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Post by Sandbur on Dec 19, 2019 6:10:40 GMT -6
Anyone read it? 3/4 goals mention grassland management. Removal of trees is part of the plan.
Our wildlife manager from 30 years ago told me pheasants did best with dense conifer windbreaks on the north and west sides of cat tails with some nearby standing corn for feed. I am talking about winter survival here.
My how management has changed. I guess they don’t need corn anymore either.
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Post by Catscratch on Dec 19, 2019 6:48:04 GMT -6
It's been a while since I shot a pheasant, and a very long while since I saw one locally. West of here, where they are common, you will find them where ag/grass/tree rows converge. I don't know much about pheasants but have always associated them with grain (usually milo) and winter wheat. I saw 2 a week ago in a wheat field right at sunset.
Why no trees in their plan? Because raptors can perch on them?
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Post by sd51555 on Dec 19, 2019 7:07:59 GMT -6
Anyone read it? 3/4 goals mention grassland management. Removal of trees is part of the plan. Our wildlife manager from 30 years ago told me pheasants did best with dense conifer windbreaks on the north and west sides of cat tails with some nearby standing corn for feed. I am talking about winter survival here. My how management has changed. I guess they don’t need corn anymore either. Their 1986 booklet acknowledged woody cover and shelterbelts as absolutely necessary for survival, and called out owl predation as a real factor, but only impacted the population by 10%. Biggest ID'd killer was winter and exposure. I downloaded it, as I'm sure once they realize the old science clashes with the new agenda, it'll vanish. files.dnr.state.mn.us/recreation/hunting/pheasant/pheasant_in_mn.pdfLooks like the 2005 and 2015 plans have gone down the memory hole. Neither are posted on the DNR pheasant page any longer. The links are still there, but the info has vanished. But the Mn Conservation Volunteer has an article from 2016 talking about the plan, and the importance of woody winter cover has been reduced to a single line mention. The program no longer focuses on the needs of the bird, and is instead product placement for land acquisition schemes and a healthy ginned up hate for farmers. Remind anyone of the rift among sub-group deer hunters? www.dnr.state.mn.us/mcvmagazine/issues/2016/sep-oct/minnesota-pheasant-plan.html
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Post by biglakebass on Dec 19, 2019 9:22:22 GMT -6
Anyone read it? 3/4 goals mention grassland management. Removal of trees is part of the plan. Our wildlife manager from 30 years ago told me pheasants did best with dense conifer windbreaks on the north and west sides of cat tails with some nearby standing corn for feed. I am talking about winter survival here. My how management has changed. I guess they don’t need corn anymore either. Seems pretty logical that some thick, dense, woody cover would be key..... 5 ft of snow packed into a cattail slough sure isnt gonna do shit for them in comparison.
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Post by biglakebass on Dec 19, 2019 9:22:58 GMT -6
What kind of cover did they live in over in China before they ever saw this country??
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Post by biglakebass on Dec 19, 2019 9:28:33 GMT -6
Pheasant hunting in China. Looks a lot like the open plains of SD doenst it.
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Post by Bwoods11 on Dec 19, 2019 13:20:59 GMT -6
I have a bunch of shelterbelts planted for pheasants. The outside (2)rows is lilac, chokecherry, plum, crabapple, caragana, cotoneaster and/or sand cherry. Next is 3-7 rows of Spruce and Cedar, then one row of oak or another shrub. Planted in 2001-2004. Absolute pheasant paradise we shoot 15-30 roosters on the farm every year. Meanwhile, my neighbor to the east 300+ acres sees his grass get flattened about right now, and all the birds come to my place. He does shoot a few pheasants, but my property holds all the birds in late Nov-March.
**I totally disagree with the MN DNR on pheasants----more than I disagree with them on deer!!
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Post by Catscratch on Dec 19, 2019 14:02:22 GMT -6
I like those treerows/shelterbelts ^^^^!
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Post by benmnwi on Dec 19, 2019 14:26:40 GMT -6
Those are some great looking windbreaks. Are those in some type of CRP program or did you just take a few acres out of production to give you some better hunting?
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Post by Bwoods11 on Dec 19, 2019 14:30:55 GMT -6
Those are some great looking windbreaks. Are those in some type of CRP program or did you just take a few acres out of production to give you some better hunting? CRP windbreaks and Riparian buffers. Back in those days you could get more land to qualify and I maxed it out. Crappy sandy soil farm that was much better as a wildlife farm.
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Post by Sandbur on Dec 19, 2019 14:56:56 GMT -6
I have a bunch of shelterbelts planted for pheasants. The outside (2)rows is lilac, chokecherry, plum, crabapple, caragana, cotoneaster and/or sand cherry. Next is 3-7 rows of Spruce and Cedar, then one row of oak or another shrub. Planted in 2001-2004. Absolute pheasant paradise we shoot 15-30 roosters on the farm every year. Meanwhile, my neighbor to the east 300+ acres sees his grass get flattened about right now, and all the birds come to my place. He does shoot a few pheasants, but my property holds all the birds in late Nov-March.
**I totally disagree with the MN DNR on pheasants----more than I disagree with them on deer!!
Our current local manager told me how much better the wildlife management area is for pheasants that private land. I told him I disagree when you compare my land to his grass wasteland.
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Post by Sandbur on Dec 19, 2019 14:59:05 GMT -6
My take is the DNR is not really interested in pheasants. The plan is just a cover up to get more grassland (and less deer) and to get the environment to look like what they think it was before the white man arrived.
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Post by kooch on Dec 19, 2019 15:04:47 GMT -6
My take is the DNR is not really interested in pheasants. The plan is just a cover up to get more grassland (and less deer) and to get the environment to look like what they think it was before the white man arrived. The turkeys you love to hate have more claim to Minnesota than those damn ring neck birds. Invasive.
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Post by Bwoods11 on Dec 19, 2019 15:55:41 GMT -6
I wish conservation minded hunters could design the wildlife areas in farm country? Shelterbelts, food plots, switchgrass.. even let some of the high ground be in crop. It would be like night and day.
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Post by Sandbur on Dec 19, 2019 18:47:42 GMT -6
I wish conservation minded hunters could design the wildlife areas in farm country? Shelterbelts, food plots, switchgrass.. even let some of the high ground be in crop. It would be like night and day. We brought foodplots and shelter belts up at the deer team meetings. Both received a lot of interest from team members but were ignored by the state.
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