Almanac: Pheasants are tough to find but not ducks

The weather last week continued to help duck hunters -- but hinder pheasant hunters. Little crop harvest occurred because of the wet fields.

Poor weather and a slow harvest for the opener apparently kept some hunters home. At Lac qui Parle wildlife management area, the number of cars counted was down 40 percent from last year.

"They just didn't show up,'' manager Dave Trauba said. "It's probably the lowest car count in the last 20 years.''

Those who did turn out found some birds, he said, not bad considering the conditions. Hunters averaged about .5 birds apiece. Last year, they averaged .6 birds. "A good year is one bird per hunter," Trauba said. Though the August roadside pheasant count was down this year, Trauba figures it will be a decent season, especially later when crops have been harvested. "There's birds out there," he said.

After a dismal opener in many areas, the recent cold weather has pushed ducks into the state. Many areas reported good hunting last week. "What a difference a week makes,'' said Steve Cordts, DNR waterfowl specialist. He said most reports indicated hunting success was good to excellent. Trauba said hunting last week was good on Marsh Lake. "It was very impressive ... everytime you looked, you saw a flock of ducks.'' See the DNR weekly waterfowl migration and hunting report at www.dnr.state.mn.us/hunting/waterfowl/index.html.

The Canada goose season opened quietly last week at Lac qui Parle. Only about 2,200 geese were counted on the refuge. "That's probably the lowest number we've had on an opener for many, many years,'' Trauba said. Few hunters were in the state blinds nearby. The migration of Eastern Prairie Population of Canada geese through western Minnesota has changed over the years, and they now usually arrive much later.

• About 9,000 hunters took part in Minnesota's two-day early antlerless season last weekend, and they killed about 2,600 deer, a success rate of just under 30 percent.

• Monday is the last day to offer public comments on the federal Conservation Reserve Program. There has been talk of trimming the popular program, which has been a boon to wildlife. One suggestion was reducing the cap from 32 million acres to 24 million. You can e-mail comments to CRPcomments@tecinc.com.

Doug Smith • dsmith@startribune.com