HUTCHINSON, Kan. — For the past 10 years, pheasant hunting in Kansas has suffered due to various factors, including drought. But things have improved over the past two seasons and the Kansas Department of Wildlife says this year hunting should be pretty good when the season opens Saturday.

According to the department’s summary, excellent conditions in 2016 — combined with high overwinter survival — led to another increase in the pheasant crow survey this year and returned the index to the pre-drought average. This included stable or increasing crow surveys across all four regions in the primary pheasant range. Given good conditions for re-nesting, early losses due to the late season snowstorm in western Kansas were overcome, resulting in statewide roadside counts similar to 2016.

Hunters should see similar numbers of birds compared to last year. While the 2016 pheasant harvest was low, the average daily bag was above average, which suggests an above-average harvest could have occurred if there had been greater hunter participation.

Kansas continues to maintain one of the best pheasant populations in the country and the fall harvest will again be among the leading states. The best areas this year will likely be in the northern half of the Kansas pheasant range.