SEASONINGS: Pheasant Facts

SEASONINGS

Pheasant Facts

Here is a bit more about pheasant:

From year to year, pheasant populations have varied dramatically due to many factors: climate, nesting and woody cover, grassland habitat, nearby food sources, biology, and hatch longevity. Ideal weather conditions and habitat improvements can add up to record years.

Pheasants Forever PF is an organization dedicated to the conservation of pheasants and other wildlife through habitat improvements, public awareness, education, and land management polices and programs. PF Minnesota regional wildlife biologist Eran Sandquist says, “We’re coming off 40-year highs. Pheasant numbers have not looked this good since the late 1960s. The last four to five years, we’ve had favorable winters and good springs with no severe hail or rains. The past winter was not too hard on them and we came into spring nesting pretty well. Early- to mid-June is when the majority of the chicks are hatched. If it’s cold and rainy, they’re less inclined to survive; warm and dry is ideal. From the time they hatch, in eight to twelve weeks they look like the adult pheasant.”

By that time it’s almost fall. This year’s pheasant hunting season runs Oct. 11 through Jan. 3. For more info, visit www.pheasantsforever.org.