Author Archives: Colo-Pheasants

Division research conducted in the early 1980’s indicated that severe winter weather was the limiting factor for pheasants in eastern Colorado, particularly when winter snow storms were accompanied by strong winds and drifting snow. Pheasants inhabiting poor, thin cover were … Continue reading →

Shrub Thicket s Planted by Chapter by Year   1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Totals Phillips County 26 51 41 63 54 58 48 24 18 9   392 Yuma County 7 30 36 … Continue reading →

This habitat option serves a dual purpose; establishing permanent shrub cover along the many dry creeks common to eastern Colorado, and to enhance hunting within non-farmed creek bottoms, which are very attractive to pheasants and hunters. On many of these … Continue reading →

Field windbreak plantings offer pheasants a variety of cover values. Pheasants use them primarily as travel corridors between different fields, as loafing cover during the day, and often to establish breeding territories and crowing sites. The presence of field windbreaks … Continue reading →

Year round survival cover is a significant limiting factor for Colorado’s pheasant population. From Division research from the mid 1990’s, it is evident that pheasants face significant mortality pressures nearly every month of the year, because night-roosting and survival cover … Continue reading →

Food plots encouraged by PHIP encompass two types of projects, including, plots that are seeded to a forage and grain sorghum mix, and those that chapters now refer to as “natural” food plots, which consist of annual forbs such as … Continue reading →

Today’s Federal Farm Bill programs represent a tremendous opportunity to impact pheasant habitat on a region-wide scale. The Conservation Reserve Program is the largest of the farm bill programs, and could secure large parcels of habitat for pheasants and other … Continue reading →

No more striking decline in habitat quality for pheasants exists in Colorado than the decline in quality and quantity of wheat stubble. During a Division research study conducted in the mid 1960’s, wheat stubble and weed canopy in the core … Continue reading →

The Pheasant Habitat Improvement Program, or PHIP, is a joint effort of Pheasants Forever chapters and the Colorado Division of Wildlife to improve pheasant habitat in eastern Colorado. What began in 1992 with a few volunteers from 3 chapters has … Continue reading →