I was out in NW Iowa last year from 11-15 ~11-20 ; temp was -12 with a wind chill off -35 & birds were everywhere. Warmed up toward the end of the week to about a balmy 15 degrees & same thing, birds everywhere. The people out there said it's like that every year, just a little early last year. If the birds have sufficient winter cover & food, a majority will survive to breed the next year. We need a mix of cover types, not just the standard CRP mix which doesn't provide much food for winter. As far as winter cover. cattails are one of the biggest things that the prairie pothole region has that aids in the winter survival rates. Those things break the wind and provide amazing cover that will stand up to heavy snow. We literally kicked up hundreds of birds out of them in one week, not to mention rabbits, deer, etc..
When was the last time you saw a wetland adjacent to CRP or other forms of food/cover around here ??!! Or a wetland in general that wasn't managed by the ODNR ??
I was out in NW Iowa last year from 11-15 ~11-20 ; temp was -12 with a wind chill off -35 & birds were everywhere. Warmed up toward the end of the week to about a balmy 15 degrees & same thing, birds everywhere. The people out there said it's like that every year, just a little early last year. If the birds have sufficient winter cover & food, a majority will survive to breed the next year. We need a mix of cover types, not just the standard CRP mix which doesn't provide much food for winter. As far as winter cover. cattails are one of the biggest things that the prairie pothole region has that aids in the winter survival rates. Those things break the wind and provide amazing cover that will stand up to heavy snow. We literally kicked up hundreds of birds out of them in one week, not to mention rabbits, deer, etc..
When was the last time you saw a wetland adjacent to CRP or other forms of food/cover around here ??!! Or a wetland in general that wasn't managed by the ODNR ??
Scioto, is there any nesting habitat like fallow fields and any travel corridors ?? Also, when you say wetlands, are there large amounts of cattails or just narrow strips?? If you don't have birds, you need a little management of the land & maybe an initial stocking. You can get that help quite easily, if interested.
At least an acre of cat tails, probably a little more. Travel corridors are there in the form of fence rows. I've went my whole life with a lack of birds and would rather just rabbit hunt. Lol
I grew up in the same area as you Sciotodarby. There used to be a lot of birds around. However there just isn't anymore cover around. Where there is cover there are birds. There just isn't enough left standing for a strong population to survive. Predators are around but birds have no place to hide. Stop blaming the predators and the cold winters. People still blame the storm in the 70s for wiping them out. Other states have had several severe winters as well, but they continue to have a decent population. Why? Because of sufficient cover to allow for birds to repopulate.
A good study is Iowa. Used to be a Mecca for pheasants. Then corn went sky high and Cover got plowed under. Pheasant population crashed. Not because of predators or whether but because of lack of sufficient habitat. Now that corn has stabilized and dropped in price more ground is going back into CRP and habitat. Hence the return or upswing of pheasant numbers in that state.
Habitat = everything for upland game. 50 acres with 1 cattail slough is not going to bring back or show any significant jump in a population. It is great that you have it. And I appreciate your attempts at setting aside land. But it will take more from others doing the same to have any significant impact.
PF has done some "management" on that farm. Birds should be there and they're not. What killed off the quail? Hard winters in the 70's were the beginning of the end for them according to everybody I've talked to. The past 2 winters have been as hard as any that I can remember, plus more predators than just about forever.
I'm not hating on the guys who have hope of a come back of the pheasants. I don't see it happening. Another thing to think about is the ground in CREP. A lot of it will be expiring in about 5 years. If cash rent will pay more than the CREP payment would be, expect to be seeing a lot of it pulled out of the program and back into production.
Will cash rent rates ever surpass crep payments? Crep is 200 percent of the soil rental rate. Unless you sign up and then grain goes absolutely sky high I don't see how cash rent rates would surpass crep rates.
