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Bounty program to save the pheasants.

What are your thoughts?

Not a lot of details to make a sound judgment on just yet. I don't think it will hurt. The habitat is just as important. WIth the winter we are currently having in the east, i'm sure we are going to see some losses all the way around.

We have a house in Lebanon,,,,,,, we are NR's..... we have seen thru the years, the loss of grass lands, and land use that plows from end to end,,,,,, that is what has killed the birds for the most part.....

Like our wolves (which we do not need), you build habitat, and the animals will do okay....

without grasslands, there will be no or little birds,,,,,,,

Nesting cover and thermal cover in the winter are the two keys to raising lots of pheasants. They are looking at some things to address these issues as well but until those two things are addressed predator control is just pissing in the wind IMO.

Habitat is always the key with any species. We had the same critters eating pheasant eggs in the 90's, but they had more ideal habitat so it wasn't an issue. I know how popular pheasant hunting is, and I do some of it myself. I don't agree with putting a bounty on native species during a time of year when their pelt can't even be used just to try to help a non native bird.

Good point grizz34, never thought of it that way

Good point Griz.. But it's all about the benjamins.. People don't come to SD and drop $1500 into the economy over a 3 day weekend to hunt skunks.

Habitat not bounties-which have historically been abused wherever instituted.

It's been covered very well above. Habitat is key and the REAL issue. Predator control is important but it only works short term with highly targeted and intense removal during fawning and nesting seasons. The more we remove, the better their next batch of young predators have of survival and the cycle starts again. The message is good and valid but the funds spent without significantly improved habitat will likely be shown to be a waste.

Another big question was brought up to me by a very knowledgeable and formerly highly placed individual with department and commission service. Where is the money coming from to pay for the traps and for the bounties? No details have been provided as of yet nor any guidelines and instructions for any of the processes. Will this money come from just hunters dollars? Will it take away from other important projects? The biological studies on predator removal clearly show it's fairly ineffective in the absence of quality habitat that is required for nesting survival and winter survival. I am in favor of and happy that we have a governor who cares about hunting, wildlife and habitat and is looking for solutions. The "devil is in the details" though and unless the comprehensive plan is sound, what is the benefit long term?

DR, my big concern on this is the use of hunter dollars to benefit private landowners who do not allow public hunting. If we are utilizing license dollars to subsidize these habitat programs then that habitat needs to be developed on property available for public use.

Brotsky I sure agree with your general principle but don't see this bounty program benefiting private landowners much.Most if concerned about predation are already engaged in it and $10 for messing with a skunk tail isn't likely to entice change.Maybe a few farm/ranch kids.Also killing these specific predators would likely benefit others on adjacent land anyways. It likely will help a bit by cleaning up road kills here(and in adjacent States)and providing some beer money for some young people.(sadly encouraging false affidavits by them and parents in many cases.) The free live traps will actually help a bit though I suspect.I go through a few each year on my place but have and will continue to buy my own.

My father was a USFWS wildlife biologist, first as a trapper, predator control and then went to Valentine Nat'l Wildlife Refuge. Habitat is key, type of habitat, the rest between either grazing/burning,etc. One of Dad's quotes that ended up in the Smithsonian Magazine was, "If game birds nested on mowed meadows the hens would be green". He also worked on predation in nesting studies on the refuge and has some very interesting stats over 20+ years. Predator control is important but not as important as habitat. We have a lot of late season nesting success in NE South Dakota. The hens will try to nest a few times but it seems the earlier nesting gets destroyed quicker with poor "unrested habitat". Another issue is mowing the road ditches in July...why not wait until mid- August or better yet, only mow 10 feet in and leave the rest alone. The big bottom line is buried groves of trees, shelter belts, drained marshes, burned cattails in the winter and plowed up CRP. SD lost millions of acres of CRP in the last few years and I don't care how much money we throw at pheasants...until CRP or other habitat program is worth as much money as the price of corn, soybeans, wheat and sunflowers the birds will not return to the "good old days." I drive across the state every week to work 7 hours one way. I have been watching several large deer herds and groups of pheasants all winter. Deer are stressed but still out there, I'm sure when one gets out in the field you will find dead deer, esp after this last blizzard. The Pheasants on the other hand have dwindled significantly, I don't think I'm exaggerating to say I've watched a 75% decrease in their numbers in the same places I pass by...and they are always found close to cattails and cedar trees.

EyeDr,agree 100%. That includes your assessment of the deer/pheasant situation.We have lost a fair number of deer and it's pretty easy to find or see a couple new carcasses a day now if one travels around a bit and knows where to look but hopefully we are FINALLY going to get some weather that will open some fields and food for them.I have provided approx 5.5 tons of corn and feed myself since early February to help the situation.Sadly few around here do that. Pheasants have been hit bad.Our numbers here in the NE had been building but this last 6 weeks has been devastating.Blizzard after blizzard has reduced the already scarce remaining thermal cover to near nothing.This last blizzard,particularly with the 'icing' component,hurt them bad.On my pheasant feeding run yesterday AM I found a number of examples where survivors had pecked their way through ice to food but saw few.In my area the loss is at least 75-80 %. My wife feeds birds around the house and buildings.Lots of birds!At the beginning of February that included about a doz pheasants.Yesterday and today there has been one rooster around.

Honest opinion give the farms a tax break on lakes that have flooded their land, use that for opening up habitat along shorelines instead of putting money out there for kids to pick up coons on the highway for beer money. Lets focus the funds that are going for the bounty and traps to opening up easements for more walk in and get some filter strips put in along sloughs and ditches so we can create that habitat

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