This year's hunt is slated to open Oct. 29. That's a switch from the past two years, when the season began the first Saturday in November. This early start should provide Nebraska hunters a few more days in the field. The season runs through January; hunters have a bag limit of three roosters, 12 in possession. Annual license fees should hold at $25 for residents and $81 for non-residents.

KANSAS
Reports from the Kansas pheasant fields were encouraging last fall, as the state saw a welcome reprieve from the devastating drought that has suppressed its pheasant population for the past few years. The record-breaking drought started to retreat last year, and things look much improved again this season.

"Last year we saw a season that was slightly improved over 2003," said Randy Rodgers, small game biologist with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. "Of course we saw significant gains in the 2003 harvest, so another increase is good news."

Rodgers says that pheasant hunting during the drought-stricken years of 2001 and 2002 will go down in the books as some of the worst the state has seen since records were first kept. But now the state is getting closer to numbers that Sunflower State hunters are accustomed to.

"We had no serious problems this past winter and went into spring nesting conditions with a good number of birds," offered Rodgers. "Cover conditions were much improved, with the best wheat crop I have seen in a long time."

Kansas has always lived by the motto: "As goes our wheat crop, so goes our pheasant crop" -- and those fields need timely rains to ensure a healthy harvest and hatch.

The only state with a four-bird-per-day bag limit has seen some tough times, but it looks as if the corner has been turned. "We predicted a good season last year, and I think most hunters were satisfied," said Rodgers. "We have a real chance at popping back from the drought, and conditions and carryover birds look very promising."

Rodgers points to the north-central part of the state as hosting the best bird populations this past season, followed closely by the southwest and the south-central. "The far northwest part of the state is still feeling the effects of the drought, and although things have improved, I think that is one area that is on slate for improvement."

Roughly 120,000 hunters took to the fields last fall, and while hunting was spotty in some areas, the overall attitude was that Kansas had a good hunting season. Things look even better for this fall. Reports show close to 700,000 roosters taken last season.

"I would love to see our numbers top the 1-million mark," said Rodgers. "That hasn't happened for 20 years, but I think we can get there again if everything plays in our favor. Fortunately we are at a place (in our pheasant population) that more resembles normal.

Kansas' program that enrolls private land for public use topped the million-acre mark last year and is extremely popular with the state's pheasant-hunting faithful. "We are still looking for more acreage," admitted Rodgers. "But we are concentrating on gaining more quality acres to get optimum results."

Better days have finally arrived on the Kansas pheasant fields. The bag limit will once again hold at four roosters per day with 16 in possession. The season is slated to begin Nov. 12 and run into January 2006. An annual resident license costs $19, while a non-resident's will run $71.

Another pheasant season is just around the corner, and hunters across the Great Plains should have ample opportunities this season. Thanks to help from Mother Nature, bird numbers are on the rise or near modern-day record levels. Regardless of where you are at in the region, it's a great time to be a pheasant hunter in the Great Plains!