12/01/08 Ranchers and upland hunting

Often overlooked are the American rancher's contributions to upland bird preservation meaning that without the efforts of the ranching community bird hunters would find their options limited. I'm Jeff Keane, I'll be back after the break with some northwest pheasant hunting statistics. Much of upland bird habitat is located on private farms and ranches , yet the public is often unaware of the efforts ranchers take on behalf of hunters, Many ranches will allow hunting by permission with others lease portions for hunting clubs. Here is Susan Allen with in insight on pheasant numbers in the northwest. Thanks Jeff but first I want our listeners to be aware that the Department of Ag launched new incentive payments for landowners who open up their CRP to public access. This is addition to the Open Fields program in the new Farm Bill and is expected to open an additional seven million acres of hunting habitat over the next five years. Jeff, having hunted pheasant in Oregon for years I was surprised that Washington State harvest so many more birds. Susan , nine thousand hunter's harvested over twenty five thousand roosters in Oregon and that seems substantial except when compared to Washington 's over twenty tow thousand hunters harvesting seventy thousand pheasants. Wow! Idaho didn't post numbers but reported drought conditions that severely decreased their pheasant population.