When was the golden age of pheasant hunting?

1990-2000 in central Ia was pretty sweet. Neighbors CRP surrounded our farm, one neighbor had a pasture that he hadn’t grazed in over 20 because of bad fences. In 5th-6th grade w/single shot 4/10 was able to get a few roosters hunting by myself. Now no more CRP, dad bought that pasture for $6,000 an acre and plowed it under. Farmers hate trees and tall grass
 
Pheasants: About 1986-2000 in Iowa. It was nothing to start at 0800 and have a limit before 1000. About 2007-2010 in Kansas, and as someone mentioned before, a four rooster limit in a few hours every time you went out. About 2011-2014 in Western Nebraska. A limit each and every day you went out. Bad winters, droughts, hail and lack of habitat hurt all of those places. Iowa and Kansas are slowly coming back, Nebraska not so much.
Quail: About 1983-1987 in south central Nebraska along the Kansas border. That was the best quail hunting I've ever seen. 20-30 big coveys every day. We hunted every day we could and never hunted the same covey twice! There were so many quail we only shot Bob's and never the covey rise only singles and we took turns. First guy to shoot a hen quail had to buy a round of drinks.
 
I just talked to my buddy last week, he was hunting along the Nebraska border and had good luck on roosters and quail. Said they saw lots of birds. That's what I was referring to.
 
In my hunting lifetime would say 1990 - 1994, 2005 - 2009, 2012 - 2019 (less one year in there somewhere) were the most productive years in the states that I hunt especially if I am noting birds moved. I would say the 2020s have been very good but for a variety of reasons not quite where it was ... probably in part due to my private land contacts across several states dwindling as landowners change. I will also have to note that from about 1994 - 2019 I spend more time (# of days) chasing ruffed grouse (and woodcock) than pheasants. Still do balance the two, but has shifted back more to pheasants ...

MN was indeed great in the 2005 - 2009 era and I have hunted and killed birds in probably 20 - 25 counties across MN. I would say over the last 25 years I have gravitated pretty far west compared to where I started pheasant hunting when I moved to MN in the mid-90s. I would say 80% of my pheasant hunting has been in MN for sometime now. It is a very good pheasant hunting state. There were some years in the 2005-2009 time frame where my combined MN bird harvest of ruffed grouse, woodcock, pheasants, and a prairie chicken or two hit some pretty high marks.

ND is a bit vulnerable to tough winters, but private land is always decent if not fantastic. If you cannot consistently kill all the birds you want on ND private land (barring a catostrophic winter), something is wrong with how you approach it. Public land is hit much harder now than it ever was say 20 - 35 years ago. The 1990, 1991, and 1992 season were marked by phenomenal hun and solid sharptail hunting too. I have hunted and killed pheasants in at least 25 ND counties since about 1978 or so, but 4 or 5 counties standout as long as winter behaves. I had my first bird dog in '81 and the early 80s were pretty good and that was pre-CRP and pre-PLOTs. Less posting, less hunters with dogs, less hunters with good dogs, minimal NRs (I was still a resident), and almost no pressure after opening day. We spent Thanksgiving Fri - Sun on a large SW ND GMA in the mid-80s. We never saw another hunter. Birds were a bit cagey, but walking the woody draws and creeks ... crazy good. Pass shot sharptails has they came off the river bluffs from the sunflower fields.

I have been SD multiple times and IA once, but do not have enough experience in either state to pin down a golden time. I have not had much reason or I suppose time to return to those states that often.
 
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The mid-1970s were fantastic in MN. I had access to a lot of ground in the central part of the state and there were lots of dirty fencerows and undrained sloughs. That was also a time when every little pothole in the cattails would have mallards on it, and there were enough Huns and sharpies around to make for great mixed bags.

That said, bird numbers in the Dakotas are really good right now, too.
 
My father is in the nursing home and a couple weeks ago, there was a new "old fella" at his table in the dining hall. As often happens with me conversations turn to pheasant hunting. This new 90 some year old fella starts telling how in the 30s and 40s the pheasants were so thick, they followed the planter, digging up and eating the corn seed. The "government" would give the farmers boxes of shotgun shells to shoot them. He said he had to have shot thousands of them, they just left them lay. That must have been close to the pheasants all-time hay-day.
Today, I am pretty certain there has never been more birds on our farms than any other time....a great time to be a bird hunter. A severe winter storm or maybe the "bird flu" could quickly change things.
 
