Syracuse.com - Good pheasant hunting season at Three Rivers thanks to changes in DEC's mowing technique

[HuntingNY-News]

It’s been a decent pheasant hunting season so far at the state-owned Three Rivers Wildlife Management Area in the town of Van Buren, several hunters have told me. The main reason, the hunters said, involve a change made by the state Department of Environmental Conservation staff that manages the 3,500 acres. It involves how the fields are mowed. “Instead of...

It’s been a decent pheasant hunting season so far at the state-owned Three Rivers Wildlife Management Area in the town of Van Buren, several hunters have told me.

The main reason, the hunters said, involve a change made by the state Department of Environmental Conservation staff that manages the 3,500 acres. It involves how the fields are mowed.

“Instead of mowing strips in the fields of 15 feet separated by unmowed, 15-foot-wide strips, they’ve started leaving some fields completely alone, while cutting other fields in their entirety,” said Dan Kremers, of Palermo, who hunts both pheasant and woodcock on the land. “The few times I went out this year I had good luck (hunting pheasants).”

“I thought the way the fields were mowed this year was going to make it harder to hunt pheasants,” said Stew Plumley, of Baldwinsville. “I’ve seen a number of birds in the unmowed fields. It seems like there’s more birds out there this year.”

DEC spokeswoman Diane Carlton said the mowing strategy was initiated by DEC wildlife biologist Mike Putnam. It was changed because the previous strip-mowing approach was inadequate for protection of the pheasants and other nesting birds from ground predators such as coyotes, and avian predators such as owls, hawks and eagles.

Carlton said the grass is mowed to help control “ecological succession” in the fields. “If we stopped mowing, ecological succession would continue unabated and grass fields would convert to shrubs and woody vegetation and ultimately forest conditions,” she said.

The birds this year are being stocked during the day rather than at night because of lack of staff. It’s not clear if that has made any difference in the hunters’ success.

This year’s pheasant hunting season kicked off Oct. 15 and stretches to Dec. 31 or Feb. 29, depending on the area. See the DEC hunting guide for more information.

To see a complete listing of public lands stocked with pheasants by the DEC, check out the DEC Web site.

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View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog