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FCS, maybe, hopefully some one else nearby has a feeding station?
 
Nope, know em all, not a chance. They all know I do it and thank me, for raising them ect. as we never used to have any around, but they all never do anything to help them, they just hunt em and go ice fishing. Now it's zero vis. out, blizzard. So I probably won't know till tomorrow if they come out again. Hope they are just tucked in for a few days and will show back up. I have seen that before. But the more time that goes by the more I wonder. We'll see.
 
I hope they show up for you Ken, I also hate to the weather take its' toll on our birds. What a waste, but that is Mother Nature........Bob
 
FCS how good of cover is in your area? Are there a few cattail bogs? Some good thick brush? A place to get out of the wind?
My experience with pheasants is if they can get to good feed they will hole up during adverse weather then first calm day will venture out to feed.
Hope this is the case.
By the way, up nort is not a nice day. Very blustery and drifted roads.
 
Hang in there Ken, the birds are probably just trying to stay out of the wind. Just keep feeding them like you have been doing and they should be ok.
 
Weather has been atrocious here as well. Having a blizzard right now that is running through the center and northwest part of the state. I'm sure some birds will die shortly. Very discouraging.

Farmer's almanac is calling for a very wet spring as well. Things are looking down in the dumps.
 
Holy moely, the wind was nasty, we had 58 mile an hr winds. You couldn't see your own hand in a few spots. But warmed up to 8 below with 25 below wind chill this morning. Sun is out so all the crittrs should be out today.
 
Well then there were 2. I am aparantly down to two birds. &^%$ ing rain.:mad: I have only 1 rooster and 1 hen. The tracks in the snow speek the same story. I think they are toast. They were all here a couple times every day right up to the rain. Then it poured all night and the following day. It was the worst ice storm I have seen in my lifetime here. It is just not suposed to rain in MN in January. Hunting may be tough around here next fall.
It was alot of work but I might have to start over with the release program. It took a few years of not hunting them however. I have allready put in an order for a buttload of eggs for the incubator. Hopefully some of the other spots we let them go over the years faired better. I am going to make the rounds this weekend and see whats around.
 
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