From the DNR A mild winter followed by a warm spring contributed
to a significant increase in Minnesota’s pheasant count,
according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
(DNR). The pheasant population index increased 68 percent from
2011. Pheasant hunters are expected to harvest about 290,000
roosters this fall. That’s up from last year’s estimated harvest
of 204,000 but roughly half the number taken during the
2005-2008 seasons when hunting was exceptionally good. “While
the 2012 increase reflects movement in a positive direction, the
counts still remain 51 percent below the 10-year average,” said
Kurt Haroldson, the DNR biologist who compiled the survey. While
favorable weather worked in the birds’ favor this year, their
long-term success is more closely linked to habitat than annual
variations in snowfall, rainfall and temperature. “The state’s
pheasant population is linked more closely to quantity and
quality of habitat than annual differences in weather,”
Haroldson said. The pheasant populatio