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SD Game, Fish and Parks conducts pheasant brood surveys each summer to evaluate the status of pheasant populations and predict autumn pheasant population levels relative to previous years. When combined with the status of the agricultural harvest and historical hunting pressure, hunter success and satisfaction can be predicted for geographical areas of the state. Densities of pheasants alone do not infer high or low hunter success and satisfaction. Access to hunting opportunities is equally, if not more important to densities of pheasants in evaluating potential hunter success and ultimately, hunter satisfaction.
Ninety-six 30-mile pheasant brood routes are distributed across South Dakota. Routes are surveyed from 1 August through 15 August each year using standardized methods on mornings when weather conditions are optimal for observing pheasants. Also, pheasant broods are opportunistically counted throughout the survey period to estimate average brood sizes. Pheasants per mile (PPM) estimates are calculated by summing the product of mean brood sizes and broods observed with numbers of cocks and hens observed on each route. PPM estimates for 1999 and the previous 5 years (1995-1999 mean) are compared with 2000 results. Results are compared within city areas with Wilcoxon signed-rank tests which take into account the direction (up or down) and magnitude of change for each route. Since PPM estimates are relative density estimates, comparisons are valid only between years within each city area.
County brood survey routes are allocated to city area analyses as follows:
Chamberlain: Brule, Buffalo, Charles Mix (north route), Gregory (north route), Lyman, Tripp (north route), and Aurora.
Winner: Tripp, Gregory, Lyman (south route), Jones (south route), Mellette, and Todd.
Pierre: Hughes, Jones, Lyman, Potter (south route), Stanley, Hand/Hyde (south route only), and Sully.
Mobridge: Campbell, Corson, Dewey, Potter (north and central routes), and Walworth.
Aberdeen: Brown, Day, Edmunds, Faulk, Spink (north and central routes), and McPherson.
Huron: Hand (north route), Beadle, Jerauld, Kingsbury, Sanborn, Miner, Clark (south route only), and Spink (south route).
Mitchell: Davison, Hanson, Charles Mix (central route), Douglas, Aurora, Hutchinson (north and west routes), Jerauld, McCook, Miner, and Sanborn.
Yankton: Yankton, Charles Mix (south route), Bon Homme, Clay, Turner/Hutchinson (west and south routes), and Union.
Sioux Falls: Minnehaha, Turner/Hutchinson (north route), Lake, Lincoln, McCook, and Moody.
Brookings: Brookings, Deuel (south route), and Hamlin (south and central routes), Kingsbury, Lake (north route), and Moody.
Watertown: Codington, Clark, Deuel, Grant, and Hamlin.
Sisseton: Grant, Day (north route), Marshall, and Roberts.
Survey Results
The 2000 pheasant brood routes indicate that the total pheasant population for South Dakota is unchanged from 1999 and 18% above the average of the previous 5 years. Despite no overall change in 2000 from 1999, the distribution of these pheasant populations has changed considerably in the past year.
The survey indicates that the Mobridge, Winner, Sioux Falls, Brookings, Watertown, Aberdeen, and Sisseton areas all posted significant increases in pheasant numbers in 2000 over the 1999. Of these 7 city areas, all but Mobridge and Winner also have more pheasants in 2000 than the average of the past 5 years. The 2000 estimate and 5-year average did not statistically differ for these 2 city areas.
Survey estimates for Pierre and Huron areas in 2000 were not statistically different from 1999 estimates. The Pierre area estimate also did not differ from the 5-year mean while the 2000 estimate for Huron was above the average of the previous 5 years. The survey also indicates pheasant populations in 2000 are lower in the Chamberlain, Mitchell and Yankton areas than in 1999. In addition, the 2000 estimates for these 3 city areas are all significantly lower than the average of the previous 5 years.
A portion of the decline in pheasant numbers in the southern part of SD was associated with a decline in the average brood sizes from 1999. These declines follow another reduction observed between the 1998 to 1999 surveys. Also like last year, the most precipitous of these declines was in Region 2 where the average brood size declined another 18% in 2000 after a 14% decline from 1998 to 1999. In Regions 3 and 4, the 2000 mean brood size declined 7-8% from 1999. In addition to the decline in the brood sizes, less pheasant broods were observed on 20 of 26 routes in the Chamberlain, Mitchell and Yankton areas. Despite these declines, it is important to note that the brood surveys indicate that pheasant abundance is still quite high in the Chamberlain and Mitchell areas.
Survey routes in the Winner and Mobridge areas indicate pheasant numbers have recovered from one-year declines in 1999 and have returned to levels similar to those recorded in 1998. However, the substantial decline in the average brood size in Region 2 tempered the population growth in the south-central and north-central part of the state and inhibited full recovery to the record 1998 levels.
The Huron and Pierre areas showed no change in 2000 pheasant population status from 1999 because they are located at a point where the survey estimates transition from pheasant declines to the south and population increases to the north. It is important to reiterate here that this does not mean that pheasant populations in areas north of Pierre and Huron are higher than southern sections in each of these city areas. In fact, pheasant populations in the areas that posted declines are likely higher than the northern portions of each of these city areas where survey routes showed increases. However, it certainly appears that the difference between them was narrowed significantly in 2000.
Following a steady population decline through the mid-1990’s that culminated with the severe winter of 1996-97, the pheasant population in eastern and northeastern SD appears have made a full recovery. The 2000 survey indicates that, for a third straight year, the pheasant population grew significantly in the Aberdeen, Watertown, Brookings, and Sisseton areas. While the Watertown area estimate is about the same as it was before the start of the decline of the mid-1990’s, Aberdeen, Brookings, and Sisseton all posted modern-day record counts in 2000 that far exceed counts prior to the decline. In addition, the survey also indicates that in 2000, the Sioux Falls area bounced back from decline in 1999 to reach a level unmatched in modern-day survey records.
Despite declines in some sections of the state and a statewide population that is similar to 1999, pheasant hunters in South Dakota, as a whole, will likely experience the best pheasant hunting in recent memory. That is not to say that hunters in localized areas that experienced loss of habitat, severe weather, or other factors that reduced pheasant densities will all have as good of success as they had in 1999. However, the majority of the areas that the pheasant population declined from 1999 to 2000 probably still have some of the highest densities of pheasants found not only in South Dakota, but likely the entire continent of North America.
It is important to remember that the population potential of pheasants, like any natural resource, has its limits. Long-term populations will only climb when an increase in the quantity or quality of habitat on a landscape precipitates an expansion. Over the long-term, there will also be fluctuations in the population due to various beneficial and inclement weather conditions. It is these favorable weather conditions (most notably, 3 relatively mild winters) in conjunction with a good habitat base that has provided the recipe for a remarkable 3-year population expansion in northeastern South Dakota. This area (Brookings, Watertown, Aberdeen and Sisseton areas) has increased 6-fold from the 1997 survey when, on the average, we observed less than 15 pheasants on each 30-mile survey route. On these same routes this year we observed, on the average, over 85 pheasants on each.
Weather permitting, the improved distribution of pheasants across the state will create better opportunities for more pheasant hunters in South Dakota in 2000.
Uploaded: 9/22/2000
Uploaded: 9/22/2000