Without great cover and lots of it, ground-nesters cannot avoid predators. All sorts of predators eat pheasants/nests, and the only way around it is to have enough good cover that the predators cannot find many of the nests/hatchlings.
The demise of widespread CRP combined with "modern" clean farming practices spell doom to any ground-nesting bird except sometimes turkeys.
That's sure the case here. Pivot sprinklers have removed many acres of ditch rows and cover. There's no place for them to hide any more.
