Mystery Photo
The birds are migrating snow geese photographed eating in a corn stubble field in southeast Colorado last November. Before humans started planting crops on their migration route, many snow geese died during their spring and fall migrations between the arctic and the Gulf of Mexico. Now, because the geese fatten up on waste grain, more of them survive the stress of migration. Unfortunately, the expanded flocks are now ruining their sensitive arctic nesting grounds for themselves and other wildlife. more…

Congratulations to our summer photo contest winners, and thank you everyone for your fantastic submissions!

Our First Place Winner is Cody Murken, 9, of Starbuck, Minnesota. Judges comments: The subject, captured in Palisades State Park, South Dakota, was unique and the focus was sharp.
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I don’t know about yall but here in Ohio the winter chills are FREEZING, it was -20 here the other day and it is supposed to get way colder….all I have to say is BRRRRR!!!!

How Pheasants Hunker Down

by Ken Solormon

Photo by Roger Hill.

If you like hunting pheasants in fall, you need to help them make it through the winter so they can nest in spring. Here’s what pheasants face when the snows fly and the thermometer drops … and how they survive to see another spring. (Also, knowing what a pheasant does on a typical day will help you hunt them):

With the first deep snow or ice storm, people start to worry about pheasants starving. Death due to starvation during inclement weather is extremely rare if pheasants have adequate winter habitat.

A pheasant’s typical winter day goes like this: If available, the pheasant will spend its nights in grassy cover or wetlands (called roosting cover). An hour or so before sunrise, they will leave the grass and head for shrub cover for protection from aerial predators (loafing cover). Here, they will be joined by other pheasants before venturing out to feed. About 30 minutes before sunrise, they will move out to feed in harvested grain fields or, better yet, unharvested food plots (feeding cover). more…

By Christine Dimke

When the alarm goes off in the morning, it is always a struggle of will.

“Do I go pheasant hunting or do I roll over, pull up the covers and go back to sleep?”

As music blares out of the radio, I decide to just get up and see if dad is awake. If not, then I can go back to sleep. Of course, he’s been up for an hour preparing and I’d better get going or we’ll be late.

I fall back into bed and the dream begins………I sigh and think of how cold it is this morning and how warm my bed is. I go get my stuff and remember my hat to cover my ‘disaster zone’ hair since I did not and will not brush it this morning. That is how it all starts.

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