Several factors have combined to practically eliminate our pheasant population.
first, consolidation of little forty and eighty acre farms and elimination of fence rows. All of the rolling hills with small six and ten acre fields which irrigated every which direction have been consolidated under pivots.
second, fur is worthless, so fox and coyote populations are uncontrolled. Even the one neighbor sold all of his sheep, and quit shooting predators.
third, Raptor populations are higher than fox and coyotes.
I used to love taking a few blue grouse incidentally to deer hunting. Most of them shot with a 30-06 with 165 ballistic tips over 60 gr H4831. I could usually get two or three out of the trees on the walk back down the mountain after a day of deer hunting.