Kansas is coming back? Based on what I've read here it seems to be a barren desolate landscape and there's no hope in the future.
For me, I will say parts of Kansas are back, and this happened quickly! I have mentioned on here before that 2 years ago, I had a 9 month old pup that we walked close to 50 miles before I was able to shoot her first rooster to retrieve. Last year was good, and this year has been amazing. I do remember the good ol' days in Kansas when I was very young and carrying my BB gun. There is even a family story of me shooting one in the head that was hunkered in a tree row at age 7 out of the window of a pickup. (Apparently this action was encouraged by my out-of-state cousins that were hunting with us?!? ;) )

Sure, things under different habitat management could be better, but they could also be much worse without the changes in farming practices. Currently, there is a lot more fall crop acres that birds can be in during the day making them harder to locate and harvest than when more birds were seeking the condensed areas of cover and food sources in the 60's-90's. The CRP acres and access to public land has also changed, but there are still plenty of acres to hunt. Shooting my limit each day doesn't excite me like it did when I was younger. Having opportunities to get out, exercise, work the dog, and almost always having shooting opportunities that sometimes fill daily limits, is perfect for me. I am a better hunter because of this. Building relationships, strategy and trusting your dog and execution can be as rewarding as a bag full of birds for me.
 
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My father is in the nursing home and a couple weeks ago, there was a new "old fella" at his table in the dining hall. As often happens with me conversations turn to pheasant hunting. This new 90 some year old fella starts telling how in the 30s and 40s the pheasants were so thick, they followed the planter, digging up and eating the corn seed. The "government" would give the farmers boxes of shotgun shells to shoot them. He said he had to have shot thousands of them, they just left them lay. That must have been close to the pheasants all-time hay-day.
Today, I am pretty certain there has never been more birds on our farms than any other time....a great time to be a bird hunter. A severe winter storm or maybe the "bird flu" could quickly change things.
A farmer in SD told me that happened to him several years ago. The birds were digging up the corn seed after planted on one side of the field. He apparently had a lot of birds on his property.
 
A severe winter storm or maybe the "bird flu" could quickly change things.

Obviously weather is a variable that affects bird populations (and wildlife populations overall), and I don't think anyone would disagree with that. Floods in June during peak nesting or severe drought or an ice storm during winter can severerly impact things but are out of our control.

Bird flu is not going to ravage wild pheasant populations, ever. It may kill a few, but it will never impact them signficantly because wild pheasants do not hang out inside barns amongst thousands of other pheasants (unless we're talking flare nares, which aren't wild birds anyways). Its the constant proximity of birds close to each other indoors that wreaks havoc, which is why its devastating for domesticated commerical poultry.

The biggest variable is habitat. To have naturally-reproducing wild upland bird populations, you need habitat. Big Ag has a say in that, and they will continue to have a say in that.
 
Obviously weather is a variable that affects bird populations (and wildlife populations overall), and I don't think anyone would disagree with that. Floods in June during peak nesting or severe drought or an ice storm during winter can severerly impact things but are out of our control.

Bird flu is not going to ravage wild pheasant populations, ever. It may kill a few, but it will never impact them signficantly because wild pheasants do not hang out inside barns amongst thousands of other pheasants (unless we're talking flare nares, which aren't wild birds anyways). Its the constant proximity of birds close to each other indoors that wreaks havoc, which is why its devastating for domesticated commerical poultry.

The biggest variable is habitat. To have naturally-reproducing wild upland bird populations, you need habitat. Big Ag has a say in that, and they will continue to have a say in that.
Don't tell this to the snow geese....from what I understand it can/does effect wild birds. I need to do some of my own research to be sure.
Edit, on a quick Google search, it does seam to effect wild birds, the bigger thing sounds like the strain of it, there are high and low pathogenicity, the high variants kill the birds. I think that this bird flu is one reason to not feed pheasants, as it brings many birds closely together. If the conditions were become such, that them finding food is a real issue, I will be feeding them yet.
 
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Don't tell this to the snow geese....from what I understand it can/does effect wild birds. I need to do some of my own research to be sure.

Yes, it can. Geese are notorious for having it. Keep in mind waterfowl are a flocking bird so they are in close proximity to each other more often than something like upland birds are.

Let's be honest, if bird flu picks off a few more snow geese, that's nothing to bat an eye over. Their populations have erupted and need to be trimmed anyways.

The current strain is more likely to be fatal than previous strains too. The behavior and proximity of birds is a large factor at play with bird flu. Its also circulating in certain species of mammals such as dairy cattle. California actually just declared a state of emergency over it, as over 400 dairy cow farms have it at the moment. It affects milk production, but its not fatal in cows.

I didn't mean to send the thread off track with this post.
 
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Dad talked about going out at night clubbing pheasants in the 1950s because they were digging up all the corn seed.

Lots of oats raised in those days, that enabled pheasants and jack rabbits to raise young after seeding and before harvest.

They shot jack rabbits by the pickup load, sold them over a scale to mink farms.
 
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