Tur Bo
Blaze
Luke
It has rained so much lately that if God had not promised to never flood the earth again I would be starting an ark. For this region, October is in the top 4 wettest Octobers in history and it’s not even the middle of the month. The forecast is for rain today and tomorrow. Saturday was the only day, in a while, that it hasn’t rained. I had tires put on my truck and my Grandson, Isaac, had a soccer game. So I didn’t work dogs.
I will tell you what I have learned from the quail forecasts from some of the states close to me. Kansas and Oklahoma, both are reporting increases over last year. In Oklahoma, the report was on quail nests studied in the western part of the state. By the end of June they had already found and studied more nests than all of last year. A lot of the rain we have been getting has come through western Oklahoma first.
Kansas had late summer and early fall rain but the winter was pretty dry until mid May. The late May and June rains delayed the wheat harvest which allowed the bugs, that are crucial to young quail, to multiply. The late harvest, also, made for better nesting conditions. Kansas put out a detailed “Upland Bird Forecast” pamphlet that tells about each area.
Because of the prolonged drought the western side, of Kansas, though better on quail and pheasants is still down. The best areas, according to the forecast, appears to be the north central, south central and flint hills. Quail are up, in some areas, over a 100 per cent from last year. Pheasants didn’t make that much of a rebound but they are up, according to the forecast.
For pheasants, the north west part of Kansas had the highest densities. Although still down the brood survey was up 50 per cent from last year. The north central area had an increase of 76% compared to 2013. The south central showed the largest gain of any area with a summer brood survey increase of 173%. Keep in mind that the 2013 season was, for me, the worst season ever. To have an increase of 100%, if you only have 1 covey in 2013, you only need 2 coveys in 2014 to be a 100% increase.
In Iowa, the pheasant forecast was up so much that they decided that last years count had to be wrong. The spring was drier than normal and that helped the pheasants and quail. Iowa has data that says wet springs negatively affects pheasants. I have hunted Iowa but just across the line a few miles from Missouri. I don’t know much about hunting in the state. If you are interested in Iowa go on their website.
Nebraska was not as optimistic as Kansas or Iowa. They had cold wet rains in the spring that hurt the pheasants. They are projecting the same or slightly better than 2013 on pheasants but the rain came before nesting for the quail and they are up. For quail the south east and south central are best. Habitat is still the key in all of the states that I have mentioned.
This is just a little of what each states website said. If you are going to any of these states, study their websites. Each of these states have detailed maps showing the areas with increases and decreases of birds.
I have watched the bird seasons get worse and worse for a lot of years but I’m still like a Chicago Cubs fan at the start of the season. “We’ll get’em this year”. Good luck. Any day hunting is a good day.