G6, the predators may take a few but it's loss of habitat that's the real problem. When you consider the 10's of thousands of acres of CRP that've been put back into production, it's no wonder populations are down. And when the habitat that's left is road ditches and other low spots, a wet spring like we had this year means no nesting spots and/or drowned chicks. Also, when the birds are concentrated into small strip and border spots, versus full fields of switchgrass, it makes it easier for predators to take them. And when Iowa has the such a small amount of public land, scattered in isolated pockets, it can't carry any significant numbers.
I know I have read multiple opinions about the loss of CRP acres negatively impacting pheasant/quail numbers, but I think there is more to that story than just the loss of acres per se. IMO, just losing CRP acres is NOT that big of a deal, provided those acres were in mature stands of brome that is. A ten year old+ brome field offers little to game birds in terms of year round cover, food and nesting habitat. "From the road", a 20 acre brome field looks like there should be some birds on it, but from a true "bird's eye view" at ground level, brome is just about as useful as asphalt. It is difficult for a gamebird to run around on the ground underneath brome and equally difficult for them to run across the top of it, it offers no food, etc.
Don't get me wrong, more CRP is better than less CRP, it is just that 5 acres of CRP in something
other than brome, is better in my mind than 100 acres of CRP in a brome stand. I have had 90 acres of my own CRP now for about 10 years. It was predominantly brome, with a good amount of volunteer trees on it too, mostly cedars and scrub oaks. (A very common combination on brome CRP that is left to "nature" and given a few years.) There was little sign of gamebirds in the first few years, whether we had a wet year or dry year. The predator population was also then, like it is now, relatively high compared to long term averages.
When I began to affect the percentage of brome by burning/spraying/planting other grass species, etc, the gamebird populations had an almost immediate bounce back from essentially NO gamebird levels during the mostly pure brome stand.
Predators do get some nests and also some adult birds, and I would agree too that there are more hawks/coyotes/coons, etc, nowadays than 20+ years ago. Also, the tough winters and VERY wet springs we have been experiencing have hurt gamebird populations quite a bit. But show me a switchgrass field with some food nearby and I will guarantee that there will still be a population of pheasants.
All of that to say this...it isn't the number of acres in CRP that is most crucial, it is much more important to have the RIGHT habitat on even a much smaller number of acres. It's the old quality v. quantity argument if you ask me. Give me the quality habitat in this case. Then if we knock the predator population down some and have a few good dry springs we will have plenty of pheasants around.
