Anyone heard anything about pheasant or pheasant season this year in Texas after the dismal season last year?

At the first of the year, I heard some rumors about a plan to release a bunch of hatchling this year - but not a whisper since.

Are we going to have a season at all? Ranchers seeing any birds while working the fields?

???? Wondering Same

I have seen quite a few along the backroads leading to my house and hear a few everymorning across the street when I leave for work. Numbers have to improve over last season but I bet with literally no hatch last season the numbers will be fair (not great). Anything will be an improvement over last season though. I have my fingers crossed. A good portion of pheasant country up here has been getting some rain as of late.

Still in drought in highplains

I got a report from a friend that lives south of Canadian, Texas (not big time pheasant country but a few wild pheasants are found near the Canadian river and surrounding areas).
He reported that after 100 plus temps all of last July and August (2011) he thought that all of the wild pheasants were hit real bad by the heat and drought. But to his surprise last week he heard rooster pheasants crowing and his neighbor riding his horse through some knee high grass flushed a big rooster. They did not see any hens but he was pretty sure the hens were nesting.
Another interesting thing he noticed is that pheasants were seen around the feedlot that is a few miles from his place. I wonder if wild pheasants can smell the waste grain that falls off of the feed trucks.
They need to plant nesting cover around or near the feedlots, maybe they will hatch more chicks.

That shows how resilient the wild pheasants are, with normal rain fall they should bounce back. They received good rains in April (near Canadian) but need more showers right now.

Due to the severity of the drought last year, my guess is that the pheasant numbers will down this year (and probably next year too).

That and there hasn't been much relief high plains

Also, the season is closed in 2012-13 for some Texas counties.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/regulations/changes13.phtml

There are tower hunts you can go to if it's a season like last year

I have a friend that works for a feedlot company with locations in Oklahoma and Texas. He is supposed to take me this fall and I hope the hunting is good.

What feedlot in Oklahoma?

Anyone heard anything about Kansas? We hunt just south of Russell which is pretty much in the central region. They were hit pretty hard last year too and the numbers were way down there as well.

we hunt 25 miles north of pratt and it looks real good so far this year. We didn't hunt last year due to the drought and it seems it might pay off for us this year.

Think we'll see a much better population of pheasants on the High Plains this season. Alot more rain and starting to see quite a few chicks walking around. Should be better than last season.

Headed out shortly to the high plains for wheat harvest....

I'll report back

I think that there are some wild pheasant in North Texas, no?
We do pheasant hunts in Walker, TX but they aren't wild.....just as fun though

Has anyone actually seen wild pheas in SE TX??

Around 20 or 25 years ago I actually hunted wild pheasants around Blessing, Texas. I was told by a land owner in that area that a few wild pheasants are still seen, but rarely, in that area. This damp weather this spring and summer may bring some of the quail and pheasants back.

I have also seen wild pheasants in Chambers county years ago. I was also told that wild pheasants are also rare in that county but they can still be found on private ranches and farms where hunting is limited to family members only. With all predators we have in S. Texas harvesting more than one rooster will hurt the wild population.
The reason I say this is because in area with a lot of predators, in the spring and summer, the wild roosters warn the hens of danger and also protect the hens.
That is why wild pheasants are still seen in some areas and not others.

The S. E. Texas coastal pheasant season was way too long. In a long season a great number of hens are accidentally shot. It was time to to close the pheasant season along the coast. If the S. E. Texas pheasants ever make a comeback I would recommend only a one or two week late December season.