Pheasants and bugs

dean nelson

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so first off must make it clear that I am not a big die hard pheasant hunter but given the opportunity on a large number of birds in a small amount of cover I like anybody else will dive in on that and enjoy it thoroughly. More so than anything I just like seeing a whole lot of them around because theres just something fun about having phesents everywhere you turn to make any walk or drive a joy. So this leads me to my question to the Pheasant gurus we have on here. That question is that we went rolling into the hatch this year dry as a popcorn fart although with the caveat of carrying ridiculous amounts of precipitation over from last year. I'm just curious if anyone actually has biological knowledge of the growth rate of insects especially with the fact that we have now received rain at a very critical time and just wondering if the new flush of bugs can arrive in time to save the chicks.....or perhaps wasn't all that necessary in the first place due to the large amount of carryover moisture from last year. So if anyone knows the biology of it I'd love to hear from you or just as much I would love to hear from anybody who's actually been seeing broods out and about and their general size to at least give us an indication of if they're are out and about or if they're not.
 


WormWiggler

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Interesting topic, wish I had something to add. I cringe to derail the thread but I noticed that grasshoppers were a pain in the rear when I moved to SW ND (1991), mostly from the cleaning front of vehicle aspect. I don't seem to see it much any more, perhaps it is me not noticing. Anyone else see this?
 

NDSportsman

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There's plenty of bugs. Don't see as many hoppers because there aint as many small grain crops being grown as in the past. Everything is corn or beans now days and hoppers don't really feed on those. Can't speak to the pheasant population as I'm not in pheasant country.
 

eyexer

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We had plenty of standing water yet from last fall for plenty of early bugs I think. Have not seen any chics yet but the number of hens I’ve seen has fallen off dramatically from a month ago so they are no doubt taking care of them
 

Fritz the Cat

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Interesting topic, wish I had something to add. I cringe to derail the thread but I noticed that grasshoppers were a pain in the rear when I moved to SW ND (1991), mostly from the cleaning front of vehicle aspect. I don't seem to see it much any more, perhaps it is me not noticing. Anyone else see this?

There was a lot of CRP in 1991. Grasshoppers hatched like crazy in there.

This year I cut 180 acres of alfalfa and saw one nesting hen and one with chicks big enough to fly. Not good.
 


Davey Crockett

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In my years of farming and gardening experience Im finally catching on that trying to raise and or transplant anything that is not native to the area is a crop failure waiting to happen. You might have success in some areas that have common native habitat but in other areas you most likely won't
get enough of a crop to thrive. Both plants and wildlife. Mother nature is in control of the spread.
 
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