North Dakota Game and Fish reports that hunters may find more pheasants afield this fall. North Dakota Game and Fish bases this report on actual roadside bird counts:
Total pheasants observed (80 per 100 miles) are up 3.8% from last year. Broods per 100 miles (9.6) and average brood size (5.3) are similar to last year. The statewide number of pheasants observed per 100 miles is 57% above the 10-year average.
Pheasants observed in the northwest were up 7% to 85 pheasants per 100 miles. Broods per 100 miles and average brood size were also up just slightly to 10.5 broods, with an average brood size of 4.7 chicks.
…Results from the southeast showed 8.6 broods and 64 pheasants per 100 miles, down from 9.4 broods and 72 pheasants in 2025. Average brood size was 5 chicks.
…The highest counts were found in southwestern North Dakota, which indicated 112 pheasants and 13 broods per 100 miles, similar to 14 broods and 115 pheasants in 2025. Average brood size was 5.7 chicks.
…Observers in the northeast counted 5 broods and 43 pheasants per 100 miles, compared to 3 broods and 22 pheasants last year. Average brood size was 6 chicks [North Dakota Game and Parks, press release, 2026.09.09].
South Dakota Game Fish and Parks also is promising a big pheasant season, even though South Dakota Game Fish and Parks has no actual ringneck count on which to base its boosterism:
Conditions look favorable for another strong year of pheasant and grouse hunting in South Dakota.
That’s according to Tom Kirschenmann, director for the state Wildlife Division.
He spoke during the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Commission meeting in Winner on Friday.
Below average snowfall last winter, followed by near-average moisture and temperatures this spring, pointed to good nesting conditions for both species, according to Kirschenmann.
“Things look great and we’re really excited for the upland game seasons to begin,” he said [Bob Mercer, “Pheasant Hunting FOrecast for South Dakota Is Again Good,” KELO-TV, 2026.09.11].
Game Fish and Parks stopped counting pheasants in 2019, the first year of Kristi Noem’s anti-science gubernatoriate, out of fear that actual data might deter hunters from coming to South Dakota.
But I have to wonder what might draw more hunters: South Dakota saying, We think we have more birds, or North Dakota saying, We went out and looked, and we actually counted more birds?
This morning, at the Conservatives with Common Sense Breakfasting, the debates will be about the Odenbachians, but the Opening Rant will poke fun at counting birds. grudznick counts pheasants in Rapid City all the time, and I have exact numbers which will be unveiled over gravy taters.
“Imagine a dumpster full of pheasant carcasses with just the breasts cut out. That’s what my friend found after the governor’s hunt back in October, behind the processing place in Fort Pierre that handles the birds.” [Kevin Woster, Outdoors in Keloland]
Of course South Dakota doesn’t need to count peasants. All those laborers and small time farmers, no serfs, but Its FILLED with peasants! Hate to go Emily on you but really!
Any wildlife survey technique can be criticized. If you think what you are using is creating an undercount or costing too much, use a different technique. Noem’s concern was never based on accuracy or costs. It was strictly about how many people would show up at the Sioux Falls airport. She didn’t care that much about the local sportsman who wanted to spend a few afternoons tromping around the fields, and wanted to know what their luck might be this year.
Quite frankly, pheasants aren’t native, and so I have a bit of a bias against them, but counting them had become a barometer for certain habitat conditions in parts of the state. I didn’t hunt, but a low count usually meant I had less concern about catching some shot on the ;public lands I liked to hike around in.
Well now, Lar, you know that Ms. Governor Noem moved the Pheasant Hunting out of Fort Pierre and to Sioux Falls many years ago, probably because of the meat processing being better.
North Duhkota arrests and detains any South Duhkota pheasants illegally crossing the border in search of better living conditions. Gravy taters be damned!