# Minnesota roadside counts



## BIRDSHOOTER (Jul 18, 2005)

Pheasant numbers indicate a hot hunt is ahead 
Doug Smith, Star Tribune 
September 11, 2005 DOUG0911 
For Minnesota's 100,000 pheasant hunters, it doesn't get much better than this.

Ringneck numbers are up 75 percent from last year, and hunters could bag a half-million roosters for only the fourth time in 40 years.

"I'm excited," said Kurt Haroldson, pheasant hunter and Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist at Madelia, Minn. "There are lots of birds around. It's going to be a good year."

The pheasant population should be close to what it was in 2003, when hunters killed 511,000 roosters, according to the DNR's August roadside survey released last week. A fourth consecutive mild winter and decent spring and summer weather helped boost pheasant numbers.

"The things that drive the pheasant population are habitat and weather," Haroldson said. "The habitat has been relatively stable, and the weather has been decent."

The southwest and south-central regions have the highest pheasant populations; the west-central and central regions also have solid numbers. But numbers are up everywhere.

Officials expected a population increase but were surprised by the magnitude because the critical spring weather was less than ideal. May was cool and June was wet, though warmer than normal. High numbers of hens survived the mild winter, but reproduction was only average.

"If we had had better weather and outstanding reproduction, we probably would be looking at a 600,000-bird harvest," Haroldson said. "But all the stars would have had to be aligned perfectly."

Roller coaster ride

This year's numbers underscore the variability of the pheasant population, which can quickly skyrocket or plummet based on weather. In 2003, which turned out to be a banner year, pheasant numbers were up 68 percent. Last year, the roadside count showed a 48 percent decline.

However, last year's pheasant harvest turned out better than expected. "We forecast 380,000, and it came in at 420,000," Haroldson said. "It turned out to be a better year than we thought."

This year should be even better.

"We have broken the 500,000 harvest number three times since the early 1960s, in 1981, 1991 and 2003," Haroldson said. "We think 2005 will be another one."

But pheasants and pheasant hunters are always at the mercy of the weather.

"A severe winter followed by a wet spring and we could end up with a 250,000-bird harvest," Haroldson said.

Minnesota's pheasant habitat has been stable for several years. There are now about 1.6 million acres of grassland habitat in the pheasant range - about 6 percent of the landscape. About 1 million of that is in farm programs, most of which are temporary.

That includes 800,000 acres in the federal Conservation Reserve Program. However, the future of CRP is up in the air, dependent on a new farm bill. In 2007, setaside contracts for 400,000 acres in Minnesota are set to expire, and contracts on another 400,000 acres will expire in 2008.

If those acres, most of which are planted to grass, aren't retained in the program and are replaced by crops, the effects would be devastating for wildlife.

"We're riding on the crest of a wave, and it all could go away," Haroldson said.

He doesn't expect that to happen.

Conservation groups are lobbying for a continuation of CRP. And the DNR is accelerating its wildlife management area acquisition program. And a second Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program launched this year will add thousands more acres to wildlife habitat.

For now, pheasants and pheasant hunters are riding that crest.

"People should take advantage of this," Haroldson said. "With gas prices at $3 a gallon, I don't think there's a need to travel as far [for pheasants]. South Dakota has record numbers. But we have good numbers here."

• The 2005 August roadside report is available on the DNR's website at www.dnr.state.mn.us.

Doug Smith is at [email protected]


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