Let's face it. We had a great spring-summer of weather for pheasants!
Anything is better than last year. It will take several years of this weather to see noticeable increases-imo. That said, I like all of you am increasing in excitement for that crisp fall morning to arrive we call "the opener". This will be my 49 consecutive year and I assure you I will have the same chill as when I was a six year old.
What we share is a common love of a bird and what it brings to our hearts/souls each fall. I think about and try to assist them year round. We will see more birds this fall and I have no doubt some increase in our success. Last year proved to this bird hunter that the "joy" cannot be eliminated by empty vests, few flushes or a series of "no" when knocking on doors. I have accepted that I will never know why I love it so much.
I wish to energize our land owners and legislature to put their joy into our habitat sign-up and restoration. We can do it together--no single component of our pheasant recovery will be able to do it alone. My single hen did produce a brood on the family land this spring. It should have happened elsewhere as well. The end of October is near!
