Pheasant state of emergency?

D

duckn66

Well-known member
With the ever changing farming practices which brings on a continued loss in habitat, CRP going away, and the past few years of drought do you think that KS pheasants populations will ever rebound to what they once were?

I look at Iowa as an example (and I could be dead wrong) but they had several years in a row of bad weather, loss of habitat, and ultimately a loss of their birds. I used to know a guy in Humeston Iowa that raised and trained labs. Back in the mid 90's he told me about how in the 80's he could walk out his front door with a lab and be back in short order with a limit of birds.

I wonder if KS will make a full recovery? All the reports I hear and read about the pheasant population, especially so far this year makes me a little concerned.
 
Been wondering the same thing, it's down right depressing. I love to hunt the SW part of the state. Yes, the cover has recovered a little, but there's no birds. A few here and there, but the breeding stock is bad out there right now. So, your going to need multiple years of a good hatch for it to recover. Well, when's the last time that's happened. I hate to be a negative Nancy and I hope the glory days return to the SW part of Kansas. 10 years ago I'd put that place up there with anywhere in the Mid-West. Not sure what the next 5 years will bring???
 
It will be very interesting. The state hasn't pimped out our wild bird hunting this year like they started to last year.
 
duckn66 said:
It will be very interesting. The state hasn't pimped out our wild bird hunting this year like they started to last year.
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My wife and I were just sharing a "laugh" about KDWPT'S poor and unfortunate timing. This is not the kind of upland hunting they were hoping to sell.
 
Very poor pheasant hunting in the SW right now. I have time on my hands but don't know if I want to put hunting pressure on the few remaining birds. I have a honey hole that is my barometer on the bird population. Normally, I flush a dozen roosters and a couple dozen hens from this one spot. This place is not hunted by anyone other the me. This year, there were only two hens and the cover was decent. Lots of CRP is GONE now and some of the other stuff is still very poor. Some cover has rebounded a bit since August but no birds.
 
I have been hunting NC kansas for the past 5 years and just in that short amount of time I have seen a noticeable decline in birds. I cant immagine the decline you local guys have seen over the years. I feel that the high grain prices and ethanol are the worst enemies of pheasants currently (besides weather). Those are both factors that the state cant control.
 
On my trip to ND this year I decided to take mental notes on the cover and compare. One thing that really stands out is they still have fence rows (with good cover) and tall grass in ditches and roadways. In KS all of the fence rows are systematically removed, ditches cut, and every inch possible cultivated for crops. Even if there were a nice fence row or uncut ditch I wouldn't expect birds to be there if it's surrounded by winter wheat. Modern farming practices just isn't leaving enough of cover for the birds. Can't really blame the farmers they need to make a living, but they could leave a little. If we want the bird population to rebound they need the habitat to do so.
 
Ranger Danger said:
On my trip to ND this year I decided to take mental notes on the cover and compare. One thing that really stands out is they still have fence rows (with good cover) and tall grass in ditches and roadways. In KS all of the fence rows are systematically removed, ditches cut, and every inch possible cultivated for crops. Even if there were a nice fence row or uncut ditch I wouldn't expect birds to be there if it's surrounded by winter wheat. Modern farming practices just isn't leaving enough of cover for the birds. Can't really blame the farmers they need to make a living, but they could leave a little. If we want the bird population to rebound they need the habitat to do so.
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You got that right! SD this year was the same. more cover, farmers have more CRP yet, dirty fence rows, sloughs with cattails, etc. but that is changing also with the corn push. Saw some CRP sections of land that were awesome bird producers in years past, gone this year, all in corn! A lot of farmers are tiling the wet areas that were good habitat for winter survival. I grew up in Iowa in the 50'-60's, awesome pheasants then! When the farming habits changed getting rid of livestock and plowing ditch to ditch and the CRP disappeared in the 90's for more corn, the pheasant population did too. Can't see much of a recovery with the present high corn prices and no habitat.:(
 
1fun37 said:
You got that right! SD this year was the same. more cover, farmers have more CRP yet, dirty fence rows, sloughs with cattails, etc. but that is changing also with the corn push. Saw some CRP sections of land that were awesome bird producers in years past, gone this year, all in corn! A lot of farmers are tiling the wet areas that were good habitat for winter survival. I grew up in Iowa in the 50'-60's, awesome pheasants then! When the farming habits changed getting rid of livestock and plowing ditch to ditch and the CRP in the 90's for more corn, the pheasant population did too. Can't see much of a recovery with the present high corn prices and no habitat.:(
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I guess when corn falls back to 2.50 bushel they will whine for CRP enrollments...nice cycle if you farm.
 
The bad part about KS now adays is they dont care. They assume out of staters will keep coming to KS to hunt but slowly but surely it will stop all together. Just look at Iowa. Kansas is on the same take if nothing is done soon. I remeber seeing pheasants and quail together in ditches and thickets along roads now nothing. Why cut ditches? I just dont understand anything Ks is doing anymore.
 
The license fees will rise to make up revenue for the loss of hunters who won't come anymore. All the states are getting crazy on the non-resident small game licenses plus the habitat stamps.
 
In about 1986 we had a TERRIBLE blizzard with a deep snow that had a very icy top and it killed a LOT of birds (North Central Kansas). It was not uncommon to come across an entire covey of quail dead in the snow/ice still in their little circle. It took at least 5 years before we started seeing quail and pheasants again in huntable numbers.

I think the birds will come back....it will take a few years and good weather for those few years. I know we aren't hunting our property very much. We have CRP buffers around every production field that generally holds the birds very well, but we just aren't seeing them.

Chris
 
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