Moisture coming….

I saw that some places in North Dakota could receive 2 feet of snow.

Whether its rain or snow, its good news. I prefer rain at this point though in mid April.
 
Been watching radar and forecast close. COntact in MT had.45 last week and said others had an inch. Buddy in Northern SD said they had good mud 2 weekends ago after it quit raining. farther south though didn't get any. Forecast has a chance in many parts that really need some. Fingers crossed.
 
April blizzards are often a pheasant killer because the birds have moved out of normal winter covers and are exposed.

The length (# of days) of the storm, the total snowfall, and the insane winds ... this one is definitely a pheasant killer ... not going to say it is doomsday, but not good either.
 
Yikes, if areas are getting 30 inches and the winds we have been having here, the cover will be blown full. Tough on birds for sure,
 
Better now than November…but not ideal…good news is they weren’t too stressed from a tough winter, at least where I hunt in ND…
 
Same here B-B. The birds couldn't be in better shape following this past winter. The snow won't stick-around long this time of year. But 30" of wind driven snow would bury any in cover, this is when cedar trees are saviors. Any conifers or even stands of deciduous trees will save them. I have seen pheasants fly into conifers that were on the edge of town just in front of a snow storm.

As ASC brought-up am not sure what the bird flu could do, hadn't even thought about it with pheasants. I have also seen pics of bunches of snow geese that supposedly died of the bird flu. I could see it being an issue, I hope not.
 
remy3424 said:
I could see it being an issue, I hope not.
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I was told by a vet that wild birds are not affected by the avian flu - rather, they are hosts. I don't know if that's true or not, but certainly wild birds aren't bunched up and crowded into a barn like domesticated poultry area, so the likelihood of a major outbreak amongst wild birds is much more unlikely.

Think of it it in human terms. If we crowded thousands of people inside somewhere together versus a bunch of people gathering outside together, where is an airborne virus going to spread easier?
 
Again spring storms like this can be detrimental to pheasants because they are out of winter cover and moving out all over the landscape.

Winter was relatively easy and the population should have been entering April in great shape and in good numbers.

ND runs a crowing count so that will tell us some this spring. Guess we will see.

Sad, because this could have been an insanely exceptional year ... based on total hens nesting

Still can be a very good fall. Nesting habitat and spring and early summer weather are key.
 
Had 2 roosters and 3 hens that would walk by my house along highway ditch before storm. Lost one rooster day before storm by a hot rodding teenager. Been looking for them the past 2days and just now saw the rooster but no signs of hens. Hope they show up soon.
 
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