My family farmed and had land in the soil bank or CRP from the late fifties until we sold the last farm a few years ago. The farms are in the central Texas Panhandle, irrigated at first but the aquifer got too shallow to irrigate one farm several years ago. The seventies and eighties were wonderful for pheasant. The pheasant hunting seemed better to me before CRP and before RoundUp resistant crops. Flushed many a rooster out of the weeds along a barbwire fence. Every year there are fewer fences. Tree rows have been pulled up. The last two seasons the drought made it a waste of time to go. The CRP that wasn't grazed down dried out and broke off and blew away.
We have had some rain but the drought map shows us still in drought. Maybe the pheasant recovery will start this year. The cover at my bob white lease is good this year. Grasshoppers at the lease and the bird dog club were really thick before it cooled off.
Last edited by AmarilloMike; 10/16/13 09:40 AM.
