Pennsylvania pheasant populations took a dramatic decline way back in the late 1970's when the great Pa. Game Commission and their so-called biologists decided we should shoot the hens north of I-80 since they were not breeding anyway. I guess the hens with broods that I frequently saw while groundhog hunting back then were adoptive and/or foster mothers. The very predictable drop in population was blamed on DDT and "clean farming". Well, DDT is long gone... bald eagle, hawk, and other raptors have bounced back dramatically. Clean farming is hit and miss here with many fallow fields and abandoned farms giving plenty of cover for breeding hens. Still no birds. You just can't have baby pheasants when you shoot all the mama's. But just try telling that to the all wise and knowing Pa. Game Commission. Why, their "Decimate the Pheasant" program worked so well that they did the same thing with our deer. Now you can hunt hard and walk many miles in two day old snow without cutting a track in formerly productive areas. Yet the official line by the PGC commissioners is that we still have an overpopulation problem. But they fight the Unified Sportsmen of Pa. at every turn and deny every request for an independant audit. Hopefully the current lawsuit will have its' day in court. By the way, former PGC deer manager Gary Alt didn't end up in Iowa, did he? He'd almost certainly be tarred, feathered, drawn, quartered, and water-boarded if he ever returned here.
