What's Happening to Pheasant Country????

I just read the 2017 South Dakota Brood Survey and it’s brutal. They are forecasting a 45% drop in pheasant numbers statewide on what was already way below the 10 year average. We’ve lost 4.9 million acres of CRP since 1990, an average of 500 acres per day.

It’s getting almost impossible for an average Joe like me to work the public lands and go door knocking with any success. Soon it will be only Pheasant Lodges with released birds for the wealthy.

What’s it gonna take to reverse this direction??

Recent drought hasn’t helped but the birds don’t have many places to live anymore. Beyond that, I’d probably break the IDO “no politics” rule so I’ll just stop right there.

You may have to include some coyote hunting to get permission to bird hunt. Anymore most people would rather give you their daughter than give you permission to bird hunt.

lindyrig79 wrote:

I just read the 2017 South Dakota Brood Survey and it’s brutal. They are forecasting a 45% drop in pheasant numbers statewide on what was already way below the 10 year average. We’ve lost 4.9 million acres of CRP since 1990, an average of 500 acres per day.

It’s getting almost impossible for an average Joe like me to work the public lands and go door knocking with any success. Soon it will be only Pheasant Lodges with released birds for the wealthy.

What’s it gonna take to reverse this direction??

Well if the birds had some habitat that would help but we rnt getting into the politics of that…it has become so commercialized around here it isnt funny even as a resident its tough for permission unless u wanna flash a benjamin or two…even waterfowlin has become tough for permission…i would say alot of the cause this year would be the drought

Well, let’s try to avoid politics but just stick to the facts. Obviously it is more advantageous for farmers to produce crops instead of enroll in CRP right now.

What are the factors that play into this?

$7.00 corn a few years ago.

Easy to see over the years. Habitat loss. The govt was paying for the land to be set aside and now they have other things to spend the money on. Pheasant have always been a subsidized and exotic game bird.
Luckily with Grouse the more meddling they do with forests the more good habitat we get.

It is amazing to see some of the pictures from when I was going west on habitat to only a few years ago.

Big issue has been the plowing of every single square inch – road ditches, burning every slough and wet spot, taking out wind breaks even. There have been many spots I walked in SD just a year or two ago that were sweet spot hedgerows not even 10 feet wide or a fence line that are now just bare earth or standing corn.

It is farm land, not bird production land, and many farmers do not hunt pheasants. The land has to pay for itself in crops, or just as commonly now leases to guide services.

Corn prices hitting crazy highs and making the CRP payments no longer worth it drove much of the land back into corn. Ethanol and other subsidized programs helped make that corn demand. Shifts from small farms to larger operations is also hurting. No longer do you have three landowners owning 80acres each with fencerows dividing, leading to multiple fencerows of habitat. Now it’s one landowner with all 240acres and all fencerows are all torn out.

One way to help keep Pheasant hunting grounds is supporting Pheasant Forever even if you just buy a membership every year.