antelopecreek
New member
Guests staying at the "Hunters Cabin" this year have witnessed the strange year of corn and sunflowers being up so late due to Sept/Oct weather issues. Much of the corn may not get harvested til spring around ND. This is actually good news long term for the pheasant hunter for two reasons:
1. Overall less roosters will be harvested because of all the crops up. 50% of birds make it thru the year, but that means another 50% can survive.
2. More winter cover and protein for next years mating season. Birds being healthy for a good spring and the hatch can determine the speed of rebound in population. We had a relatively good hatch in our area and sure enough ended up harvesting quite a few young birds.
A great reference for Pheasant Ecology thru the year we reference all the time is:
Travis Runia SD G&F 2011
https://gfp.sd.gov/userdocs/docs/pheasant-ecology.pdf
Matt
AntelopeCreek/Facebook
1. Overall less roosters will be harvested because of all the crops up. 50% of birds make it thru the year, but that means another 50% can survive.
2. More winter cover and protein for next years mating season. Birds being healthy for a good spring and the hatch can determine the speed of rebound in population. We had a relatively good hatch in our area and sure enough ended up harvesting quite a few young birds.
A great reference for Pheasant Ecology thru the year we reference all the time is:
Travis Runia SD G&F 2011
https://gfp.sd.gov/userdocs/docs/pheasant-ecology.pdf
Matt
AntelopeCreek/Facebook