Has anyone heard the pheasant forecast for MN? It seems that a lot of the snooping I have done shows more birds this year than last in most of the upper midwest. I spend a good deal of time in southern MN and have been keeping my eyes open, but haven’t seen any lately. I know they spend a lot of time hiding in the crops at this time of year.
The “official” DNR pheasant forecast and map should be out within a week. Keep checking the dnr website.
The road side count from August should be posted after Labor Day. Although some people use this as a guide, it may not always be indicative of how many birds are in one specific area.
A mostly mild winter, followed by a bone dry June, crops planted on time in the spring, and crops harvested on time this fall should all equal good population numbers. The fall weather is the one game changer. A wet fall delays crop harvest and hinders success. Last November we also got dumped on with heavy snow and that hindered my ability to hunt. Hoofing through deep snow for the last month+ of the season was rough.
The other issue is that there will likely be more hunters this season. More competition and pressure makes them smarter and harder to hunt.
Hearing from my in laws who farm that there is a good amount of birds this year
Wendy Krueger our regional wildlife manager from Marshall said the roadside routes she ran in early August had the highest counts since 2006. What I have noticed besides seeing good number of birds is the brood size is big and the birds themselves are way bigger than normal for early September. They definitely got an early start nesting with our dry spring. Going to be a good fall to be chasing roosters.
I see the roadside counts are up on the DNR website. Up 42% over the pheasant range and up 146% for us here in southwest Minnesota. Looking forward to giving the hound a good workout this fall.
I see the roadside counts are up on the DNR website. Up 42% over the pheasant range and up 146% for us here in southwest Minnesota. Looking forward to giving the hound a good workout this fall.
Where are you seeing this? I just checked the DNR website and its still posted as 2019.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>steelslinger71 wrote:</div>
I see the roadside counts are up on the DNR website. Up 42% over the pheasant range and up 146% for us here in southwest Minnesota. Looking forward to giving the hound a good workout this fall.Where are you seeing this? I just checked the DNR website and its still posted as 2019.
The links in the “Annual Roadsides Report”.
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/hunting/pheasant/index.html
I’ve got it now. Had to refresh into a new browser, thanks.
There will be no shortage of birds. Or hunters.
This is great to see!
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