Pheasant Rebound?

Typical GF&P blather. Even in a down year, they report great numbers of birds to get those licenses sold. It usually works to perfection. Take the trip, buy the license, shoot no birds, complain at the cafe/bar etc. Too late.......
THEY WON!
 
CRP, you are correct! Maybe they should put 15 G F & P's guys out in field, hunting every part of the state, during the first week, before they make their final report. And I mean hard, bone grinding, dig'em out of every nook and cranny, death defying, sun-up to sun-down, work-a-holic, 15 miles-a-day, boot destroying, out-of-breath, vehicle smoking, dust-a-flying, obsessive, compulsive, manic, granola bar and gator-aid for lunch hunting!

I bet that would shed some light on the subject for them!
 
But the reality is, most of us are bird hunting addicts, and we are going to go hunting with or without a good report.
 
Yup, Setter-Nut is right. I'll go fishing or hunting no matter what. If I shoot or catch something it's frosting on the cake. But I do like frosting sometimes.
 
I agree. It might take some of the mystery and adventure out of "seeing what's over the horizon". Whether the #'s are up or down really isn't that important.

I actually think most state reports give a decent, somewhat fair, assessment of the conditions. Although there is a bit of spinning spun in there, for sure.
 
It seems there are two schools of thought on this thread. The first is that the forecast is worthless and not accurate. The second is that it doesn't matter the forecast people are going to go out and see what happens regardless of the the forecast. You might be able to argue for a third as I did read a couple folks think it is pretty accurate. Here is my question, why do they publish a report at all? I'm one of those that would be out hunting most of the season from November to January anyway so I don't really care what's in the report, but I really would like to know why they take the time to put one out at all. Any ideas?
 
Pointer Man said:
It seems there are two schools of thought on this thread. The first is that the forecast is worthless and not accurate. The second is that it doesn't matter the forecast people are going to go out and see what happens regardless of the the forecast. You might be able to argue for a third as I did read a couple folks think it is pretty accurate. Here is my question, why do they publish a report at all? I'm one of those that would be out hunting most of the season from November to January anyway so I don't really care what's in the report, but I really would like to know why they take the time to put one out at all. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

pretty simple really......selling NR licenses.....show me the money!:eek:
 
It can be a wonder with some bird surveys, they are as accurate as the quality of the samplers allows and as the proper procedure is followed.
MI dropped their drumming survey a while back I believe...doubt much has changed as a result.
While there will often be a money/hunter draw component, surveys keep the birds in question at least a little in the minds of DNR-types.
Drop too much of the data gathering and the bigger popular game names will find easier sledding in any state....biologists may even get shifted a bit.
Gamebird Surveys and Forecasts need to remain....unless states are truely strapped for cash like Michigan, the practice helps keep the door open to interest.
Hunters cope, always have and always will.
 
Researching, collecting data, studying the effects of habitat changes from one year to the next, is commendable on the part of state game departments, especially if used to understand and promote better long-term habitat improvement ideas.

For fall hunting purposes, perhaps they should simply release the raw data without commentary and let us hunters figure it out from there. If we had the county-by-county data of the following counts, we could figure out how to use them for hunting purposes:

1. Spring rooster crowing counts - indication of winter survival

2. Spring brood counts - indication of nesting conditions

3. Late summer road bird counts - bird #'s at their peak for the year
before we invade "pheasant land"

I would prefer that the state game departments use the data for LONG-TERM habitat enhancement.
 
Saw the first hatch of quail at the ranch today. Nice hatch of nine 2/3 grown quail. That is the only one so far. A month ago I saw two small hatches of pheasants. I have yet to see any lesser prairie chicken. My hired man and I are all around the property every day and just don't see any birds. Don't see any in the road ditches in our travels. I am leaving what cover and food I have for them, that's all I can do.
 
M. R. Byrd said:
Saw the first hatch of quail at the ranch today. Nice hatch of nine 2/3 grown quail. That is the only one so far. A month ago I saw two small hatches of pheasants. I have yet to see any lesser prairie chicken. My hired man and I are all around the property every day and just don't see any birds. Don't see any in the road ditches in our travels. I am leaving what cover and food I have for them, that's all I can do.
Click to expand...

quail are tough, persistent little boogers, as long as the winters don't get too tough...good for you, hold on to your "seed".
 
Jumping in rather late here, but I don't see how the Pheasants could have rebounded from last year. I agree with some statements that the article was written over our fantastic early Spring.

I have been so busy as of late though, that I really haven't had an opportunity to read anything in regards to crow counts, etc. Last year, things were looking rather well until the Summer drought hit, and I believe I posted an PF article about it in this forum. Probably a similar scenario repeating itself.
 
I think we're talk'n two different languages here:

Kansas-ese: drought stricken and heat torched, barren landscape

Dakota-ese: very mild winter and near-perfect nesting conditions, very
sufficient cover even with the heat and lack of rain.

Well, ok, we are on the Kansas page so I should stick to Kansas-ese. But I'm not very experienced in Kansas.

Can some out there describe for me the difference between Kansas habitat/hunting and Dakota habitat/hunting? What makes Kansas tick?

Kansas is the 2nd or 3rd best pheasant state, so normally it must be a bird machine!
 
Zeepo,

Thanks for the post. One thing from the report--
"• Waterfowl biologists worry that wetlands will be lacking water for the fall migrations if the drought doesn’t end soon. Central Kansas’ famous wetlands, Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, are essentially dry. And low water levels in streams and wells are a concern in Missouri, especially at managed wetlands such as Bob Brown, Nodaway Valley, Fountain Grove and Otter Slough.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/1...drought-woes.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy

The thing I have at the ranch this year in abundance is wading birds. I understand it is because of the situation at Cheyenne Bottoms. Who would have thought my old dry prairie would attract shore birds.
 
M. R. Byrd said:
Zeepo,

Thanks for the post. One thing from the report--
"• Waterfowl biologists worry that wetlands will be lacking water for the fall migrations if the drought doesn’t end soon. Central Kansas’ famous wetlands, Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, are essentially dry. And low water levels in streams and wells are a concern in Missouri, especially at managed wetlands such as Bob Brown, Nodaway Valley, Fountain Grove and Otter Slough.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/1...drought-woes.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy

The thing I have at the ranch this year in abundance is wading birds. I understand it is because of the situation at Cheyenne Bottoms. Who would have thought my old dry prairie would attract shore birds.
Click to expand...

radar showed some rain maybe drifting across DC.....did you get anything M.R.?
 
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