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We didn't make it last year.

Today, outside Huron, our group of 8 guns and no dogs put about a dozen roosters and as many hens in the air. A pretty poor quantity. Our landowner had spoken with a game biologist who said West Nile was responsible for the declining birds.

Today we did a little better. We saw maybe 25 roosters flush and as many hens.

That's interesting. Several years back, when West Nile hit Iowa, the DNR examined a bunch of pheasants that had been bagged by hunters. They discovered that something like 20% carried West Nile antibodies. At first reading, that makes it sound as if West Nile was a real problem for the birds. But they explained that what it meant was the birds had been exposed, but they had survived the exposure in good health . . . until dying of lead poisoning.

As long as West Nile has been around, and as many pheasants as have been bagged in South Dakota--at least until this season--I'd be skeptical of any conclusion that disease is the major problem with the decline in bird numbers.

Unless someone does autopsies of wild pheasant that died of natural causes there is no way to know if West Nile is a problem or not.

It may be that the survival rate of pheasant infected with West Nile is 5% and that the other 95% die. You would not be able to tell by the percentage of those taken by hunters that have West Nile antibodies. And it could be the other way too - that the survival rate is 95% and only 5% die.

I read Dale Rollins' website and I read his newsletters. Many are about the epidemiology of quail. He has gathered bobwhite (shot by hunters and donated to him) and tested them for eye worms, stomach worms, and West Nile virus. I suppose he is building a base line for comparison. But so far there is no smoking gun in the sudden bob white decline experienced three(?) seasons ago in Texas.

As it seems impossible to gather all the wild birds that died of natural causes for autopsy it seems impossible to determine if an epidemic occurred and which disease(s) were the cause of that epidemic.

I don't believe anyone knows if it was West Nile, or not.

On Saturday, my guest and I saw exactly 7 hunters in the GPA north of the house. Yesterday on my way up to MT I saw none until I got to Aberdeen.

I spoke with a nu8mber of them while waiting for breakfast at the IHOP. No one was happy.

Between the rain and the standing corn, all were disillusioned. We now have had near 7 inches of rain over the last 10 days and more coming. The corn is still in the fields all the way to Jamestown and with this rain, I just don't see it coming out before the middle of November.

Some hunters I visited with while refueling in Allendale ND told similar tales of woe to those in Aberdeen.

One youngster who was rather vocal about the state screwing him by selling him a license on line when the state knew the crops were still up looked as if he wanted to punch my headlights out when I told him he should have at the least checked the weather around here the last few days before driving west and if he used a little imaginnation, could have called ahead any number of places to geet a local report on ctop conditions. Places like this Cenex station we were standing in.

He noted that I wasn't very simpathatic. I bit my tongue to keep from telling him that sympathy doesn't fix stupid.

Mike
The story given to me secondhand was that they did tag and release birds then studied survival. Since the biologist said it was West Nile I assume they verified it. But I really don't know.

Chuck I don't doubt you (except when you are bragging on your dogs)

I just argue that they can't tell the number of birds killed by West Nile because they can't find all the pheasant that died from West Nile out in the middle of CRP fields, tagged or not. For the same reason they don't know the mortality rate of WN infected birds. If they don't know at least one of those two numbers they can't tell if West Nile was the primary cause of the decline or if it had no impact at all.

Best,


Mike

West Nile? What about the amount of CRP lost in the last few years out there?

Plus all the other good cover tiled over, ripped up, or turned under to plant walls of weed-free corn?

On top of the drought, could that affect things any?

OWD

Pheasant population has to do with spring nesting. By this time of the year, most pheasants are close to full grown and can take care of themselves. This is not the first time that snow has fallen there.
Pen raised and released birds are just that. Most are stupid and don't know enough about getting out of the weather.
What states should do with released birds is to tag them, and then you will know.

Back in the late 60's and early 70's here is Pa. the state released pheasants at 6 weeks of age. By the time hunting season came, you thought they were wild birds.

I know in South Dakota, if you hunt on property and pay, they have to supplement birds and it is evident which ones are pen raised and wild.

There is no question, the lose of CRP harmed birds, but they will survive. States like South Dakota depend on the revenue that pheasant hunters bring in and I don't think they will ignore some of the things that are depleting the bird population.