We took advantage of the cool morning temperatures today and headed out for our run heading north to check an area we often hunted in the late season. It's 320 acres of rolling hills which had been in CRP ever since I'd been around the last several year's. We hunted it late because it was lighter grass for the most part. It held more birds after the crops were down of course but even then it was a challenge to get them pinned down but loads of fun regardless. I had never seen anyone else hunt it as again the gang hunters would avoid the large expanses of grass preferring to ambush the birds in the sloughs so they wouldn't need to walk very far.
As we traveled down the gravel road we passed a bunch of cattle that had escaped their fence and further on ahead saw cattle now moved into a pasture we love to hunt for Sharptail. This Rancher doesn't over graze so there's usually sufficient cover left to hold birds. This year being drier though I'm not sure what it'll be like once he moves them out for the season. A mile further north we passed that Rancher heading down to the adjacent hay field to load round bales. That's the alfalfa we were in the other evening where we found multiple coveys of Sharptail. I'm crossing my fingers hoping he doesn't cut it again. We'll see!
We rounded the corner at the top of the hill and headed on east a quarter mile to our spot. As it came into view I was shocked but not surprised by the sight. What had been a great spot for years was now a barren field filled with round bales ultimately waiting to go under the plow and back into production. The loss of CRP is so evident everywhere we go. I pulled up and let the Setter's out and started to reminisce about all the birds we took here and those that got away. So much fun. So many good times. Gone now forever. We hunted harder last year than we ever had before and I thought to myself how glad I now was that we had put on so many miles together. It was so much fun day after day. We'll just hunt more pastures for Sharptail I said to myself. But no matter what this season will be different. The Setter's were glad to be on the ground but I could tell they knew this was not bird cover as they casually cast about in the dry grass stubble. It had always held deer as well and some Sharptail around the rock piles now without even 6 feet of grass around them.
Just the other day I had read a piece on the world population estimates for the future and what the demands for meat production will be and what it means. It was startling to think of where this production will come from. It will mean I believe that there will never be an incentive for farmers to take land out of production in the future as there has been in the past benefiting bird hunters like myself. So you can bet every available acre no matter how marginal will be actively utilized whether grazed or farmed in the future. Our miles walked per bird may increase this year but we've got some miles left on us. We'll hunt as hard as we're able in our tenth season together thinking about seasons past as we go by those places we no longer hunt remembering the times we had. Meanwhile world demand for food,global warming,ethanol production and a host of other unstoppable factors will continue to drive the transition of "The Changing Landscape".
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