Colorado – Northeast Up While Southeast Prospects Dry Up

colorado forecast

Forecast: Colorado has had three consecutive years of very good pheasant populations, capped by last season in which fall populations were higher than at any point since 1999 and hunter success was an all-time high of 4.1 birds per hunter. The 2011-2012 season should continue the positive trend, at least in northeast Colorado.

This year’s breeding population of pheasants in Colorado, based on the state’s spring pheasant call survey, was the highest in more than 50 years. Nesting and brood habitat conditions were good, though not optimal due to the dry winter. “Generally speaking, northeast Colorado should be good to excellent, depending on the area,” said Ed Gorman, Small Game Manager with the Colorado Division of Wildlife. Gorman says eastern Sedgwick, Phillips, Yuma, and Kit Carson Counties will be the pheasant paradises this fall, but says hunters would do well not to overlook eastern Logan County.

South of Interstate 70 is a different story. “Southeast Colorado hunters will likely see reduced populations across much of the region this year. Severe drought gripped the core pheasant range in the southeast pheasant hotspots this year, and very likely reduced brood survival significantly,” Gorman said.

Season Dates: November 12 through January 31, 2012
Daily Bag Limit: 3
Possession Limit: 9
Field Notes: Colorado’s Pheasant Habitat Improvement Program is 20 years old. The Colorado Division of Wildlife and local Pheasants Forever chapters work on the cooperative program, which assists landowners in developing and enhancing pheasant habitat and has helped increase opportunities for enrollment in the Walk-In-Access Program. Colorado’s Small Game Walk-In Access Program opens more than 220,000 acres of private lands to public hunting access annually.
Helpful Links:
Back to Pheasants Forever's 2011 Pheasant Hunting Forecast
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