Pheasant season expected to be one of the best – Salina Journal

by Todd Flory

Salina Journal

With pheasant season starting on November 1 and quail season beginning on Nov. 8, area hunters will soon be gearing up to hunt. And, if Randy Rodgers’ predictions are correct, hunters could be in for a special season. “There is a good chance this will be our best pheasant season in 20 years,” said Rodgers, wildlife biologist for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. “North central and northwest Kansas are looking pretty darn good,” Rodgers said. “Northwest in particular is looking very good.”

Of course, Rodgers said, the amount of birds will vary a great deal from one area to the next. The weather plays a large role in the amount of birds in a given year. Rodgers said the northeast part of the state would not have many birds because of too much rain at the wrong times of the year. In the southwest part of Kansas, Rodgers expects bird populations to be down by about 40 percent, due to some extremely dry conditions in the spring. “If you drew a line…from say, Scott City to Dodge City, and extended that line a ways, anything south and west of that line would be in an area where bird numbers are down,” Rodgers said. Full Story

salina.com – an online service of the Salina Journal.