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Despite objections from some hunting advocates, the pheasant plan does not include returning to a brood count.

George Vandel, a former wildlife director for Game, Fish and Parks, said the brood count was a more accurate way of estimating the pheasant population. "It wasn’t barbershop biology,” Vandel said.

State wildlife officials are not bringing back a popular method of estimating South Dakota’s pheasant population, despite requests from the public to do so. South Dakota is one of the top states for pheasant hunting in the nation, with millions of birds and millions of dollars in economic impact from the hunters that flock to […] The post Commission dismisses calls to reinstate annual pheasant count appeared first on South Dakota Searchlight.

Based on responses, the division estimated that hunters harvested 1,243,194 rooster pheasants, which was an increase of 7.3% from the 2022 estimate, and 69,442 sharp-tailed grouse and greater prairie chickens, a 9.2% increase.

The South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks prepared the report and drafted the action plan. Senior upland wildlife biologist Alex Solem presented the action draft to the state Game, Fish and Parks Commission at its meeting on March 8.