Here in Saskatchewan they are common and often plentiful. More common in the open aspen parkland and grassland prairie than they are in the bush, don't know why. I have to agree that the population seems to fluctuate, and they are currently at somewhat lower numbers than usual. But we still have plenty. Just got back from a pheasant hunting trip near the US border, and a friend's dog got into one in a cattail slough. We thought he was pointing a pheasant and sent him in for the flush. Oops. At my home in central Saskatchewan I am plagued with the varmints. Destroying fruit trees, oaks, pines, anything exotic, and hard to grow. I shoot those local ones. But I tend to leave them alone in the bush up north. The fishers need to eat too!
