Hi Jim and thanks again!! Bird numbers this year are up about a 1/3 from last year - in short excellent!!!! Last year was the best year in 40 years and this year we had a mild winter and a very good spring hatch. We have also been getting more rain than in past years - this will really help. Numbers are good throughout the state. If you plan on hunting PLOTS, in the underwood area, you may have to look for some good ones. Even if the state has a million acres in PLOTS, quite a few are as bare as a Walmart parking lot. Especially in the area aound McCluskey - not good. But this year may be better, just don't know yet. If you try around the Mott area, there are a lot of PLOTS, but these get hit hard and I mean hard. This is the "Big" area for birds. Be advised, there is now a lot of fee hunting in this area.
Overall, if your willing to look around you'll find areas with good hunting. Just remember, the first week of Pheasant hunting an out of state hunter can't hunt on STATE owned land (PLOTS,WMA, school lands etc). Private land and WPA's are ok however. Don't pass up the WPA's some great hunting on them, only non-tox shot however. But worth it!
All the best!!
Greg
