Pheasants or Bust

Pheasants or Bust

Today marks my 36th consecutive opening day for pheasants. The first 15 openers happened in Minnesota, on farms scattered throughout the middle of that state, but since 1991 I haven’t missed a Wisconsin opener. It’s a tradition I am unlikely to give up as long as I can walk, and as long as I have a bird dog to walk behind.

Thirty-six years is a long time, and there have been good years and bad years. Some of those pheasant seasons in the early 1990s, shortly after I moved to Hudson, were chocked full of roosters. The good ol’ days, I guess you’d call them.

I remember one Wisconsin opener in particular, round about 1994, when my hunting partner and I opened the season at a small Wildlife Management Area not far from Hudson. All the bigger areas had multiple vehicles parked around them with hunters readying themselves for that glorious first day. With a noon start time for the season, we pulled in to the out-of-the-way little WMA right at the witching hour.

We both loaded our shotguns and I let the dog out of the crate. That dog, a springer spaniel named Buddy, and a fine pheasant dog to boot, apparently needed to relieve himself after bouncing around in the back of the truck.

Unfortunately for him, with my first step away from the vehicle, two roosters exploded from the brush in front of the truck and my hunting partner and I each dropped a bird. Buddy the Springer was caught in a most indiscreet position watching this unfold in front of him. With a one-bird limit on opening weekend, that meant we were done for the day.

Approximately 30 seconds had elapsed since dropping the tailgate on the truck, and man was Buddy mad when I put him back in the crate to head home.

That type of opener is unlikely to recur this year. Pheasant numbers have taken a beating in Wisconsin in the past few years. A loss of critical habitat is a big part of the problem, but recent harsh winters are also a significant factor. Last year was particularly bad for pheasants in our part of the state, largely because of the ice storm we had late last November.

Ice storms are a double-edged sword for game birds, and pretty much all ground dwelling wildlife for that matter. First, a certain percentage of the birds will perish in the ice storm itself. Feathers are great insulators against cold, but don’t do well when frozen solid. Any birds caught away from thick cover during the storm can easily become coated with ice—their fate sealed.

Even more insidious is the effect the ice has months later. Late winter is the time wildlife suffers the most. Food supplies are already depleted, and that which remains can be impossible to reach through thick crusted snow. Larger birds, like turkeys can scratch through the snow and ice more easily than smaller birds, like pheasants, so they tend to survive better in marginal habitat. Pheasants around here rely on good weather, and an early melt, to see the winter through.

Even worse, the ice we had late last year knocked down much of the suitable roosting cover the pheasants desperately need in February and March. Sub-zero temperatures and a lack of cover is a lethal combination.  Add the cool, wet spring we had and the news isn’t good.

What this all means is that there won’t be a heckuva lot of pheasants to be bagged this fall. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources estimates that since last year the pheasant numbers are down approximately 30 percent statewide.

The good news for those of us in the Hudson area is that, despite lower bird numbers overall, St. Croix and Pierce counties are still among the top five pheasant counties Wisconsin.

Bird numbers may be down, but that won’t keep us from trying. What kind of hunters would let a little thing like a lack of pheasants stop them? Season No. 36, here we come.

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Note: The 2011 Wisconsin pheasant season opens statewide at noon on Saturday, and runs until Dec. 31. There is a one rooster daily bag limit on opening weekend, and then two roosters per day for the balance of the season.