There's cash rents of over $400 an acre on marginal ground. I'm not sure what rental rate the govt will use when it's time to resign ground, my guess is that it'll be under $200( which is the high end of average cash rent). Some guys will pay big big money to be able to farm for no return and that's where the $350-400 rent comes into play. Land owners that are all about the dollar will go with whoever pays the most, be it CREP or a farmer. All the incentive payments that were offered when ground was enrolled were only one time deals, so they shouldn't be offered again. I wouldn't think they would be anyway, but it's a possibility. Depends on how bad the broke govt wants to spend a bu ch of money.
Didn't read all of this so if I repeat something already, addressed, humor me(Old Man)! The Pheasants Forever people constantly say(and work to try to make it happen) that if you have habitat, you WILL have pheasants! Where do they come from?? Do they drop out of the sky? The State has no interest in bringing the wild pheasants back!-ever wonder what they do with the "female chicks" they hatch? And they only raise males for release on "Public Hunting Lands"! To answer the OPs original question abt the viability of closing the season for two years, it would take easily a decade or more(IMO) to get even meager populations started(and this with more help from the ODNR than they are willing, or financially able, to supply. The State sponsored "snowshoe hare" reintroduction started in Grand River over ten years ago(we are talking Rabbits here)! I have not read or seen anything that indicates this is succeeding!? I really think a pheasant reintroduction is not within their capabilities!
No, I would not $400 cash rent over $300 crep. I was just half joking about that. $400 does sound good though. I can't put a monetary value on the benefits that I get from the enjoyment of wildlife. That is what I do. I just have never heard of $400 cash rent since the grain boom when guys signed extended leases based on the boom price and then struggled big time when prices dropped and they were locked in at those prices. What is ground selling for in those areas?
I would hope there is more habitat in South Dakota than Ohio. It's got less than one tenth of the population of Ohio and it's over half again bigger than this state.
Supercanoe hit it on the head ; fencerows & ditches are mainly travel corridors for pheasants & will never hold many birds. Larger areas, connected by those features will hold lots of birds. Fencelines are great for small birds like quail, if we had any.
What I was getting at is that the birds out there are more acclimated to harsh winter weather. When they've got an abnormally hard winter, the birds suffer just like they suffer here with a hard winter.
Someone mentioned an upland stamp, I think that's a great idea, as long as the money goes for habitat and management. Once the cover and lands are established the state should introduce birds for x number of years and not allow hunting during that time to establish populations. The wetlands stamp has done wonders for the marshes in the state. The state has added land on public and private grounds. I also agree we all need to do our part in predator control. Coyotes and red tails are especially bad ( I do t condone killing Hawks).
I have a passion for upland hunting as well as rabbit hunting, I can tell you that the rabbit population is also on the decline and habitat is disappearing rapidly. Not as bad as pheasant but still alarmingly fast. It's sad bc this is what I grew up with and truly got me hooked on hunting. Holds a very special place in my heart.
There is far more habitat in SD, ND, MN, & IA than just the walk in areas. Some of it may be far back off the roads, not on the public maps, or may not look like good habitat to you, but it's there, along with hundred thousands of birds. SD is #1 for pheasant hunting in the country ; how can that be without suitable habitat & a solid management plan ??!!
There have been millions of acres of CRP lost nationwide due to the increased commodity prices and that's a huge issue, but there is still way more available cover in SD, ND, IA, MN, etc. than we have in Ohio. Oh, there winters may ours look balmy, too.
This reminded me of something. I and my buddy used to find, and flush, pheasant in places far from any farms or crop fields! But there was something there that enabled the birds to thrive.
Ohio has thousands of acres of swamp and marsh lands which pheasants love! The only wild pheasants I have seen(or heard) in the last thirty years were living in these un-farmable, low lying areas full of reeds/cattail/brush patches(natural winter and predator protection) that are practically impenetrable. The State could/should focus on some stocking of these numerous areas where they already have(in some cases) erected wood duck houses. Pheasants would not compete with the ducks, usually some agriculture nearby for food sources, etc, etc. Funding this seems to be the determining factor. Pheasant stamps??
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