Pheasant in the Panhandle

What is the status of Wild Pheasant in the Panhandle? Is it worth a drive from Houston to Spearman? Thanks

Long drive to fire 3 shots and get 3 birds. 1300 miles round trip, if you hunted 2 days and got 6 birds -------== 200+ miles per bird.

Sounds like there might be some birds this year.

Why do you hunt at all if you have to justify the mileage and the cost. You sound like an old woman. Just go to the super market and buy a chicken or a duck and go home, Jeeze!!

Just the fact that truly wild pheasants are alive and reproducing in our home state of Texas is a thrill to me. Chasing truly wild pheasants in the Panhandle and watching 25 or 30 wild pheasants flush completely out of range is worth more to me than 10 tame pen raised (slow motion flying ) pheasants in the bag, all of the time.

I understand that everybody's hunting philosophy is different.

I am getting reports from quail hunters, that hunt south of Childress that they occasionally flush long tail wild flushing wild pheasants along the Red River, they don't shoot them but they are glad to see them. This is really a good sign, it shows that the truly wild pheasant genes are expanding their range eastward. I wish the TP&WD would trap wild pheasants from out west and release them along the Red River to speed up the expansion. Thats just my two cents.

Read more https://tpwd.texas.gov/landwater/land/habitats/high_plains/upland_game/pheasant.phtml

my sentiments, I figured every time I went fishing (not the coast) each fish cost me about $20. and that's 30 minutes from home.

Great article thanks for sharing. A great deal of hard work years ago went into getting wild pheasant started.

The article talked about "several varieties or hybrids" the true ringneck pheasant subspecies they are talking about is the Afghan White- Winged pheasant ( also called the Bianchi pheasant ) this is a predator wary, agile and alert wilder pheasant it was the crossed with wild trapped ringneck pheasants. Their offsprings were released in counties mentioned in the article above.

All of the counties along the Red River from Childress to the north of Dallas have the potential to support wild pheasants. I wish they would start releasing them again to expand the wild pheasant range and make the drive shorter.

Turkey Texas Hotel is a great stop if you make it up there. Many quail hunters stop in there, so you might get some advice / tips.

*And sometimes they have a great band in town.

Last year we got limits every day. But I ain't sayin where.

We had a good hatch around Petersburg.

S. Dakota recently reported a 47% increase in the pheasant population this year over last. It's a long way from Texas but could mean an increase all the way through the southern plains as well. Here's hoping!

I grew up hunting the panhandle for dove, quail, and pheasants. Haven’t been in years but have a trip planned this December in Dallum county. Back when, if the quail were plenty, so were the pheasants.

Heard from the land owner this weekend that it should be a good pheasant crop this year.

Either way, I’ll be blocking somewhere.

Doesn't S Dakota report a population increase every year ? I hope the numbers continue to increase in the Panhandle. I haven't been pheasant hunting in Texas in about 15 years.

There will be some to shoot at no doubt. Seeing them every morning and evening in the bar ditches all over the northern panhandle from Texline to Follett.

Well, that is music to my ears! Just hope the coyote population is not too high...

I rarely post on this forum but this is the type of mistaken information that has to go away. The only way to increase bird populations is to focus on increasing the amount of good habitat. Blaming coyotes for pheasant numbers being down is sticking your head in the sand. The reason pheasant numbers are down is the number of acres of good habitat goes down every year. There is all kinds of research out there regarding coyotes and upland birds, you should read it. Some of it even suggests that a healthy coyote population increases upland bird hatch success. Dale Rollins or Pheasants Forever would be two good places to start.

I live on the southern end of the pheasant counties in Texas (Hockley/Lubbock area), our numbers out here are gonna be bad. Almost no rain all summer = very few birds. Hopefully it's better the further north you go. Around here if you have rain you have birds if you don't well better luck next year.

Yep, you sure you aren’t my dad? Lol Of course, personally, after making that drive, I stay a few days.

Seriously, I have heard from some friends up there, the birds have been spotted regularly. Last year, this was the case, as well. Unfortunately, last year, the coyotes and owls did a number on them before season opened and we walked a lot of normally good ground for sparse number of birds. But hey, I go every year, regardless, because you just don’t know, until you get there!

Before you can have good habitat you need to pray for rain to get the habitat to grow up to be green and lush and full of insects and nesting and shade/hiding cover.
Predators play a part in eating some of the surviving young birds before December. Don't under estimate predators.

