February 2010 Updates page 10
18 February
...No big bucks on the trail cam this year. Here are some survivors I passed on...saw them and more...thanks for all you do, no way I can get around asking landowners for permission....
Thank you Steve for all your other feedback as well. Every bit of it adds up.
Pheasants Forever
Finally PF gets in the news, at least secondary news sources, about CRP.
"It's the most successful conservation program in the world," Matt Holland, senior field coordinator with Pheasants Forever, said of the 25-year-old program. "Bottom line, CRP works and we need to continue to build a better CRP."...Farmers and ranchers nationally get an average of $51 an acre for enrolling in CRP. "We can't continue to ask farmers and ranchers to take a $30 hit per acre for conservation," Holland said. "Payments have to be competitive."...
Conservationists warn CRP losses will curtail pheasant hunting, Argus Leader, (local South Dakota News) Feb. 17, 2010
Family Memberships
We have had a "rush" of sorts, as much of a rush as we get in the number of memberships allocated to fathers with hunting children since the first of the year. A second unusual aspect about these memberships is they have been largely for upland bird hunts. Then we picked up on the number of first year dogs in this group. All combined make for a great deal of pressure and increased likelihood of less than satisfying hunt experiences.
Jon and John both feel the responsibility pressure of providing as good of a hunt as possible and that pressure increases with each of the three points above: First year Association hunter, needing to make children as successful as soon as possible and third, the high risks associated with first year dogs on wild quail and pheasants.
First year Association hunter success is possible and does occur every year in terms of the best bird hunts ever experienced. And as prevalent, are first year Association hunters who assess their experience as less than what they believe are reasonable expectations. All need to agree the first time any thing is attempted it is more likely than not that first experience will be less than after several trips of learning the nuances and subtleties to wild bird hunting, habitat variance and dog power.
Those with children that travel out to hunt that first trip do better if the adult hunter comes alone with his dog to see how the dog hunts and what habitat and bird that dog hunts best. Using the first hunt to work out these kinks usually means a better second hunt with the child. That better hunt is the father is able to concentrate more on the child by having some of the unknowns worked out.
Wild bird hunting requires dog experience on those birds that cannot be replicated on planted pen raised birds. Regardless of how much preseason training is conducted any dog that has never hunted wild birds will go through a learning process of how to hunt. It is also not likely that any single dog will be good on both pheasant and quail. It will be the smart hunter that can detect these issues and adjust accordingly making the best of what he has rather than trying to achieve what he wants.
