MN Pheasants Will Be…Dismal?
Dismal. That’s the word Star Tribune writer Doug Smith starts off with in a blog post about what this year’s pheasant season might look like for Minnesotans – those Minnesotans who don’t already head for points west during pheasant season, that is.
Highlights (if you can call them that) of the post below:
> Dismal. That’s what initial reports from Minnesota’s annual August roadside pheasant survey look like.
> Pheasant reproduction in the west and southwest – the state’s traditional pheasant hot spots – appears to have fallen dramatically because of a cold, wet spring. Which could mean noticeably fewer birds for hunters this fall.
> “I think it’s going to be a tough hunting season,” said Curt Vacek, DNR area wildlife manager at Lac qui Parle in western Minnesota.
> Enough birds survived the tough winter to provide a decent fall population, Vacek said. But the rainy, wet June apparently dealt a knockout punch, just as the pheasant hatch was peaking. Newly hatched chicks can’t thermoregulate their bodies, so they die if they get cold and wet. And rains can flood nests, killing birds.
> “We were seeing enough adults in late winter and spring, and we thought it [pheasant population] would be good if we had a decent nesting season,” he said. “But the peak hatch got hit hard.”
> Results from the roadside survey will be released in early September.
Category: 2011, Forecasts/counts, MN, Pheasants
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