In recent years, Colorado’s annual pheasant hunting forecast has played out more like a game of “Duck, Duck, Goose.” The good news, for those keeping score at home, is that after a pair of lame-duck years, upland hunters are likely to be off and running once again this fall.
“Pheasant hunting is definitely going to be better this year than last year, but we have to reconcile the improved habitat with the fact that the breeding population was so low the past two years,” said Ed Gorman, small game manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. “You can’t reconcile that in one year. It will have to be a couple years of good nesting conditions to build up that population again.”
Hunters who encountered marginal habitat and in consecutive seasons of severe drought on Colorado’s Eastern Plains can look forward to the best hunting seen when the 2014 season opens for pheasant and quail Saturday.
“I have no doubt that it’s going to be better than 2012 or 2013, but it’s not going to be like the banner years from 2009-11,” Gorman said. “Most of state’s pheasant hunting areas are going to be close to average, or slightly below. But that’s a significant improvement from the past two years.”
Considering just , even average numbers may be enough to make Colorado hunters feel like they’re waking up in South Dakota. However, the census is far from uniform.
Pheasant hunting success in Colorado will hinge upon the region, or even the pocket, you hunt. Those areas that received the right amount of moisture — and had a reasonable breeding population going into spring — will see good quantities of birds, perhaps even above-average numbers in spots, Gorman said.
For the most part, that means northeast Colorado and neighboring states of Nebraska and Kansas in that corner.
Colorado. The sweet spot in the state remains the eastern edge of Phillips, Sedgwick and Yuma counties, west of the sand hills. Generally speaking, the farther east you go, the better. North, too, where cumulative impacts of drought are incrementally diminished.
Hunting projections also are good for eastern Logan County, with progressively fewer birds in west Logan, Morgan and parts of Washington and Weld.
The trend in the territory around Burlington and Cheyenne Wells has seen the concentration of birds improve toward the Kansas line. Stray too far south of Interstate 70, though, and the population has fallen off dramatically. There’s no reason to believe that won’t be the case again this year as breeding numbers have been severely curtailed in recent years. Gorman’s forecast: improved but spotty.
The upshot is that those who have fought their way through the last two lean years are likely to emerge as better hunters.
“I think it’s really a good case to put the lessons you’ve learned the past couple years to good work,” Gorman said.
Nebraska. Nebraska’s July rural mail carrier survey indicated a 19 percent statewide increase in pheasants, which was reflected in hunting success during opening weekend, Oct. 25-26. The most success was on wildlife management areas (WMAs) where pheasants had been released for the Oct. 18-19 youth pheasant season: Pressey, Sherman Reservoir, Oak Valley, Branched Oak, Twin Oaks, Hickory Ridge, Wilkinson, Peru Bottoms and Yankee Hill.
Nebraska’s southwest region saw the most birds, with South Lincoln, southeast Perkins, north Hayes, Hitchcock, Chase and Dundy topping the list. Hunters at Sherman Reservoir WMA averaged 1.4 harvested pheasants each.
Hunting pressure was light in northwest Nebraska on opening weekend, despite a Box Butte County wildlife officer reporting more pheasants than he had seen in 24 years of working the area. The 19 hunters he checked averaged nearly two harvested birds per hunter. Pheasant numbers also were excellent in Cheyenne County.
Kansas. Kansas hunters can expect slightly improved conditions this fall, according to Jeff Prendergast, Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism small-game biologist. Last year, 54,000 hunters harvested a record-low 190,285 roosters. Drought continued to plague the primary pheasant range coming into the spring nesting season, but conditions gradually improved.
“Fifty percent of our wheat, an important nesting habitat for pheasants in Kansas, was in poor or very poor condition as of May,” Prendergast told . “Rainfall in many parts of the state delayed wheat harvest and improved conditions through the summer, creating excellent re-nesting and brood- rearing conditions.”
Scott Willoughby: Swilloughby@denverpost.com or twitter.com/swilloughby
Pheasants aplenty
A look at the pheasant hunting calendar:
Colorado
Season dates: Nov. 8, 2014, through Jan. 31, 2015 (east of Interstate 25); Nov. 8, 2014, through Jan. 4, 2015 (west of I-25)
Daily bag limit: Three
Possession limit: Nine
Nebraska
Season dates: Oct. 25, 2014, through Jan. 31, 2015
Daily bag limit: Three
Possession limit: 12
Kansas
Season dates: Nov. 8, 2014, through Jan. 31, 2015
Youth season dates: Nov. 1, 2014, through Nov. 2, 2014 (16 years of age and younger, daily bag limit is two, and possession limit is eight)
Daily bag limit: Four
Possession limit: 16
