The pheasant population in Kansas has returned to pre-drought conditions and the whistling quail population is the highest in the history of the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism’s annual pheasant crowing survey.
As The Wichita Eagle reports, the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism conducts the survey between April 25 and May 15 each year and this year’s survey showed a 30 percent improvement in the pheasant population over last year’s numbers.
Southwest Kansas had the highest numbers but all four of Kansas’ pheasant regions stayed stable or showed improvement.
Jeff Prendergast, biologist with the KDWPT, ranked this spring’s counts on whistling quail as the highest in the survey’s history, but overall it was only about three percent above last year.
While there was a 40 percent increase in the quail population in north central Kansas, it was offset by a 50 percent decrease in southwest Kansas, which Prendergast attributed in part to the late April snow storm.
