SOUTH DAKOTA DEPT. OF GAME, FISH AND PARKS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009
CONTACT: Chad Switzer at 605-353-8477
Time to Begin Thinking Pheasants!
PIERRE, S.D. – As the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department carefully conducts its annual survey to estimate this fall’s pheasant numbers, some casual observations point to the likelihood of another healthy bird population.
It helps that Mother Nature has been relatively kind this year in the Mount Rushmore State.
“We seldom see South Dakota so green the first of August,” says Carey Story of Thunderstik and Rooster Ridge lodges. “With the fairly nice winter and the exceptional weather conditions this summer, the bird population in central South Dakota looks to be exceptional.”
Carey believes the pheasant outlook for Brule and Lyman counties in the center of the state may be even better than the past two bumper years. Although the weak economy may somewhat reduce hunter numbers this fall, Carey says that creates opportunities for others.
“There are going to be some openings in most lodges in the state and some prime dates that haven’t been available for years,” he says. “This is going to create a unique opportunity for those hunters who are looking to come to South Dakota for the first time or have not been here for a while.”
Analysis of the pheasant brood-route survey, which has been done each year since 1949 by GFP, will be finished by late August. The population estimate is derived from 110 routes of 30 miles each around the state that are checked daily to count the number of pheasants per mile. The resulting index is used to compare estimates from year to year and over a 10-year average.
Pheasants commonly gather along roadsides in the early morning to feed, gather grit to help digest food, and dry their feathers from morning dew. Those factors make the roadside surveys an effective way to assess the pheasant population.
“We take a great deal of pride in our brood-route survey,” says Chad Switzer, a small-game biologist for GFP. “There are many factors to take into account, but as a comparison to past years this is an excellent representation of what hunters can expect.”
Last year’s brood-route surveys resulted in an estimated pre-season pheasant population of 9.9 million birds. That was the second-highest bird estimate since 1963. For the past six years, the pre-season pheasant count for South Dakota has topped 8 million birds.
A recent traveler in the Gettysburg area reported seeing lots of pheasants along roadsides, both in the morning and late afternoon. That included many mature roosters and young-of-the-year.
Rick Lutt of SouthFork Lodge near Dallas also is excited about fall prospects, based on his observations of the birds this spring and summer.
“The numbers in my area are the best I’ve seen since coming to South Dakota 15 years ago,” Lutt says. “It was hard, to impossible, to get some fields planted because the birds would eat the seed out of the ground.”
Hunters bagged nearly two million pheasants last year in the state. Add more than four million acres of land that’s open to public hunting in South Dakota, and the prospects for another successful year are promising.
“We have been enjoying several years of bountiful pheasant hunting that marks these as some of the best years of pheasant hunting in the history of our state,” says GFP Secretary Jeff Vonk. “Although South Dakota has lost some habitat due to a reduction in CRP, I am optimistic that we are countering some of that loss with habitat programs GFP is initiating.
“When I consider the mild winter we experienced, and the ample rains and tall grasses much of the state enjoyed this summer, I am excited about our pheasant hunting prospects for this fall. I’m counting the days until I can take the field with my shotgun and do the type of surveying I like to do best,” Vonk said.
The South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department will announce its pheasant population estimate when survey information is prepared and released late this month. The data also will be posted to the GFP Web site at www.sdgfp.info
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