Pheasant Rebound?

M. R. Byrd

M. R. Byrd

Well-known member
Just received my Great Plains Game & Fish magazine and was interested to see on the cover a featured article, "Great Plains Ringneck Rebound, Our Season Preview".

All I can say is "Wow". I didn't realize that things were so good here in Kansas.:rolleyes:
 
I just got it too and read it. It is complete shit and was obviously written in the spring when everything was looking better. Now the article is a total lie IMO.
 
wellllllllllllll ---- you do have to write this stuff a few months before publication. I am not making predictions yet tho I am optomistic.
 
To us pheasant hunters, "dead cats" are the only good cats!

If the chicks made it past "quail size" before the heat really set in, it should turn out good - maybe really good. I don't know when the heat really got turned up in KS & NE. North of these two states, I'm not worried much - #'s will be UP, IMO.
 
If the chicks survived it is still going to be a tough season because the cover is going to be really spares in many areas.

Its going to be what its going to be, even if there are nearly no birds, I will be out hunting with the dogs. Meadowlark points are better than nothing :cheers:
 
SetterNut said:
If the chicks survived it is still going to be a tough season because the cover is going to be really spares in many areas.

Its going to be what its going to be, even if there are nearly no birds, I will be out hunting with the dogs. Meadowlark points are better than nothing :cheers:
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As I sit here in Dubai with my new job I can't help but think how pretty a Meadowlark point would be come mid November.
 
HUNTIN4FUN said:
As I sit here in Dubai with my new job I can't help but think how pretty a Meadowlark point would be come mid November.
Click to expand...

You going to get back in time to do a little bird hunting this fall?

I don't know how many quail and pheasants we are going to have this fall, but there is a ton of Meadowlarks :D
 
Well, if the chicks made it thru AND lots of cover got torched to bare ground, that should only make locating the birds in the remaining cover easier. It could almost do what 2-4 inches of snow does - simplifies the equations to the least common denominator.

I don't hunt with a dog so I find the "easiest" hunting is in WALKABLE snow and dead calm, blue skies, 28 degrees. And finding winged runners is a "cake walk". Ever seen a "runner" try to waddle through 6 inches of new powder snow while leaving a perfect blood trail? Just follow the red brick road!
 
The populations may not be up or even recover to the fullest the only thing that means is hunting will be just that hunting we may actually have to hunt all day and feel some sort of accomplishment when we do harvest a few birds
 
SetterNut said:
You going to get back in time to do a little bird hunting this fall?

I don't know how many quail and pheasants we are going to have this fall, but there is a ton of Meadowlarks :D
Click to expand...

I won't be back for this season. Make sure you save some for me for next season though. The more Meadowlarks the better:)
 
HUNTIN4FUN said:
As I sit here in Dubai with my new job I can't help but think how pretty a Meadowlark point would be come mid November.
Click to expand...

Hey, be careful. Want you back in the uplands as soon as possible.
 
Conditions aren't going to be as bad as last year so hopefully they'll make some type of rebound. Looks like its gettin back down out of the triple digits and y'all should be gettin rain soon!
 
It could be a while before populations rebound from this year combined with the spring before. I've never seen it this dry, ever in my 40 yrs of living in NE KS. The pond in my front yard dried up this year. First time I have seen that happen in the 21 yrs I have lived here.

We will take all the rain we can get but what's going to need to happen is a couple of years of ideal nesting/brood raising conditions.

I can't remember how many days this year so far we have had triple digit heat but there were a lot of days of it and early at that.
 
I'm not worried about adult birds handling the heat and lack of rain but I do "worry" about 1-15 day old chicks. I'm not a bird biologist but Mama hen has her hands full keeping the house in order during a "normal" nesting/rearing season. Does a great job at it too, but add the additional chore of keeping her tiny chicks out of 105 degree heat with the cover getting sparse - maybe heat is not a factor to chicks. I haven't asked a PF biologist that question.

When did temps really start to escalate this past spring? I don't think the
80's would be a problem but beyond that I just don't know.

Longer term, is "pheasant land" slowly drifting northward? Will southern Saskatchewan replace TX, KS, NE fifty years from now? Hope not!
 
Oh, and on the subject of hens/roosters:

I now get just about as excited when I see a hen as when I see a rooster. A hen is 3-4 roosters in a package, to be opened the following year, in the fall. Like a farmer once said to me: " Shoot up them roosters, they ain't worth a damn. Just need a few for stud service next spring." :)
 
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