Late hatch possible?

yes, I would say a late hatch, much later than now, would be unlikely. if you are thinking that the recent rains will improve conditions enough to stimulate a breeding/ re-nesting effort, I doubt that will happen...but it will all count toward next year, with some late growth in cover.
 
Last year in Sw ks.what hatch there was I was told was shortly before they began cutting corn. I dont know how that fell but I assume late July early Aug.
 
GSH, I don't know that there is a difinitive answer for you, but I'll throw some mud in the air and you can sort out what you can from it. I went to the office and pulled a pheasant hatching histogram from 1986. From the roadside surveys that year, hatching took place from about April 21 to August 19. This data is of broods seen in the roadside survey, so it may miss important survival data that would affect what was still living once the season opened. The disappointing part of the story for you is that only 0.6% of the hatch occured after July 31, and none after August 19. That isn't much, however, with the improved habitat conditions, their survival may well be higher than earlier broods.

A lot has to do with whether hens have already expended significant energy on earlier unsuccessful nesting attempts AND whether they have gone out of breeding condition already. Those birds will have a lesser to maybe 0% chance of bringing off a brood in the current year. Also, with pheasants, current knowledge is that once a hen has brought off a successful nest, she had a hormonal change that will end her efforts for further nesting. She will need to go through the complete seasonal cycle in order to be "reprogrammed" to come into breeding condition again. My best guess is that there is a limited chance of significant contributions from late nesting hens much beyond August 1. It is reasonable to think that any hen responding to the rainfall of the last two weeks would have little chance of surviving young come season. Such a hen would have 14-17 days of laying and 23 days of incubating to accomplish before chicks would hatch. That would put her well into September, well beyond where normal hatching has ceased, with brooding and accompanied risks for survival that are associated with that. I'm sure it happens from time to time, but to expect significant contributions from such an event would be unrealistic.
 
Troy,
Great answer. So it might happen,but with little chance of survival.
Hopefully,this is the beginning to the end,of what has been a long drought.
 
Troy is on spot!!! Look for some hatches coming off now!!! I think we have another week and it will be done!!!! Crossed fingers!!! I think we are replenishing birds from a year ago, so don't expect numbers to increase! But it is a start!!! Tired of going downhill, so this year may just be the equalizer and next year and the year after will be the rebound!!!!:thumbsup:
 
again....the rain provides hope that the weather cycle is changing....that needs to continue right into next year....recovery is one step at a time beginning with recovery of habitat. :thumbsup:
 
Unfortunately, there are plenty of equalizers. Remember that 60+ counties have been released again for haying and grazing. We still have plenty of residual effects of the drought to deal with. We have also lost over 180,000 acres of CRP in the last year if my memory serves. Pray that we've hit bottom and are reversing direction, but I don't expect miracles just yet.
 
re nesting

each time the hen pulls of a new nest that same year, the hatch is smaller and sometimes much smaller, also, after the 3rd try the odds are great that due to stress the hen won't make it through the year herself and possible very few of her chick, mostly they have had no time to put on the fat.

cheers
 
Troy, great information, thank you. At least the cover should start to improve and that would be something in the right direction for a change.
 
Look at the article in the link below. The link supports what old timers have been saying for years that late summer heavy rains and storms rapidly improves vegetative growth and late hatch possibilities.

http://www.caller.com/news/2009/jan/11/better-late-than-never/

The article talk about the positive late hatch response wild quail had to hurricane Dolly's abundant rainfall in late July 2008. The storm started in south Texas but dissipated on July 27 in Dalhart, Texas and also brought abundant rain to S. W. Kansas.

The question is after a long drought will wild pheasants respond to rapid new vegetative growth (in late summer) after a drought the same way wild quail will.

The people I know who live in the pheasant country in the northern Texas panhandle tells me that pheasants respond new vegetation flowering plant and insects with late pheasant hatches just like wild quail.

If a chick pheasant hatches on Sept. 1, 2013 by Nov. 2 that pheasant is eight weeks old fully feathered, bigger than than a wild quail, ready to survive, a freeze will not hunt him, plus you also have warm days in Nov., by Dec. 2 he is almost fully grown.
 
late hatch

hope you are right but i think science says you are not, a couple of problems, one, the science was lacking in that quail study, two, the birds are in a warmer climate and several hundred miles south of say, kansas. in kansas the quail hatch seveal weeks after pheasants do which further crowds the colder weather limits and in our area stress from repeated nesting tries bodes poorly for the hen's survival and coveys being very much smaller and weak come winter, they just don't seem to have the time to build up fat reserves to make it through the winter and in many years even healthy birds struggle to survive and compete for available food. interesting none the less

cheers
 
All of you fellas that are interested in Bobwhite quail biology need to read two things:

1: The Packsaddle Quail Study by the Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife Conservation.
2: On Bobwhites by Dr. Fred Guthery

These are must reads on Bobwhites.
 
Have switched from rain dancing to hatch dancing.
 
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I've been in North Dakota in the third week of October and seen plenty of immature pheasants before. We had passed on literally hundreds of birds that trip that didn't have any color to them. They couldn't have been more than two months old and that was in October so they would have hatched in the later part of August or even early September. I was also dove hunting in eastern Colorado two years ago and saw a hen with a young brood of 6-8 chicks. I think there should definitely be some late broods this year but time is running out for any hens that haven't had a brood yet.
 
That is all really interesting information, but i would have to agree with mustistuff, it isn't very likely. Although, i know it is possible. A couple of years ago my uncle killed a rooster in late December in Colorado that hardly had a tail and still had white splotches on his head, neck and breast. So we can hope. :D
 
Let's remember that a late hatch and a second hatch are 2 different things. Quail are more apt to pull off a second hatch. I have shot pheasants in Oct. in SD that barely had color in the cheek patch and maybe 2 or 3 feathers of color on the breast. Probably a 8 week old bird , a late hatch bird.
 
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