(Area) Thirty inches is the magic number when it comes to snowfall and pheasant survival.
A winter total below 30″ is beneficial to the population while a total exceeding 30″ is detrimental. “When the Iowa DNR sees large year to year fluctuations in the population those are caused by weather. Habitat changes occur gradually. When you have a change in the habitat you see the impact over a ten year period, but weather can have an instantaneous impact.”
Bryan Hayes with the Iowa DNR Office in Lewis says hen survival can decrease by as much as 80% during a snowy winter. More often than not in recent years the snowfall has been below that 30″ mark. “We’ve had a pretty good string of milder winters with less than 30″ and we’ve seen the population rebound as a result. From 2007-2011 there were five consecutive years over 30″ and the pheasant population dropped every year during that five year period.”
Hayes says an all-time low was reached in 2011, but for the most part, things have been on a gradual increase ever since.
