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Estimate sees more birds in more places
Numbers rise on land with more public access in northeast
http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs...510090336/1001
BEN SHOUSE
bshouse@argusleader.com
Article Published: 10/9/05
The good news just keeps coming.
South Dakota pheasant hunting has been legendary for more than half a century, and the past three years have only added shine to that reputation.
This year brought yet another record estimate of the Chinese ringneck's population. But a more important piece of the forecast is the birds will be spread across the state more evenly than ever, especially in the part of the state with the most free hunting.
It's getting harder and harder to go wrong.
To compile the forecasts, the state Game, Fish and Parks Department performs brood counts in 13 areas every summer. Each area has followed one of two patterns: a steady, strong population, or an explosion that peaked this year.
Traditional pheasant-hunting regions in the state's mid-section - Winner, Pierre, Huron and Mobridge - have posted three consecutive banner years, though some dropped slightly this year. The less bountiful fields around Sioux Falls and Yankton are also holding steady.
But further east and north, Watertown, Brookings and even Sisseton have more than twice the birds they had in 2004. The Watertown area population is almost five times the 10-year average.
"Bird numbers have really taken a nice jump, especially over on the eastern tier," said Tom Kirschenman, a GF&P pheasant biologist in Huron. "There is quite a good chunk of public access over in that area as well."
That means it will be easier to hunt without paying a fee to the landowner. And that could also take the hunting pressure off of areas further west and south, where an influx of nonresident hunters already makes hunting an expensive proposition, Kirschenman said.
Regardless of where they are from or where they walk the fields, however, hunters are getting that itch for the third Saturday in October. In Conway, Ark., for example, Fred Langford can hardly wait to come up to his hunting lodge near Wessington Springs.
"I'm sitting in my office right now with my brand new hunting vest that I ordered at Cabela's," he said Friday. "I've got my list of everything that I'm taking right now on the floor next to my desk.
"I mean, this is the primary focus of my life right now."
He said he used to quail hunt as a boy, but most of the bird habitat in Arkansas has been lost to a growing human population. He says the closest thing to the hunts of his youth is pheasant hunting in South Dakota, and he appreciates the state for how it values pheasant habitat.
"I hope they keep doing that, because as far as a business perspective, there is a lot of money that comes into South Dakota because of hunters."
Numbers rise on land with more public access in northeast
http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs...510090336/1001
BEN SHOUSE
bshouse@argusleader.com
Article Published: 10/9/05
The good news just keeps coming.
South Dakota pheasant hunting has been legendary for more than half a century, and the past three years have only added shine to that reputation.
This year brought yet another record estimate of the Chinese ringneck's population. But a more important piece of the forecast is the birds will be spread across the state more evenly than ever, especially in the part of the state with the most free hunting.
It's getting harder and harder to go wrong.
To compile the forecasts, the state Game, Fish and Parks Department performs brood counts in 13 areas every summer. Each area has followed one of two patterns: a steady, strong population, or an explosion that peaked this year.
Traditional pheasant-hunting regions in the state's mid-section - Winner, Pierre, Huron and Mobridge - have posted three consecutive banner years, though some dropped slightly this year. The less bountiful fields around Sioux Falls and Yankton are also holding steady.
But further east and north, Watertown, Brookings and even Sisseton have more than twice the birds they had in 2004. The Watertown area population is almost five times the 10-year average.
"Bird numbers have really taken a nice jump, especially over on the eastern tier," said Tom Kirschenman, a GF&P pheasant biologist in Huron. "There is quite a good chunk of public access over in that area as well."
That means it will be easier to hunt without paying a fee to the landowner. And that could also take the hunting pressure off of areas further west and south, where an influx of nonresident hunters already makes hunting an expensive proposition, Kirschenman said.
Regardless of where they are from or where they walk the fields, however, hunters are getting that itch for the third Saturday in October. In Conway, Ark., for example, Fred Langford can hardly wait to come up to his hunting lodge near Wessington Springs.
"I'm sitting in my office right now with my brand new hunting vest that I ordered at Cabela's," he said Friday. "I've got my list of everything that I'm taking right now on the floor next to my desk.
"I mean, this is the primary focus of my life right now."
He said he used to quail hunt as a boy, but most of the bird habitat in Arkansas has been lost to a growing human population. He says the closest thing to the hunts of his youth is pheasant hunting in South Dakota, and he appreciates the state for how it values pheasant habitat.
"I hope they keep doing that, because as far as a business perspective, there is a lot of money that comes into South Dakota because of hunters."
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