I saw one pheasant

[farmandfire]

900 acres of corn, 16 pheasants is all I saw. Used to be come down to the last few rounds and they would just be thick flushing out.  Also saw 6 coyotes running around this year. A few deer but not like in years past.

[sw363535]

Swks,

have had loads of pheasants last several years.  But weeing fewer this fall.  Drought but also had a bad hail (6-8 miles widex 40mi long) in june.....saw lots of dead ones and damaged nests from the sprayer.

[Shaggy98]

We fatten 10 slaughter heifers each year to sell to local town folk.  They are penned in a corral about 50 yards from a spring feed creek.  We kept noticing grain was been raked out of the self feeder, the local game warden advised us to put out a few catch-em live traps.  We placed two traps near the self feeder and baited them with sweet corn.  Over a 3 year period we caught over 200 coons.  Sometimes 2 in the same trap, (I've got a picture for you nonbelievers).

[Kay/NC]

We have always considered wildlife as an indicator for our land management.  Not in any formal sense of having x-number to lure hunting leases, but in daily observations, for our own enjoyment. 

We figure that if they can't make it around us, then we are doing something wrong.  Probably one of the many reasons we enjoy being grassfarmers. 

When we reloacted our main operatins to NC 17 years ago, we were shocked that there were virtually no turkey in the woods and fields around here.  Their range maps didn't even show them in this region, even though they were plentiful at Mike's place in VA, 75 miles due north.  Now, we have scads of them...and other gamebirds as well. 

Our adjoining neighbor on one side is a wealthy lawyer who loves to bird hunt, so he has spent wads of money making their land into a bird preserve,  Guy on the other side has built himself a really nice hunting camp, and manages for game as well.  We use zero pesticides.  This makes our grass plots in between, as well as our plots of mast trees that aren't merchantable pine stands, loaded with all sorts of critters. 

Our county and the one just to our W/SW, across the Roanoke River,  vie each year for top deer harvest numbers in the state.  Lots of deeer, but they had mostly been tiny ones, compared to what we had seen all our lives in VA. 

Now, at least here on this string of properties, the bucks are getting so they have nice racks.  As explained to me, this is at least in part an indicator that they are reaching greater maturity, no longer overhunted, and also that they have superior food supplies, compared to past land use practices. 

There are at least seven huge fee-huntng operations, some of them former plantations, in this county alone, which have made more money off of hunting than off of cropping, in recent years.  Maybe with commodity prices up, that balance has shifted, but I am sure the recreational income is still important to them. 

The good thing is that this has priced some of the aggravating trespassing hunters out of the area.  The bad thing is, it may also price out some of the locals, who enjoyed hunting as a riparian right. and whose families will miss the meals, I am sure. 

[sw363535]

Sounds great ....I would think that area would always have good populations with the natural habitiat.

We are in such an extreme environment that we see natural swings in populations from drought to high rainfall, and winters of dry sub zero to 50+ inches of snow on occasion.

Only time we have had a noticeable human effect ( since1950's) was in early 70's we had a couple years of spring hail storms and the state decided to charge more and allow roosters and hens on pheasant licenses at the same time.  The combination dropped populations noticeably for several years.  Hunting diminished and we had em back bu the 80's.

Also we dont have the close, higher populations of people around that you deal with.  

[Kay/NC]

Whence were looking at buying this place in 1994, my BIL, who is an ardent hunter, pointed out what he called a 'natural funnel' through swampland on the southern boundary on the Gazetteer.. This was, of course, before Google Maps, but it was pretty accurate as to wooded and open land, water bodies, etc. it turned out that a lot of wildlife pass along that way. The swamp on the north side is called Bear Swamp, so, I guess that is a pretty obvious sign of habitat.

One small place I own on VA is in CP-33 for quail habitat. Our kid's grew up with 40-50 turkeyntaking wing on their way to the bus stop each morning. One trophy whitetail deer off of Mike's home place was. 21- pointer. Ponds and creeks on our farms are full of citation fish, too. Best kid sitter I ever had was a jonboat, some life jackets, a handful of bamboo poles and a can of worms.

Am hoping we can afford our soon- to-arrive grandson the same amenities as he grows up....this stuff doesn't happen overnight.

[sw363535]

Expecting our first this next spring---grandchild.

appreciated that last comment

[Roy_Smith]

When I as growing up here in southeast Nebraska in the 1940's and1950's we almost never saw a pheasant or quail. Seeing a deer was cause for talking around the area because they were so rare. By the time I returned in 1968 all were abundant. I could take my shotgun for a walk around the farm and almost always come back with several birds. The deer population also swelled to where hunting was a popular sport. Now things are back to where we seldom see pheasant or quail. Deer are too abundant. There are wild turkeys on every farm. Habitat governs which species increases and which decrease to a large extent. There is a patch of Big Bluestem CRP near by place and pheasants still hatch  in that field. We still have more deer than the environment will support without destroying crops. The big areas for pheasants are still South Central Nebraska and Eastern South Dakota. NNot sure about quali, but I would guess that their big populations are further south....Soyroy