The Minnesota DNR says this weekend's pheasant opener should be a good one for hunters.
After years of declines, pheasant numbers are up 18% over last year. Upland game research scientist Tim Lyons says numbers have been good the past couple of years, following a wet 2019.
“A lot of our pheasant habitat which is grasslands, often times near streams, stream borders and things like that, that got flooded out so we didn’t have that as good of a hatch,” Lyons said. “Even after the birds are able to hatch a brood, the chicks are out, that first seven days they thermoregulate. They can’t keep themselves warm.”
Lyons says that wet spring and summer weather is much more damaging to the pheasant population than cold winters. He says cool weather this weekend should be ideal for both the hunters and their dogs.
Hunters spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year in Minnesota on equipment, food, lodging and other hunting-related goods and services. With more than a half million hunters in the state, the economic impact of hunting supports thousands of jobs across the state according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
The annual Minnesota Governor's Pheasant Opener is in Worthington this year. Governor Walz plans to be out early Saturday to take part. There are a number of events in Nobles County around the governor’s opener.
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