patrkyhntr

I grew up during the heyday of pheasant hunting in PA. Things aren't the same now. If we learned one thing about the decline of pheasants, it should have been that without habitat, you don't have pheasants. Quail also. Habitat is everything to wildlife. Farming practices have changed, and the land that used to support hundreds of pheasants doesn't support a field mouse now. Stocking pheasants makes little sense, as does stocking trout. Everyone wants it done, but few are willing to pay what it actually costs. I would buy a pheasant stamp if the money went to habitat improvement. A good start would be to get rid of the farmers on state gamelands and only mow the fields one time a year. This is the way soil bank lands were managed back in the sixties.