pheasant count

J

JO BO

Member
The North Dakota road survey for pheasant populations is out. Go to North Dakota fish and Game site. Looks good in most parts of the state with the biggest (34%) increase in the South West which already held the highest numbers.
 
Yeah that's no shocker about the SW. Problem is, most of it is pay to play.

I don't know the figures, but even the SW has lost a considerable amount of CRP. I would fair to guess the counts are nowhere near comparable to the mid 2000's numbers, specifically that 2003- 2008 period when CRP acreage was at it's peak.
 
birdshooter said:
Yeah that's no shocker about the SW. Problem is, most of it is pay to play.

I don't know the figures, but even the SW has lost a considerable amount of CRP. I would fair to guess the counts are nowhere near comparable to the mid 2000's numbers, specifically that 2003- 2008 period when CRP acreage was at it's peak.
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Yes but this is still good news!!!! IMO.
 
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One thing I wished ND did was break up the surveys to more than just 4 areas. It's really a very bad way to do it. At least add south central and north central. 4 areas for a state that big is ridiculous. How many areas does Iowa and SD have?
 
Good news in my opinion too. I agree that the mid 2000's , 2005 or so was rediculous , pheasants everywhere. Last year seemed better than the previous two. The CRP loss in the area I hunt is sad. I still think ND is the best ran state for sportsmen I've ever hunted.
 
no roosters

Well it looks like the camouflage training most of the roosters took this summer is paying off.
They were taught the safest way to stay alive is to look like the ladies so by whatever means that were available to them they are now disguised as hens.
Only their cackle as they fly away will tell you, you have been fooled.
 
JO BO said:
Well it looks like the camouflage training most of the roosters took this summer is paying off.
They were taught the safest way to stay alive is to look like the ladies so by whatever means that were available to them they are now disguised as hens.
Only their cackle as they fly away will tell you, you have been fooled.
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Could be the roosters will evolve to safer colors, but can they keep their beaks shut?
 
pheasanthunt said:
One thing I wished ND did was break up the surveys to more than just 4 areas. It's really a very bad way to do it. At least add south central and north central. 4 areas for a state that big is ridiculous. How many areas does Iowa and SD have?
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The North East and North Central parts of the state are practically void of pheasants. In many areas, there just isn't much cover to sustain a lot of wildlife. They have a pretty good handle on where the huntable populations are.
 
bagman said:
The North East and North Central parts of the state are practically void of pheasants. In many areas, there just isn't much cover to sustain a lot of wildlife. They have a pretty good handle on where the huntable populations are.
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So why report numbers in the NE part of state at all? I think they do a below Average job of reporting where the huntable numbers Are in the whole state. Just because numbers are low in an area is not a reason to not report numbers, IMO.

SD reports 13 areas. Iowa 9. And in Iowa NE has low numbers but the still report.

In ND I live in South central and we have excellent bird numbers and they don't report, if you were looking at numbers you wouldn't have any information on that part of state.

All I am is saying is ND imo is a top 5 pheasant hunting state yet they only report 4 zones. Imo this is ridiculous.


Iowa a smaller state reports 9. I would be interested in how many MN Montana or Kansas report. I would bet they report more then 4.
 
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I think 6 zones would be better. NW , SW , NC , SC , NE , and SE. I have only hunted what would be the SC / SE area. Id love to get a little bit further west.
 
kansas does the most intensive brood & crow counts ive seen in a state they release a hole article on what to expect plus have county info etc. they still have probably the fewest pheasants of all the top 5 states mentioned they release like 3 prospect articles winter spring fall montana does alot of info gathering also...

mn regions i think we have 6 are very vage like ND has alot of room to improve south dakota has lots of good info on pheasant prospects there small town economy rely on pheasants so they need to put out quality info to bring in the guys who only hunt sd on high #s years...

as far as lake sakakawea i wish the nd game & fish was as honest as a few locals & brittman every year the nd pheasant report pumps this area as the 2nd best region to hunt in nd??? 1st is SW ND south of interstate west of river then around lake sakakawea??? been that way for years... i see why pheasanthunt would like better info what they put out now is very hit or miss due to there regions huge size ...

as far as public land pheasant hunting MN will treat you much better then most areas in ND i do beleave SW ND has tons of birds but there will be tons of hunters pound 4 pound public land wise id much rather hunt MN over ND if i had to take a group on a pheasant hunt its SD can take home 15 birds in SD 12 in ND ... but 2 extra days to hunt ND u get 7 SD 5 days u will need all 7 in ND
 
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esetter said:
I think 6 zones would be better. NW , SW , NC , SC , NE , and SE. I have only hunted what would be the SC / SE area. Id love to get a little bit further west.
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yes I agree. 6 would be better..

If you stay south of I-94 you will find pockets of birds as long as you are West of Valley city, but you really need to be West of Bismarck to get into really impressive bird numbers.
 
We usually hunt a little North and West of Jamestown. Been pretty good over the years. CRP rapidly declining in that area though.
 
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