Locally, and traditionally, we’ve always seen the greatest chick mortality with wet and or freezing weather — sleet, flooding etc — throughout June, from hens on eggs in early June to the chicks later on, so June is a crucial month for the little ones.
But it’s long been known that the ultimate pheasant-limiting factor is cover and in NW Iowa, we’ve lost most of that, and that’s mostly why our good neighbors in SD have lots of birds (and other game) — lots of cover, both natural grasses and weedy planted crops.
