DULUTH, Minn. _ The news across pheasant range is pretty good for 2018 _ numbers up in Minnesota, South Dakota and Iowa and stable in North Dakota _ with seasons underway in coming weeks.
Numbers are still down from peak levels a decade ago but high enough to offer encouragement to hunters who will go afield starting at 9 a.m. Saturday in Minnesota.
But, the news for the state's pheasant hunting tradition isn't as good.
According to data released by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources last week, only 45,263 hunters pursued pheasants in the state in 2017 _ a 32 percent decrease compared to 2016 and down from nearly 120,000 a decade ago. Pheasant harvest declined from 196,141 roosters in 2016 to 171,883, a 14 percent decline. That harvest was down nearly 74 percent from the 655,000 roosters taken in 2007.
Moreover, the DNR reports just 71,925 pheasant stamps were sold in 2017, the fewest ever since the pheasant stamp program began in 1983. It's down almost half from 133,384 in 1991, the peak year for sales.
License and stamp sales help fund wildlife projects. And fewer hunters mean fewer people pushing for grassland conservation, by far the biggest factor determining pheasant numbers.
"It's a concern for us for sure," said Lindsey Messinger, Minnesota DNR wildlife research biologist who oversees pheasants from her Madelia, Minn. office. "Hopefully, with the (pheasant) numbers up some this year, more people go out again, and take new people."
Here are this year's state pheasant forecasts:
