Snow again

haymaker

Well-known member
South Dakota is getting another blast of winter. We had at least a foot of snow at sundown with more on the way and 50 MPH winds on the way.
 
Saw that. Sure wouldn't hurt the birds or landowners to have a mild winter thought.

In the break between storms my friends got some corn out. Was pretty good corn too considering the adverse conditions during harvest. They saw some birds but mostly were running deer out.
 
I think this will be the end of corn harvest here. So the wildlife will enjoy the corn that is still standing.
 
south dakota

It is hard to tell as it blew around a bit. I haven't been out and about to see what the area looks like. What Sweet 16 gave us is probably right.

how are the pheasant doing so far this winter in South Dakota it looks like the weather has improved since earlier this winter...
 
how are the pheasant doing so far this winter in South Dakota it looks like the weather has improved since earlier this winter...

I think for the most part, winter has been pretty decent so far. It takes something really bad to significantly hurt a pheasant population. A very long stretch of not being able to feed (which usually results from the combination of a lot of snow & a lot of cold). A catastrophic short-term event (like freezing rain or a huge blizzard). We really haven't had that. Yes, some of the small sloughs got blown in with snow, but pheasants are amazingly adept at finding cover. And I think all the wind that came along with much of the big snows actually helped more than it hurt. Many fields were almost blown free of snow. Makes it much easier for the birds to feed. I'm optimistic.
 
how are the pheasant doing so far this winter in South Dakota it looks like the weather has improved since earlier this winter...

I strapped on some snowshoes and hiked back in to the property that I manage for hunting. I saw a few birds, but didn't let Sage run through the food plot or cattails to the extent that she may have wanted to. My food plot is from 2018 (it was supposed to be refreshed this year, but it didn't happen) and the bulk of the corn has been picked clean. Some of the soybeans have been eaten and other, easily accessible beans hadn't been touched. I know there's a whole can of worms surrounding beans, but am only mentioning what I saw. I didn't climb into the cattails, but based on history and tracks, I'm confident they are able to hide adequately. The biggest blessing in my area (as well as many others) was that the early snow prevented a neighbor from getting a row of corn out of a low area. I will try to get some of the video uploaded, but man, the traffic in there was simply incredible.

I get pretty anxious sometimes during the winter regarding the fate of the pheasant, but like A5 mentioned, it takes a prolonged cold/snow to have devastating population loss. Pheasants can hunker down and survive for 2 or even 3 days without too much detriment. With this warm weather (30's here recently) they have been very active the past few days. So far, so good. I don't think this winter has taken any more or any less pheasants than either of the previous two. Granted, the most 'blizzardy' months are ahead, but they don't stick around like the early December snows. If we can get an average nesting season this spring, I am very confident that we'll see increases in most places across the state. If we get an amazing nesting season (not too wet, not too dry, lots of bugs for the chicks to eat), it will be a boon year. This is all in my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt and a shot of Tabasco. ;)
 
I strapped on some snowshoes and hiked back in to the property that I manage for hunting. I saw a few birds, but didn't let Sage run through the food plot or cattails to the extent that she may have wanted to. My food plot is from 2018 (it was supposed to be refreshed this year, but it didn't happen) and the bulk of the corn has been picked clean. Some of the soybeans have been eaten and other, easily accessible beans hadn't been touched. I know there's a whole can of worms surrounding beans, but am only mentioning what I saw. I didn't climb into the cattails, but based on history and tracks, I'm confident they are able to hide adequately. The biggest blessing in my area (as well as many others) was that the early snow prevented a neighbor from getting a row of corn out of a low area. I will try to get some of the video uploaded, but man, the traffic in there was simply incredible.

I get pretty anxious sometimes during the winter regarding the fate of the pheasant, but like A5 mentioned, it takes a prolonged cold/snow to have devastating population loss. Pheasants can hunker down and survive for 2 or even 3 days without too much detriment. With this warm weather (30's here recently) they have been very active the past few days. So far, so good. I don't think this winter has taken any more or any less pheasants than either of the previous two. Granted, the most 'blizzardy' months are ahead, but they don't stick around like the early December snows. If we can get an average nesting season this spring, I am very confident that we'll see increases in most places across the state. If we get an amazing nesting season (not too wet, not too dry, lots of bugs for the chicks to eat), it will be a boon year. This is all in my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt and a shot of Tabasco. ;)

boon year......what is that? lol
 
Back
Top