By far the best panhandle pheasant hunts were the two years following an out break of red mange, that led to the demise of a large number of coyotes...adequate rains that next spring made for some memorable hunts! And personally, I never underestimate predation.

If you think predators are the problem, this winter go coyote hunting, I think that would be a blast!! You better whack skunks and opossums as well though

https://www.pheasantsforever.org/Habitat/Pheasant-Facts/Effects-of-Predators.aspx

https://pheasantsforever.org/BlogLanding/Blogs/Pheasants-Forever/Like-Pheasants-Thank-a-Coyote.aspx

https://www.google.com/amp/www.mitchellrepublic.com/sports/outdoors/2038824-gfp-says-coyotes-not-blame-pheasant-decline%3famp

There are plenty more studies out there about what coyotes actually do eat. Too many to link them. It’s not pheasants people.

Bird hunters need to stop spreading incorrect information. You can be part of helping pheasant numbers.

Enjoyed reading your highlighted articles. I also understand that the primary mission of Pheasants Forever is getting landowners to increase pheasant habitat, rather than say focusing on predator control. From that regard, I would say, to each his own.

As a young subadult, we (my dad and I) raised and flight trained both quail and pheasants for sale. Our primary largest predation issues came from the following animals, in order from most bothersome to least bothersome;

1) domestic dogs/ cats
2) coyotes
3) raccoons
4) bobcats
5) mink/weasels
6) foxes
7) cougars

During season in nesting habitat, skunks, coons, foxes, and bobcats will up the ante. Yes, we need to bring back the fur trade to better manage these furbearer populations. However, to suggest that ole Wiley coyote has no affect on pheasant populations, and further, is a savior to pheasants, is well, nothing more than idle chatter. Kind of like saying socialism will help everybody for less money. I hear and read what you are saying, but doesn’t mean I agree with you. So, I will respectfully agree to disagree.

I’ve hunted pheasants in the Texas Panhandle for a long time. My best hunting spot was a big ditch between two irrigated circles. About wide enough for 5 people to walk. That section sold to a hedge fund 8 years ago and they plowed my half mile worth of pheasant habitat.

The problem is still not predators(even if crapicat has a hard time differentiating between facts and opinions)

All over the 806, the old tailwater pits have been turned into farm ground. They are farming cotton in the corners that used to be CRP. If I had taken a big map 15 years ago and highlighted all of the good pheasant hunting spots in my county then compared that to what is left today - it would be a lot easier to see why there are so few pheasants.

LOL. Yea, habitat loss is always the answer. So if you are really worried about pheasant habitat loss to farming, why don’t you go petition Congress for some more CRP money? That way Farmers/ranchers can afford to keep the land out of production, instead of using it to pay the taxes owed. Dwindling CRP money is a direct result of your perceived “problem” , so go take the Pheasants Forever bandwagon, petition congress and do something about it. Instead of all the “saving the coyote” verbage, maybe you could do some real good.

I understand your “platform” talk and the potential money and habitat you stand to gain by propping up poor ole Wiley coyote to the bleeding heart crowd, that doesn’t understand the reality of any situation. I also understand that we will never eradicate the coyote, even if we tried, however, like any thing, we can do our part to control over expansion of said coyote...Now, you want meaningful change, get your Pheasants Forever bunch to start a “Buy Fur” campaign, as well as petitioning congress for more (not less) CRP funds (or maybe y’all can pay for some set aside money for Pheasant habitat). It would help much more “progressive” than your bandwagon of “saving the hardest working employee I got” coyote. So, there are your facts, now go do something good for Pheasants...you have my blessing, as I love pheasant hunting and pheasant hunt more than most...

The Corner CRP program didn’t end all that long ago. Cotton is a very segmented part of the of the overall panhandle region. Habitat loss means easier pickings for ground and aerial predators, nothing more nothing less.

Pheasants are still there, we are now 8 years post drought, and pheasant population is coming back. Now lessor prairie chickens not so much.

My pheasant counts during wheat and barley harvest were really good this year. Still not as high as as early 2000’s and late 90’s but really good. I expect my counts during corn harvest to be even better.

I think fire ants are part of the problem as well. Try finding quail in areas infested with fire ants.......N Louisiana?

I can only provide the information for you, I can’t understand it for you.

