2013 Season

[Bruce Day]

Hunting season starts next month.

[scott kittredge]

Hunting season starts next month.

For me Thursday., CROW !!!:corn: scott

[David Holes]

Looks like an interesting story in picture 8.

[wayne goerres]

Squirl season starts on thursday in georga.

[Bruce Day]

Looks like an interesting story in picture 8.

The ground looked solid by the outflow of a stock watering tank but after a couple steps I fell through. Mud, muck and real BS .

[calvin humburg]

Looks like there is some doves to hunt out here but i'm sure a cold front will come through and drive them south way to quick.

[David Holes]

Back when we had lots of birds, we had a swamp that was an idea place to initiate a newbe. The birds would be in the middle of it and the swamp started out solid but would get pretty soggy in the middle. Many a hunter got swamped including myself.

[Bruce Day]

That was out by Mullin, Neb, David. I know Pheasants Forever has initiatives to bring back significant game bird populations to Nebraska.

[Dean Romig]

What was it that decimated the pheasant populations in the Midwest?

I've heard it was pesticides and herbicides used on cropfields causing eggshells to be too thin to be viable - very similar to what the widespread use of DDT did to birds eggs during the 40's, 50's and 60's. Back then populations of the Eastern Bluebird and Osprey (to name only two of the dozens of species affected) were decimated to such numbers that they have still not fully recovered.

[Bruce Day]

Herbicides and pesticides in over use have caused a lot of it. The more recent use of Round Up ready genetically modified corn have been greatly beneficial in reducing the amount of herbicides used.
Then also lessening of habitat in some areas.

However, there are huge areas out here with significant game bird populations for the person who is willing to walk and has good bird dogs. It is unusual that those who hunt with me have not had the opportunity to limit out. End of season 2012 with a hard drought was difficult but we still found birds.

[calvin humburg]

The bird popluation is down from ma nature 100% in my neck of the woods. Farming hasen't changed in the last few years. We went from the most birds to no birds in 1 year. Now i'm quout "a hick dumb farmer from the fly over state" so hey, what do I know. I spary wheat stubble when doves have egge and month latter when they have babys learing to fly the stuff we use is pretty safe at the rate we put on. 7 oz on a acre is not much.

[David Holes]

World demand for food, high grain prices have brought more chemical use like roundup that has eliminated grass and weeds in our crop fields. That was considered habitat a few years ago. It has forced our remaining population of birds into smaller areas which can be easily hunted by us and other prey. High land prices have now created bulldozer mania. Our little farm steads have all but disappeared. I did see good numbers of doves today. Dave

[Richard Flanders]

In southeastern Michigan we had lots of pheasants until they took the bounty off foxes in, I think, 1963. Now it's coyotes, foxes, racoons, possums, and even turkeys that insure no pheasants in Michigan as far as I can tell. There are predators everywhere. The habitat is as good or better than when they were plentiful - still lots of grain and corn fields bordered by impenetrable brushy swamps and overgrown fence rows. It should be phez heaven, but they are extremely rare to the point of almost being non existent these days.