“We knew going into last season that it was going to be tough in some areas of western Kansas, where production was down and adult birds made up the bulk of the population,” said upland game biologist Randy Rodgers of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. “We may have been overoptimistic, as some local areas really suffered from the drought and bird numbers suffered. Overall, we had a decent season, but we were down from the 764,000 roosters taken in 2005.”

To make matters worse, those same areas were blanketed last winter with heavy snows that sat as deep as 3 feet on the level with drifts four times that. “That area took the brunt of the winter,” said Rodgers. “In many cases, winter cover was at a premium and bird numbers took a hit; it was just a very tough situation.

“If you follow a line from the extreme southwest in Morton County and head north and a little east to the Nebraska line, you can see which areas were most affected. To the west of that line the snows piled high, and numbers will show that in the harvest this fall. We did get some really needed moisture, which improved habitat and production, but we just didn’t have the carryover birds in some of those areas, and it is going to take more than one season to fully recover.”

East of that line, conditions actually look good. Wheat crops and other habitats responded well to added spring moisture and allowed for better production. “This area holds a lot of promise,” Rodgers asserted. “We actually have the potential for a pretty good season this year. We will just have to wait a few more weeks and see how things play out.”

Although CRP acres are beneficial to pheasants, wheat production is vital to Kansas’ ringnecks, and a delayed crop generally provides the best nesting conditions. The state has always lived by the motto that what’s good for its wheat is good for its pheasants, so hunters should look to those areas to experience the best that Kansas has to offer. In particular, the north-central and south-central regions look strong for this fall.

Kansas is the only state in the Great Plains that allows four roosters in the daily bag. About 125,000 hunters took to the fields last year in search of those daily limits. Very popular with the state’s wingshooting faithful is the Walk-In program -- Kansas’ version of leasing private acres for public use -- which boasts over a million acres that it has opened to public hunting.

For this year, the season opener is tentatively set for Nov. 3 and will run through January 2008. Residents will pay $20.15 for their annual license, while non-residents will shell out $72.15 for the same.

As the Great Plains states gear up for another pheasant season, hunters are advised to take full advantage of the great hunting the region has to offer, as questions surrounding the CRP program could change our landscape and the modern-day pheasant boom we have come to enjoy. The region currently boasts some of the best pheasant numbers in more than half a decade, and this season could be our best one yet.

Find more about Great Plains fishing and hunting at: GreatPlainsGameandFish.com.