Kenny, we hunted for 2 1/2 days in every area I have known to produce birds in the past. We hunted corn, milo, wheat stubble, cattails, cane, big and short bluestem, koshia, sunflowers , ragweed, pockets and big fields, along creek beds and uplands. We saw three hens and one rooster, the one hen held close, others far out. We don't shoot hens out here and if a rooster had come up within range it would have been like shooting the white buffalo.
Normally late season we see birds with lots of hens and most flushing out of range. The lack of birds this year is troubling and does not bode well for the next few years, assuming that we have good hatching and rearing conditions for the next few years.
Predators were way down as a cycle, few bobcats had been seen or trapped and we saw one coyote. We saw some hawks but they were mostly the small ones, not the big redtails and no golden eagles that prey upon pheasant.
We saw two flocks of turkeys each numbering 75-100 birds, so that population did well.
So the weather was turning bad and we turned and made the few hour drive back home. I doubt I will go again this season, but will head to the san Juan for trout in a month.
A disappointing end of season, when we normally do fine.
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