If you didn't like the news this week that Minnesota's pheasant population was down 27 percent from last year, and that hunters might harvest fewer than a half-million birds for the first time since 2004, consider the news out of Iowa.

Wildlife officials there also completed their summer roadside bird count and reported the ringneck population was about the same as 2008. But they also projected that hunters should harvest just 300,000 to 350,000 birds – which would be a record-low harvest.

Last season, hunters killed an estimated 383,000 pheasants, the lowest ever and only the second time since 1958 that hunters didn't bag at least 500,000 roosters. Bad weather and loss of habitat has hurt the pheasant population. Iowa has lost 256,000 acres of CRP habitat in the past two years, and another 109,000 acres will expire from the federal program on Sept. 30.

"There will be quality pheasant hunting this year where there is quality pheasant habitat,'' DNR wildlife biologist Todd Bogenschutz said in a news release.

The DNR plans to meet with legislators and others over the next four months to develop strategies to help recover Iowa's upland bird populations. The committee will present its findings to the Iowa Legislature next spring.

NORTH DAKOTA RINGNECKS

The news wasn't great in North Dakota, either. The roadside pheasant count was the lowest in more than five years – and down 50 percent statewide from last year. Still, officials anticipate hunters will bag a half-million birds. That's how many they shot in 2002 when numbers were this low.

The weather gets the blame: Winter mortality due to unusually harsh weather and lower production this summer because of a cool, wet spring kept the number of young birds down and made for lower recruitment of young into the fall population, said Stan Kohn, upland game management supervisor for the state Game and Fish Department.

"Hunters will observe fair pheasant numbers in areas with better habitat but will notice fewer birds overall," Kohn said in a news release. "This season is going to require more walking and extra effort to fill a bag."

Total pheasants counted in the four districts of the state were down between 43-60 percent. Brood observations - the lowest since 2000 - closely resemble the number of pheasants seen per 100 miles. While the average brood size is down in all four districts, several are comparable to 2008.

The 2009 regular pheasant season opens Oct. 10. A two-day youth pheasant hunting weekend, when legally licensed residents and nonresidents ages 15 and younger can hunt statewide, is Oct. 3-4.