Anybody seen any out in the panhandle dry conditions have taken a toll i would bet or am i wrong

Drought and then a hail took a heavy toll on them this year. Not looking good from reports.

I talked to some people near Plainview a couple weeks ago. They told me it will be slightly better that last year, which isn't saying much. They have had some rain, and some hail, the storms were pretty spotty. On a good note, I was told that the milo, and corn stubble will be left standing this year by most farmers instead of being baled as it was the last couple years. There will be birds if you are willing to work for them.

I pheasant hunt just west and south of Stratford. Talked to the ranch guys a few weeks ago. They were telling me that there were more birds this year than last year...But last year the birds were few and far between, so I suppose that is not saying much. Will probably go to Kansas once or twice to offset their lack of birds..but I plan on hunting second weekend in the panhandle anyway. I have been through worse seasons, I'm certain.

I heard the birds in S Dakota were relatively poor this year...does anyone have any first hand knowledge if that is true?

Pheasants in the panhandle overall are down, Muleshoe to Tulia and Lazbuddie numbers are lowest we have seen and most are telling thier partys not to even bother comming, other areas like Sunray and Dumus have also suffered due to drought and hail.

sorry to hear this news

According to Texas Tech Wildlife Department, wild pheasants in west Texas will be years in providing huntable numbers if ever.

I spoke with a friend that lives in the panhandle he said pheasants number are down a lot, but he said that they still have wild pheasants but they are very wild.

He said that he went out with his dog near good cover and water and the dog put up a long tail rooster that flushed wild way out of range and flew all the way across the road.
That is a good sign, he said he will not even try to hunt that rooster, he just want that bird to survive and pass those wild genes on to the next generation.

The wild pheasants will bounce back with a wet spring and summer and an El Nina spring, like we had in 2005, 2007 and 2010.