Pheasant Fact Friday!💡 To the hen, a nest is successful even if only one egg hatches. Once she sees a chick, her brooding instinct takes over and thoughts of starting another nest vanish. Most eggs hatch from June 16 to 30, after 23 days of incubation. This peak hatch can vary one to two weeks depending on weather. Nebraska research found that February through June weather significantly affect peak hatch. Above normal temperatures caused early hatches, while above normal precipitation delayed hatching. Precipitation caused 66% of the variation in hatching peaks, while temperature caused 34%. #pheasantsforever #pheasants #pheasant #pheasantfactfriday

Easements Explained. Conservation easements aren’t always easy to understand. But they have a big and forever impact on upland habitat, gamebirds and wildlife. And they benefit the landowner in many ways. Meet the conservation easement … and meet Ted B. Lyon, a conservationist and hunter who put his Montana land into a conservation easement with Pheasants Forever. A conservation easement is a set of voluntary land use restrictions that perpetually protects the land’s conservation values. A conservation easement: » Protects wildlife habitat forever. » Runs with the land if it is ever sold or when/if it passes to the next generation. » Provides the conservation easement holder (in this case, Pheasants Forever as a non-governmental organization or NGO) with the ability to ensure the conservation values are protected. Read the full story “It’s Staying This Way Forever” by Pheasants Forever Journal Editor Tom Carpenter, at the link in our bio. #pheasantsforever #pheasants #conservation

On The Wing Podcast Ep. 267: Sharp-tailed Grouse in Wisconsin’s Brush and Barrens Habitat, is live. Listen now at the link in our bio or wherever you get your podcasts. Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by Mike Amman and Ashly Steinke, both volunteers with the Wisconsin Sharp-tailed Grouse Society (@wisharptails), for a conversation about prairie grouse, barrens habitat, and dog training. When most folks think about sharp-tailed grouse and greater prairie chickens, they automatically think about the large expanses of prairie grasslands across the Dakotas or Montana or Nebraska. There is, however, a somewhat “secret” population of sharp-tailed grouse in Wisconsin’s brushland habitat. Episode Highlights: • Steinke, an ecologist with Audubon Society, shares his personal passion and professional knowledge focused on growing Wisconsin’s sharp-tailed grouse population through habitat management and brushland connectivity. • Amman, a forester for Wisconsin’s Bayfield County, discusses his perspective on the importance of the state’s brushland habitat and the wildlife dependent upon this unique form of grasslands habitat, even though he’s also passionate about the state’s Northwoods forests. • The guys also discuss the value Wisconsin Sharp-tailed Grouse Society find in having a booth to recruit new members from all over the country at National Pheasant Fest & Quail Classic. Learn more about sharp-tailed grouse in Wisconsin by visiting www.WiSharptails.org #pheasantsforever #quailforever #sharptailedgrouse #grouse

While the Land of 10,000 Lakes isn’t making any more of them, it is building public-land WMAs and WPAs (500-plus and counting) thanks to Pheasants Forever, its chapters, and a coalition of partners that includes the state’s Clean Water Land and Legacy Amendment. The importance of the Amendment can’t be overstated, and for those who are unfamiliar, it can be boiled down to Minnesotans voting to increase their sales and use tax rate by three-eighths of one percent to “protect drinking water sources; to protect, enhance, and restore wetlands, prairies, forests, and fish, game, and wildlife habitat; to preserve arts and cultural heritage; to support parks and trails; and to protect, enhance, and restore lakes, rivers, streams, and groundwater.” Dedicated funding works, and the power of the public’s voice combined with our advocacy efforts and project implementation is seen via this Minnesota milestone. 500-plus and counting indeed! Learn more about how the state’s Land and Legacy Amendment has teamed up with PF and partners to drive public land acquisition and restoration work in Pheasants Forever’s home state, at the link in our bio. #pheasantsforever #conservation #wildlifeconservation #wildlifehabitat

Wingshooter Rig Walkthrough presented by @onxhunt, @pheasants_forever, and @quail_forever. This Wingshooter Rig Walkthrough features PF Member and upland hunter Travis Whitfield, giving us the rundown on his upland rig and its features that assist the traveling wingshooter. Stay tuned for more wingshooter rigs, to find ways you can build out an upland rig that best suits you and your dogs. Don’t forget to check out OnX’s in-dash capabilities at onxhunt.com #pheasantsforever #quailforever #onxhunt #birddog #offroad

Pheasant Fact Friday!💡 With less breeding activities, roosters should stop losing weight. In June though energy is needed to grow all new feathers, so his weight loss continues. All birds-whether pheasants, sparrows or mallards- delay feather molting until after the breeding season. If breeding and molting occurred simultaneously, the energy demand on the pheasant would be greater than the bird could supply. The roosters will remain sexually active through July to serve re-nesting hens. In June most hens are incubating eggs or raising chicks. Incubating eggs takes less energy than producing eggs, so why is she still losing weight? During 23 days of incubation, she will leave the nest to feed herself for only one hour each day..... not sufficient time to eat enough to maintain her weight. She now weighs 2.2 pounds or 11% less than in April. Her body fat has declined 73%. #pheasantsforever #pheasants #pheasant #pheasantfactfriday

We don’t recommend pheasant hunting from a blind, as chasing them behind your bird dog is a bit more practical, but maybe these turkey hunters are on to something. 🤔 🎥: Ray Esboldt #pheasantsforever #pheasant #pheasants #pheasanthunting