WDNR officials plan to release about 47,000 birds on public land this year. Photo by Mike Gnatkowski.

Pheasant hunting has a proud history of success in Wisconsin. Hunters are blessed with great wing-shooting opportunities, due largely to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ intensive management efforts. Recent bad weather and the economic downturn over the last couple of years have combined to make bird hunting in the Badger State a tough proposition. Even so, there’s still a lot of great ringneck hunting to look forward to in 2009.

Put-and-take pheasant hunting has been the backbone of the state’s ringneck program for many years. Thousands of chicks are raised to harvestable size and released into the fields, bottomlands and prairie grasses on public lands throughout the lower part of the state.

“We try to spread out the birds we release on public hunting grounds across the southern half of Wisconsin,” said Bob Nack, the director of the State Game Farm. “The larger public grounds are the best hunting primarily because they typically have larger grass fields and wetland habitat and the birds tend to stay on these properties longer than on the smaller ones.”

According to Nack, this year’s bird stocking will be in the same places as last year. The WDNR is planning on releasing about 47,000 birds, down from last year’s total of 55,000. Fewer chicks are being produced because of the economic recession and the cost of feed. In the past, the State Game Farm produced as many as 150,000 chicks annually. The chicks are distributed to hunting clubs and other interested groups to raise and then to release onto 70 public lands across 28 counties. The cooperative venture between the WDNR and the private sector has been very worthwhile.

The last two winters and the rainy spring and summer of 2008 have been hard on pheasants. The total number of birds statewide was down about 30 percent last fall from 2007, but where natural production was good this past spring, things will be returning to normal. Too much snow and a crust of ice over the top made foraging for food a tough assignment for wintering birds.

As if the economic downturn and harsh weather weren’t enough, the loss of about 200,000 acres of CRP lands only made things worse. That’s the amount of acreage that went back into crop production last year.

As far as long-term prospects go, habitat is the issue, said Scott Hull, the WDNR’s Upland Wildlife Ecologist and Farm Bill Coordinator, and Conservation Reserve Program lands are center stage. When corn prices skyrocket, it’s only natural for farmers to follow the money, but those prices will eventually fall again. If history is any indication, the interest in CRP will be back and, hopefully, much of the land that’s been lost will be returned to the CRP program. Declining enrolment in CRP will definitely hurt the population, but local habitat projects like the USDA State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement program will help to offset some of the CRP habitat that’s been lost.

Pheasant populations around the state may have suffered, but they’ll rebound, said Hull. We’ve been in similar situations before and the birds always make a comeback. Add in the thousands of stocked birds and the shooting is good. Here’s a look at where you’ll find roosters in 2009.

Tamarack Creek WA
The Tamarack Creek WA in Trempealeau County receives its share of stocked ringnecks and, as a result, is one of the area’s finest hunts. A lot of work goes into maintaining the property as pheasant-friendly, primarily through prescribed burnings and the resulting native prairie grasses and low-lying vegetation. The WDNR enters into sharecrop agreements with local farmers to plant crops to provide food and cover, with corn being the usual fare. It doesn’t take stocked birds long to become accustomed to the regimen.