Photo by Mark Kayser.

Wisconsin pheasant hunters should enjoy a good season again this year, but there is a dark cloud on the horizon because a good portion of land currently protected by the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) could be growing corn instead of roosters in the near future.

Each year, the Department of Natural Resources sends a questionnaire to a random sample of 10,000 small-game hunters. Hunter numbers and harvest estimates for each species are extrapolated from the questionnaires returned. For 2005-06, 3,008 hunters returned the survey, for a response rate of 30 percent.

That year, an estimated 74,465 pheasant hunters bagged 347,285 ringnecks. DNR wildlife technician Brian Buenzow, who works in Rock and Green counties, called 2005 a "stellar" year for pheasants because of excellent production.

One conclusion to draw from harvest statistics is that wild pheasants make up most of the bag, since there are only about 50,000 pheasants released on public hunting grounds. That should be a revelation for hunters who claim there are no wild birds left in the state.

One alarming trend, however, is that hunter numbers have declined in four of the past five years. There is still plenty of interest in pheasants, although small-game hunter numbers in general have continued to decline as the population ages and fewer youngsters take up the sport. From 2004 to 2005, Wisconsin lost 3.5 percent of its small-game hunters. We can't sustain that level of decline for very long without beginning to feel some serious impacts on license revenues and support of the conservation community.

However, it appears the more serious hunters stayed with the sport, because the total number of days spent in the field increased by 16 percent. Pheasant hunters spent an average of nine days afield and bagged .53 birds per outing. The top counties that year were Dane, Fond du Lac and Dodge.

The 2006-07 survey was still in progress as of this writing, but wildlife managers thought the pheasant kill was probably down a bit from 2005. A sampling of comments from DNR biologists suggests last year was a pretty good one for pheasant hunting.

"Overall, hunter success seemed to be average to above average, with many hunters experiencing a high level of satisfaction in the hunting opportunities and availability of birds in the field," said Eric Lobner, who until recently managed the Glacial Habitat Restoration Area in Dodge, Fond du Lac, Winnebago and Columbia counties. "As in years past, we again conducted parking lot surveys on the opening day of the hunting season and had high usage rates on the Glacial HRA properties, with many hunters commenting on seeing good numbers of birds."

Last year, an increased number of hunters headed for Public Hunting Grounds (PHGs) throughout the state, probably because they expected to see more stocked birds, and they were right.

"We saw a lot of pressure in stocked areas last fall," said Missy Sparrow, DNR private lands biologist for southeast Wisconsin. "Word was out that we were stocking more birds, and they wanted to take advantage of that."

In Green and Rock counties, Brian Buenzow said hunters had to work harder for their roosters last season.

"We had some untimely rains last year in May that I think hurt production a little," Buenzow said. "We saw a lot of smaller broods late in the summer, so there was good reproductive effort, but later nestings don't net as many birds. Still, there was a good population for hunting."

In far western Wisconsin, where considerable habitat work has been done in the past decade, hunters capitalized on higher bird numbers and lack of snow.

"The 2006 hunt was the best we've had yet," said DNR private lands biologist Harvey Halvorsen, who works in St. Croix and Pierce counties. "We saw hunters afield throughout the season because of very low or non-existent snows."

WINTER'S IMPACT
Winter severity has plenty to do with pheasant survival. Fortunately for ringnecks, there was little snow anywhere in Wisconsin until mid-February. Pheasants will roost in snow, but they need to be able to scratch down through it to reach buried weed seeds and other food if they are to make it through the winter in good condition. Hens may survive the winter, but if they lack vigor and body fat reserves, they are less likely to produce large, healthy broods.

In southern Wisconsin, Brian Buenzow said he didn't think last winter hurt pheasants much at all. The late snow could have hurt the area's more fragile quail but not pheasants.

Eric Lobner said there was likely very little natural mortality, because crop fields were openly exposed most of the winter, providing food through normally hard times.