Extreme Weather May Have Impacted This Year’s Pheasant Hunting In Minnesota

Everyone keeps warning me about the brutal winter we had last year. I was down in Iowa, where we did see a lot of snow and two weeks straight of below zero weather. That didn't even remotely compare to the winter y'all had here in Minnesota, not to mention the rainy spring.

The Department of Natural Resouces put out an article yesterday saying that it's probably not going to be a typical pheasant hunting season in Minnesota this year due to the prolonged winter and extremely wet spring. The article says that most of the places where hens normally nest were impacted because of the amount of moisture we had this year. Some of these areas were flooded and the birds could not nest. It continued to say that these areas are common hunting areas which mean hunters will be less like to see birds there in October.

The DNR does a field survey every year to keep tabs on the bird populations. This year's survey found that there were 37.4 birds for every 100 miles in Minnesota. That's down around 60% compared to the long term average.

We still have a few weeks until opening day. In the land of ten thousand lakes, the pheasant season opens on October 12th and runs through the first of the year. The DNR says if you are planning on going hunting this year, you should do your homework before setting out. One resource they offer is Recreation Compas. This will show you public land that is available to hunt. You can also use the Wildlife Management website to get more information. Hopefully, we have a better winter, so the 2020 pheasant season will be one to remember.

Chill with Paisley Dunn on Quick Country 96.5 Weekdays from 3pm-7pm

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