EP. 199: Severe Winter Putting a Hurt on Pheasants in Northern States

Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by three Pheasants Forever biologists to discuss the impact this year’s severe winter weather has been having on pheasant populations across the country’s northern tier of states. Those three biologists include Private Lands Conservation Program Manager Rachel Bush from Bismarck, North Dakota; Minnesota State Coordinator Tanner Bruse from Marshall, Minnesota, and South Dakota and North Dakota State Coordinator Matt Morlock from Huron, South Dakota. Episode Highlights: • Bush explains the philosophy of “putting the kitchen next to the bedroom” when designing quality pheasant habitat to best survive severe winters. • Bruse breaks down the good and bad of seeing pheasants in open agricultural fields during the winter. Are they stressed and vulnerable or taking advantage of accessible food? Or both? • Morlock delivers a few zingers as he talks about cattails (nature’s hot dogs), hot lunch (corn kernels in steaming cow pies), and the OG’s of surviving winter (sharp-tail grouse).