Pheasant Map Is Out

The MN pheasant map is out. Looks pretty good.

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I see more yellow on that map than red or brown. Statewide up 10% from last year so maybe the map is deceiving.

gimruis wrote:

I see more yellow on that map than red or brown. Statewide up 10% from last year so maybe the map is deceiving.

Here is the 2022 map:

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dirk-w. wrote:

Here is the 2022 map:

Thanks Dirk. Definitely better in some west/south areas and not as good in some of the northern/east areas. That one specific area in Todd County near Alexandria is a massive drop.

numbers are up 101% in the SW region over last year and up 83% over the 10 year average… total statewide up 26% over the 10 year average. I love hearing that. I’m hoping that trend is similar on the SD side of the border.

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

I’m hoping that trend is similar on the SD side of the border.

Iowa is up 15% statewide. They released theirs yesterday too.

SD doesn’t do them anymore, I’m sure you already knew that.

Not a pheasant guy by any means, but this is interesting information to see.

We are in Wabasha County and I’ve seen more locally the past 2 years than I have at any point the previous ~20.

buckybadger wrote:

Not a pheasant guy by any means, but this is interesting information to see.

We are in Wabasha County and I’ve seen more locally the past 2 years than I have at any point the previous ~20.

IMO this stuff is even less reliable than creel surveys on Mille Lacs. I hunt an area not too far west of you that usually is rated very poor (or worse if you go back far enough), and there are tons of birds. It’s not uncommon to see flocks of 20+ after the corn and beans are out. It is helpful for trends I think though, and it’s good to see it trending up.

These surveys are very weather dependent too. I remember last year they thought the numbers were under reporting because it was so dry when they did it. I would have to imagine it was very similar this year too.

CaptainMusky wrote:

These surveys are very weather dependent too.

Yes that’s correct. If there’s more dew on the grass in the morning during the counts, then there’s generally more birds/wildlife out on the road, which would increase the count.

But they’ve been doing them exactly the same for many years, so they’re at least trying to be consistent with their approach.

There is a fair amount of bird hunters that use this as their gauge on whether they are going to pheasant hunt in the fall. And they only go once or twice, usually in October. That’s the primary reason South Dakota stopped doing them. They didn’t want to publicly broadcast poor counts, which would indirectly affect the number of nonresidents who came there to hunt, which would therefore affect the amount of dollars spent there on licenses, lodging, meals, gas, etc.

Looks like I’m going to the same area as every year no matter what the map says. Nice to see it’s in the brown area though