Panhandle pheasant reports

I've got to decide in the next few days, if I will be making a trip to the panhandle for pheasant. I know better than to expect large numbers, but just seeing if they have made any type of rebound.

What part

Hart

UP around Dumas Ive been seeing small groups of new chicks and young roosters turning colors.....still not gonna hunt this year.

Well, last trip to the area for pheasants was in 2009.
So I think I'm going to go, even if the bird numbers aren't what I would like them to be.

Might be worth going 4 hours north to KS.

Your probably right, but were already pushing the time frame with a 9 hour drive each way. My husband has to be back at work that Monday morning, or I would consider it.

Hunted there last year and shot 1 bird and didnt see many

only if you like to drive & sight see

I was up near Plainview this past weekend and saw more pheasant and quail than I anticipated. Lots of water, cover and food. We are laying off for one more year and let them multiply.

Good to hear, still have relatives in the Plainview & Petersburg area who have farmed since the 1940's. Good reason to go for a visit.

I've heard rain has been spotty. Should be better hunting than it has been, which is zilch.
I think we will wait one more year unless our guy up there says to come on up.

What birds are there I would say let them go and build the numbers back up. I know there are greedy hard heads that will go ahead and bust what few birds there are. They just hurt the chances for stronger numbers for next year. I'm glad my landowners believe in sound game management

We're going to wait one more year also. Looking forward to next year.

Kindall, Try the Olton Chamber Pheasant hunt just west of Plainview. They always seem to have birds serve a great breakfast and lunch on Saturday and Sunday and furnish guides on their hunts. You are more than welcome to join my party or hunt in another group of hunters. Just tell Teresa that you wish to hunt with the McLeod party. Been there five years running and have never been disappointed in the hunt.

Thanks for the offer, but we already have sent in paperwork to another place.
We can hunt from the opener till Jan 4th.

Congratulations to you responsible land owners who want to let the numbers build up and not just go for quick, instant gratification shooting all the birds seen. I salute you.

walter

that would probably be a wasted trip

Why not shoot the roosters? 1 rooster will impregnate all the hens he can find. Also, it's proven that the average life expectancy of roosters is 9-14 months. No point in letting a yote or hawk get em instead of you

All the old pheasant management literature from the upper midwest says that you can harvest 90% of the roosters, but that theory has never been proven in the real wild world. That one rooster mating with 10 or 20 hens will work in a well feed and well watered pen. The average healthy good wild pheasant population averages 10 hens per square mile, depending on one rooster to mate with all of those hens is risky business.
In the Texas panhandle with all the predators we have, in the spring time the roosters will do a great job in protecting the hens while the hens graze for nutrients for egg laying, that rooster does more than just mating. A farmer told me that he saw a rooster fight and run off a road runner that was trying to eat newly hatched chick pheasants, I send a little time in the spring watching them.

The life expectancy of a truly wild pheasant is another theory. The span of life varies from area to area. Look at the spurs on some of the roosters those long ones are over two years old and they are the wary and alert ones and those are the roosters you want to pass those predator wary and alert genes on to the next generation.
Those pheasants are tailor made (after 70 or 80 generation) for dealing with the Texas heat and predators in that area it would not be good to harvest 90% of the roosters.

http://www.pheasantsforever.org/page/1/effectofhunting.jsp

Also take into consideration, roosters will absolutely kill hens in the fall/winter. I've never seen it personally but I know several people that have.

Iowa saw a 70% reduction in their wild pheasant population in the past 5 years with no drought. Texas and Oklahoma panhandles and S. W. Kansas saw ( because this historic drought) a 70 to 80% reduction in the wild pheasant population.

For any organization to tell people that they can safely harvest 90% of the roosters with no adverse affect on the current wild population is bad advice.

I have been watching and hunting wild pheasants in Kansas and Texas for over 40 years and I have never seen nor heard of wild roosters killing wild hens.

Maybe in mid winter in N. Dakota with 10 inches of snow ( on the ground for a month) and 10 below zero, maybe a starved rooster might canninbalize a sick or weak hen. But that will not happen in Texas/Oklahoma panhandle or S. W. Kansas.

Very well said Coldwind. I've shot some roosters that were at least 3 years old. One said bird put the hurt on my GSP with those long spurs. Ben took revenge on every bird the rest of the season. A rooster does much more than just breed a hen and fight other roosters. But like I said, there will always be hunters that want to go out and shoot every bird they can find regardless of the conditions.

