Pheasant forecasts are out

You can check out a state by state pheasant forecast here: pheasant forecast

The way it is looking almost every "pheasant state" should experience an increase in birds and therefore harvest success, but the big story once again comes from South Dakota, the undisputed capital of ringnecks.

South Dakota's pheasant population is at a 40 year high, surpassing the record set in 2003. The count (which is conducted by the South Dakota game & fish dept.) is determined by driving out predetermined routes throughout the state and simply counting the number of pheasants seen and then averaging the numbers. There was an average of 6.63 pheasants per mile this year, which is 74% more than the state-wide 10 year average. This is a remarkable number considering there are parts of western South Dakota that are all but devoid of pheasants. This number was slightly greater than the record 2003 brood, a year in which SD hunters took an estimated 1.8 million birds. With that in mind, it is possible that the 2 million bird echelon might finally be reached this year! To put these numbers in perspective the pheasant population hasn't been this strong in South Dakota, or anywhere else for that matter, since the early 1960's- the golden era of upland bird hunting.

I personally hunted in South Dakota in 2003 and saw more pheasants in a few days than I had seen in my entire life in Missouri and Kansas. I don't know how hunting could get much better than it was that year, but I am sure eager to find out. In 2003, we (Me, my brother Travis, Todd M., Lance, and Lance's dad) killed 20 roosters in basically 3 days, which may not sound like a lot of birds, but when you consider we only killed one on the first day and that we hunted almost exclusively on public land that number starts to sound a little better. One also needs to consider that the number of total birds taken was probably 30% less that it should have been for a variety of reasons. We lost more than a couple of birds due to the terrible ballistics and knock down power of steel shot and we lost at least 3 roosters because of dud shells. Then, of course, there was the obligatory complete misses as well as a few opportunities that were missed because of improper set up and being at the wrong place at the wrong time, but then again that's all part of pheasant hunting.

2005 is shaping up to be a remarkable year for pheasant hunting, especially in South Dakota. Even though gas is through the roof and a nonresident hunting license in SD is up to $110 I will be making the road trip this year and it will be money well spent.

Until next time.