I would to say both of you have merit to the argument, as habitat is lost it allows for predation to occur easily. We have more people that see a native grass field as unproductive and Those that find it is far more economical to grow cotton, than grain crops. A second very sad issue was the Lack of a new farm bill, now losing funding to keep land in native grass land. Wildlife will take a hit as habitat lost occurs.


https://www.capjournal.com/news/farm-bil...9bb156c7a9.html


At midnight Sunday, the 2014 Farm Bill expired and while important farm programs, such as crop insurance and SNAP will continue operating some, most programs will shut down unless Congress passes an extension of the law.


The farm bill’s conservation programs, which are some of the country’s most important conservation measures, mostly will be left in a sort of limbo until a new farm bill can pass, the old one gets extended or 2018 ends. If 2019 rolls around before an extension or new bill becomes law, most conservation programs would cease to exist. Until then, programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program, broadly touted as one of the country’s most successful private-land wildlife habitat programs, won’t be able to enter into new contracts.


Landowners who choose to enroll some of their land in CRP enter into a 10-year contract with the federal government that requires them to plant and maintain grass or other wildlife habitat in exchange for rent. The landowner gets paid based on the land rental rates in the surrounding area. The idea is to pay farmers to use marginal farm land to provide taxpayers with environmental services such as cleaner water and wildlife while at the same time giving farmers a relatively stable source of income.



In South Dakota, CRP serves two important functions. First, it provides farmers and ranchers, the bedrock of the state’s largest industry, with a stable source of income when the prices of corn and soybeans are down. Second, CRP provides habitat for ring-necked pheasants, which are one of the bedrocks of the state’s second largest industry — tourism.


With commodity prices low and showing no signs of rising, farmers are increasingly looking for ways to take marginal farmland out of production, said Dave Nomsen, vice president for government affairs at Pheasants Forever, a conservation organization focused on pheasant conservation.


“We’ve got some of the highest demand for conservation, I think, we’ve had in decades,” Nomsen said.


The 2014 farm bill, written and passed during a period of relatively strong commodity prices, lowered the maximum number of CRP acres allowed to 24 million. That was down from 32 million acres in the 2008 farm bill. South Dakota’s number of CRP acres peaked in 2007 at 1.5 million. The next year, in 2008, the state saw a modest peak in its pheasant population.


South Dakota now has about 950,000 acres enrolled in CRP. Current CRP contracts shouldn’t be affected by the farm bill expiration. There were several farm bill conservation programs that did end on Sunday and won’t be continued in the event of an extension.


One of the most important for hunters was the Voluntary Public Access-Habitat Improvement Program (VPA-HIP). The 2014 farm bill provided for $40 million worth of grant funding that states could use to pay for public access to private lands for such things as hunting, fishing, or birdwatching. Nomsen said, the loss of VPA-HIP probably won’t affect much in 2018 but could have an impact next year if there’s no new farm bill.


Other programs that ended on Sept. 30 include the Grassroots Source Water Protection program, which helped keep pollution out of water supplies. There also was the Small Watershed Rehabilitation program, which provided $250 million to help protect smaller watersheds and repair older dams in those watersheds. The Wetlands Mitigation Banking program, which allowed landowners to pay to offset unavoidable wetland destruction also will shut down.



The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) is another federal conservation program that expired Sunday. It is completely separate from the farm bill but the LWCF provided access to more land for outdoor recreation and funded state, local and federal park improvements all over the United States.


The LWCF gets its money from federal offshore oil and gas drilling royalties. It was created in 1964 as a way to fund protections for water, nature and historic sites as well as to fund more and better local outdoor recreation access.


South Dakota’s Game, Fish and Parks Department administers the state’s portion of LWCF dollars. Since the program started sending money to states, said GFP Parks Division Chief Katie Ceroll, the LWCF has sent $42 million to South Dakota. Because LWCF grants are usually 50-50 matching grants, that $42 million means roughly $84 million has been spent on such things as new swimming pools, parks or restroom and shower facilities at state park campgrounds.


“It’s been such as success over the last 50 years,” Ceroll said of the LWCF. “There probably isn’t a county in this country that hasn’t been impacted by it.”


The LWCF has expired before. In September 2015, Congress wasn’t able to renew the law that created it. The LWCF was renewed in December 2015 as part of Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016.

