The author (left) and nephew Tom Harden meet at the truck to admire a fine ringneck and share a laugh over their hunt so far in Platte County. Pheasant season is a great time for friends and family in Nebraska. Photo by Gene Hornbeck.

Scores of youngsters worked their way through Nebraska pheasant cover on the weekend of Oct. 18-19, thousands joined the army seeking ringnecks on Oct. 25, the statewide opener, and most if not all of them should have a few feathers in their hats by the first of November -- at least, so say those monitoring the Cornhusker State's most popular upland game bird season.

The young gunners, 15 or younger, get a two-day shot at the roosters before those among us who are older join them for a season set to run until Jan. 31, 2009. The bag limit for the youth on their two days in the field is set at two cocks daily, with a possession limit of four. Once us oldsters join the hunt, the limits go up to three daily and 12 in possession.

Last year was a reasonably good year for pheasants in Nebraska. A few random bag checks made by state wildlife technicians over the opening weekend showed that shotgunners averaged slightly more than one rooster per hunter-day. That bag was a bit lower than it was in the 2006-07 season.

Going into the season this fall, the outlook for bird numbers appeared to be much the same as last year's. This spring's edition of the annual statewide count by rural mail carriers showed that bird numbers were down slightly everywhere except for the southwest, which showed a slight increase. District wildlife managers believe that the reduction of acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program during the past spring and summer will make an impact on both bird numbers and on good huntable cover.

According to Bob Meduna, District 6 wildlife manager at Kearney, the spring count in his area indicated that bird numbers were up in the northern and southwestern parts of the district and down in the southeast section.

“There isn't a lot of difference in the hunting success throughout the district," he reported, “but I would say that York, Fillmore, Clay, Gosper and Phelps counties were the best last year. I would say nesting habitat and success was good in some areas and poor in others; it's hard to generalize, due to the weather and the cover. The winter weather may have had some affect on the pheasants in December and January, but, the birds are pretty hardy, so the weather probably didn't have a major impact."

Meduna hunted the roosters about 20 to 25 times last year. “I hunt over a Brittany," he said, “and use a 12-gauge Remington 870. I use the improved-cylinder tube early in the season and then the modified later. I load up with 7 1/2 shot early and 6s later on."

The biologist's best outing in the pheasant fields came on a nice day, temperatures in the 50s, not much wind. “I flushed six or eight roosters," he recalled, “and as many hens, and killed my three-bird limit in about 30 minutes.

“I think the time of day dictates the type of cover one should hunt. I hit the roosting cover first thing in the morning for perhaps an hour. Then I work the feeding areas in midmorning and midafternoon. The birds spend the midday hours loafing in much the same cover that they feed and/or roost in, but, if available, they do use brush patches, shelterbelts and weedy fencerows.