Thankfully, spring temperatures also registered cooler and attenuated the record snowmelt. Record snowpack meant that the spring melt brought generational flooding to low-lying areas of the Valley including the formation of the historic Tulare Lake in Kings County. The CFWD team said that conditions were uncharacteristically wet across the Central Valley during the early nesting season. Much-needed water created a trickledown effect that may have initially made the nesting and brood-rearing seasons difficult at times, but benefited pheasants, other game, and farmers in the long run. It appears the heavy rain events have allowed for habitat to rebound a bit in 2023, helping to compensate for the past few years of drought conditions. Plus, there was fortunate spacing between storms that may have provided critical relief for upland birds.įlooding in many areas of the state likely pushed pheasants toward the periphery of their home ranges, but the above-average precipitation resulted in emergent vegetation that provided additional cover over winter. The snowpack in the Sierra Nevada was among the highest on record as temperatures were cool. WEATHER AND CONDITIONSĪccording to the team from CFWD, the winter of 2022-23 brought a series of atmospheric rivers bearing record precipitation and snowfall for California. Ian Dwight, Matt Meshriy and Katherine Miller, of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), provided input on the state of the 2023 pheasant hunting season in California. While flooding may have impacted pheasants in some areas, things are still in a much better place than during the drought. Cover and insect forage should be in a much better place than they were a year ago for upland birds … and that should mean more pheasants this fall. Heavy precipitation over the past year has provided better cover and insect forage in 2023.Ī few years of drought conditions have been washed away with near record precipitation levels over the past year in California. Pheasant Hunting Forecast 2023: California UPLAND HABITAT REBOUNDING IN THE GOLDEN STATE AFTER A FEW EXTREMELY DRY YEARS Tom Carpenter, Editor – 2023 Pheasant Hunting Forecast And it is where communion happens in fall, with a bird dog romping ahead, our hearts glad and faces smiling and a rooster out there somewhere, giving us the good old slip. » Conditions trend from generally dry to downright droughty heading into fall, and that will impact hunting, from the careful approach you might bring to the hunt, to habitat status on the ground (including some emergency mowing, haying and grazing regionally).įor pheasants, and all other manner of upland wildlife, habitat is everything. Nesting success makes birds for hunting, period. » A goodly base of the core pheasant range experienced almost ideal nesting conditions with a relatively dry and warm spring, punctuated by moisture at just the right times in early summer to help nesting habitat growth and vibrancy. But pheasants are tough and, when wintering habitat is there, can survive one hell of an onslaught of snow and cold. In many places, pheasant hunters thought all was lost.
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