Why was it a good season in SE South Dakota?
Because there were a lot of birds
Why were there a lot of birds?
Because they had a great hatch
Why did they have a great hatch?
Here’s a sequence of events that I believe led to a great season of the most birds I’ve seen since the start of early 90's
First Very mild winter with great carryover into the spring nesting season
1 A dry May which led to a great hatch and low mortality of chicks due to hypothermia
2 timely rain in June and July
The dry May caused the cool seasoned grasses to be stunted and the more than adequate rain in the middle of summer allowed the warm season grasses to thrive
to thrive. I saw warm season grasses in fields this year in fields that had been overtaken by Brome.
3 Food plots did well due to timely rains
4 Lack of great heat in July also improved chick survival and allowed morning dew
5 Timely rains caused the forbes/wild flowers to thrive which are usually warm season plants, and therefore increased the number of insects
6 the change of CRP grass management
-Rotational grazing
-Allowing early season grazing on land in programs with stagnant grasslands and with cool seasoned grasses
-Requiring Only 1/3 of grasses to be disturbed on a three-year rotation as opposed to the whole block management of burning or haying
- better management of monoculture fields
-some more small grains
7 larger blocks of land in programs
8 and I see more people leaving some land for the pheasants and wildlife
9 +/- on predator control
(I believe it makes somewhat of a difference at least with skunks and coons)
I believe this sequence of events is about as common as an eclipse. That’s why this year was special.
Because there were a lot of birds
Why were there a lot of birds?
Because they had a great hatch
Why did they have a great hatch?
Here’s a sequence of events that I believe led to a great season of the most birds I’ve seen since the start of early 90's
First Very mild winter with great carryover into the spring nesting season
1 A dry May which led to a great hatch and low mortality of chicks due to hypothermia
2 timely rain in June and July
The dry May caused the cool seasoned grasses to be stunted and the more than adequate rain in the middle of summer allowed the warm season grasses to thrive
to thrive. I saw warm season grasses in fields this year in fields that had been overtaken by Brome.
3 Food plots did well due to timely rains
4 Lack of great heat in July also improved chick survival and allowed morning dew
5 Timely rains caused the forbes/wild flowers to thrive which are usually warm season plants, and therefore increased the number of insects
6 the change of CRP grass management
-Rotational grazing
-Allowing early season grazing on land in programs with stagnant grasslands and with cool seasoned grasses
-Requiring Only 1/3 of grasses to be disturbed on a three-year rotation as opposed to the whole block management of burning or haying
- better management of monoculture fields
-some more small grains
7 larger blocks of land in programs
8 and I see more people leaving some land for the pheasants and wildlife
9 +/- on predator control
(I believe it makes somewhat of a difference at least with skunks and coons)
I believe this sequence of events is about as common as an eclipse. That’s why this year was special.
I’m going back this week to bring my pup to my breeder/trainer…52 on Thursday! 5 days forecast at 40 or better in the next week…everything else in the 30’s…no snow…yada, yada…things could change…but birds haven’t been stressed yet…