Now we are beginning to have a meaningful discussion! In addition, farmers/ranchers with CRP contracts expiring are having to bid rates that are so cheap, that it doesn’t even pay, to address all the requirements to built into the contracts (ie., net negative revenue) Because there are less dollars going into the program, neighbors are seriously competing for the reduced funds, and still many contracts are not being renewed, so they are forced to put acreage back into production. Sadly, in some of the drought areas, ranchers are having to take advantage of the provisions to graze/bale the CRP for livestock (which is an emergency type situation, that I agree with, but it does take a toll on the Pheasant/quail population.) Further, ranching/farming is not exactly a profitable endeavor over the long term, so additional sources of income, such as hunting has become a staple of many farms/ranches, in order to even continue to exist. So, to a family farm/ranch, any issue that can add to the bottom line is good, just don’t be like the government and ask them to spend more than the amount of the revenue, or large amounts of time (that they don’t have) in the process.

One item I have noticed over the last five years or so, relates to larger corporate farming. They place no value on hunting. Instead of providing for habitat improvements, they focus on vertically integrated revenue streams which is a “ditch to ditch”mentality. If the Pheasants Forever bunch could figure out how to make inroads into that arena, well they would be on the right track, habitat wise, IMO. Figure out how to explain that wildlife habitat could earn additional revenue, (without unwanted liability?) and give them kudos for being conservation minded at the same time.

I know that in our area, two things have played a major role in the decline of pheasants (and quail.)

1) Loss of habitat, both in the form of CRP and old homesteads. 10-20 years ago, we had old 1-5 acre homesteads grown up in weeds (prime upland habitat) every 1/4 section. These were leftovers from the '30s through the '50s when a big farmer had a section of land to himself, while most farmed 1/4-1/2 sections. As these old houses have fallen in, farmers and landowners have opted to bury and clean up these old homesteads. I don't blame them, their places look nicer and they lessen their personal liability by cleaning these places up. But, those homesteads used to house LOTS of upland game when they were around.

2) The emphasis on more efficient irrigation practices. Years ago, when there was a lot of row watering of crops, playa lakes kept water from March through October regardless of rainfall. This "wasted water" as ditches broke played a very positive role for wildlife in the area. There was always plenty of drinking water, weeds, bugs, and nesting moisture no matter what Mother Nature dished out. Drought years just weren't that critical in our area - there was always going to be a decent hatch to restock the supply. The push for more efficient methods (drip) has all but done away with irrigation run off. You don't see tailwater pits anymore because there is no need for them.

These two things have had a big impact in our upland population. I'm not blaming anyone, it's just the changing of the times.

Thanks ckat...I just love it when the “Paul Harvey version” gets relayed...

Hat tip, well written. The LWCF is a big deal, that provides a ton of access. The more people have access the more they hunt, more hunters money that goes into conservation. Ironically the most unfriendly public land senator, utah’s Mr Bishop wrote an awesome price of legislation making the LWCF permanent with some great guide lines.

Everyone reading this please reach out to your national representative and push to have this bill passed

I don't know about populations this year. I hunted successfully for many years around Halfway (west of Plainview). Not so much in the past few years. Most of the farmers are growing only cotton. No cover, no forage, very few birds.

Just finished corn harvest last week and pheasants counts weren’t has high as I hoped but still above 10 year average that’s for sure. Only oddity is less than 10% where hens.

Any Floyd county reports?

SW Floyd county - numbers will be slender, at best. Even with all of the recent rain, we have only had 7.5" since the first week in October of LAST year at our house. Most of that has been within the last month and a half...

A friend of mine did a helicopter survey of his ranch (about 40 sections) in southern Moore county last week. They killed 30 coyotes. They killed about that many in the survey last year, and we have killed 15 or 20 hunting with calls between those two surveys. They are pretty thick.

Is there much of a pheasant hunting industry up there? I am heading to SD later in the week. I have connections up there but there are many places an average Joe can pay and hunt the fields. Is it fairly easy to find reasonable day hunting for birds in the panhandle?

I poped two two weeks ago. Saw a ton. Lots of mange also.

Not around here. Too many jerks have ruined the once "good ol' boy" system. I had to run a couple of pole inspectors off last week - they were helping themselves to our prairie dogs while on the clock. The total disregard for respect has turned most landowners sour on hunters. You dang well better have some connections if you want to hunt legally around here.

That is what I was afraid of. I would love to hunt up that way but without any connections it would be tough for a solo hunter. I just wish I could do SD more than once a year.

Any reports in Castro county?

Oklahoma Panhandle is getting more and more public accesss leased walk in areas, I’m actually considering enrolling some of mine in it. I don’t know what will happen to program now the Land and water conservation fund has expired though, they also has some public land up there but it’s not as pheasant productive

We go every year and have a blast

Have been seeing quite a few birds, both pheasant and quial, looks to be a promising year on the side of Castro county I hunt.