I agree with Coldwind myself, in the northeast panhandle populations have been hit hard with the drought and I have never seen roosters kill hens. We received good spring moisture and the 1st hatch was good but may/june hailstorms thinned them out pretty well, the second hatch was good and these current birds are doing great. That being said, our populations are still below normal levels and responsible hunting needs to be practiced to continue conservation efforts (we all know it always needs to be practiced). I have a bunch of friends that come up every year whether they are going to fire a shell or not and my groups have been on a limit of 6 birds for the group for three years now. opening day last year took them all day to get 4 birds, 3rd weekend took them about an hour to get 8, that was just because of one particularly big rise. After that, its on to the trap throwers. No one minds the small limits, they know with a little care and winter moisture this year our pops will be strong again very soon.

In my opinion...

The hunting in this part of the world is extremely spotty at the moment. When it rains here, it doesn't rain 2 inches wide spread. It rains 7 inches and drops baseball size hail 3 miles away from a place that doesn't get a drop. The Panhandle is a huge area with a very diverse climate (and bird population). You will find places where birds are sparse, but you will also find good pockets. I killed birds last year, I killed birds the year before that, and I will kill birds this year. If moderation is used while hunting you will be fine. As for hunting the Lions club land, don't expect to tear them up. People will see birds and kill them but that shouldn't be the motive for going for the next couple of years. Go to have a good time with your family and friends while helping out a good cause!

if you believe that, I have some ocean front property in Kansas I will sell you cheap

Ya, I don't know what I'm talking about. I didn't live in Pheasant Town USA. I've never spent untold hours watching birds out my front window. I have never talked to dozens of farmers that have owned ranches full of pheasants for their entire lives. & I definitely haven't done any research on the subject. Carry on

So we are getting pretty close to the opener, does anybody have any additional bird reports?

I was up this weekend going to a tail water pit that usually holds ducks in the middle of a corn field. To get to it, you have to drive down a turn row that runs between two corn fields. The field to the north was being cut as I was driving down and I saw at least 15 birds fly from the north to the south field which had already been cut in front of the combine. There are quite a few more birds this season than last.

In what area were you hunting?

Lamb County near Olton.

Thanks!

I am in the field a few times every week and I have not seen many pheasant this year. More than in the past few years but nothing to write home about. I certainly hope everyone decides to wait it out another year.

unfortunately that won't happen

Walter, I appreciate your thoughts on the subject...BUT, my hunting pheasants every year quite possibly HELPS the birds MORE than it hurts them..allow me to explain...I take my rifle(s) and #4 buckshot...and spend a lot of time hunting coyotes, bobcats, foxes, skunks, etc., while pheasant hunting on my friends ranch...especially in poor pheasant years. In fact, when we can't find pheasant in good numbers, we usually just start varmint hunting to thin the ranks. In fact, occasionally, I will make a follow up pheasant/varmint trip in years with poor numbers. This is the only varmint hunting that takes place on the ranch and as such, if I didn't show up pheasant survival would be harder pressed. All things considered, I will continue to go each year, despite poor overall numbers.

As an aside, many pheasant outfitters will stock flight pen raised birds to supplement the pheasant population, based on the number of hunters they have wanting trips...low turnout will result in low supplemental stockings...the lower the supplemental stockings the harder the predation on the wild population. Just saying, don't be so fast to berate those that hunt every year regardless of the relative abundance of birds...I would suggest in the bad years, it is more important to continue to support pheasant hunting and use the opportunity to improve long term hunting relationships. Ultimately, we all want what is best for the game we pursue. Hope this information helps.

Very informative info and I appreciate your efforts because I do the same thing, (shoot all varmints we see while hunting pheasant and quail). But let's keep encouraging all these other knuckleheads to keep thinking they need to wait another year to hunt so the populations will increase. Then we will have more to shoot and more places to go this yr.!!

crapicat, you make a great point, its always good to support the wild pheasant cause. And the local organizations that support the Chamber of Commerce hunts.

In addition, you are right the mean (year around 24-7 ground and aerial) meat eating predators should always be thinned out.
I have had great Panhandle country pheasant hunts without shooting a single wild pheasant, but missed a few or more than a few, its all still fun. I count all of the birds I flush (both hens and roosters) as part of the total pheasant fun.

Give us a report this weekend.

my .02, why not JUST varmint hunt, example, there are just (approximately 30,000 lions left in Africa, yet hunters choose to still shoot the pride male, which leave the female to breed to inferior males, which is not good for the species. if you are quail hunting and jump a 3 or 4 covey, how many are you going to shoot? I would not shoot any. your reasoning which some agree with make you feel better? county's that have low population of deer, have the one buck rule, if it was not in place those county's would soon not have ANY

Heard from a buddy yesterday that hunted around Spearman. 15 guys, 3 dogs. Ended up with 9 roosters.

The spearman report was our group, we had set a group limit of 10 birds and reached 9 without hunting very hard. At that point the guys decided it was time to start grilling/target shooting/beer drinking depending on what activity they were in the mood for. we saw quite a few more birds and had a few big flushes that sure had everyone looking forward to normal populations. All in all, we had a blast and everyone is optimistic about next year.