This is a July Rural Mail Carrier Survey. They say it coorelates to hunter harvest, yet it doesn't reliably reflect hatching and rearing success. A followup October Rural Mail Carrier Survey will better reflect total bird numbers. It's probable that I'll be out of state hunting when the October report becomes available. For those interested, you will be able to find it on the NGF&P website, and likely in online Nebraska news papers.

I don't feel that the July numbers justify my time to copy all of their tables here, so I just included an abbreviated bird per mile in each region.

On a side note, it sure would be easier to determine abundance (or lack of) if all the states utilized the same metrics. South Dakota did pheasants per mile, Iowa per 30 miles and Nebraska per 100 miles. I should have paid more attention to North Dakota counts, but there have been very few years that North Dakota bird counts influenced my decisions to hunt there. Most of the years I hunted North Dakota were exploratory or impromptu trips, and all of those were good to very good.

It should go without saying that I'm no statistician. I probably didn't even spell it correctly. But all Nebraska upland species, with the possible exception of turkey, are in a sad state. If you've listened to my podcasts, you're aware that until recently, Nebraska was one of my favorite upland states. I've taken more dual limits, more often, at least partially in Nebraska, than any other state.

Well, like Iowa and Kansas, Nebraska just isn't the same anymore. Unless I was restricted by residency, time, distance, or had access to private land with known bird abundance, I wouldn't bird hunt in Nebraska. At least not for a few seasons. I know they've been in drought, but I haven't found decent numbers of pheasants or grouse in at least the past five years. That's a long time to be without birds.

On to the low-lights of 2023 Nebraska bird hunting:

Pheasant: This year’s statewide pheasant index was lower than in 2022 and was lower than the 5-

and 10-year averages. Regionally, survey results were higher in the Central and Northeast regions,

and lower elsewhere. Relative abundance continues to be highest in the Southwest and

Panhandle regions. Statewide, pheasant age ratios, which can be indicative of

production, were generally lower than those observed in 2022.

Quail: The bobwhite index was down slightly statewide compared to 2022, and was below the

long-term averages. In 2023, declines were observed in the East-Central, Northeast, and West

Platte management regions and were higher in the North Central and Southeast regions.

Wild Turkey: Statewide, this year’s wild turkey index was similar to 2022, and is higher than the 5-

and 10-year means. Increases were observed in 2 of 6 regions (Northeast and Sandhill).

Prairie Grouse: The statewide index for prairie grouse was higher than in 2022. Regionally, results

were mixed this year with increases in the Central, Northeast, and Sandhills regions and declines

elsewhere. Almost all regional indices had confidence limits overlapping zero, indicating

they were not statistically different from zero.

Note: Roadside surveys aren't reliable for prairie grouse as there are minimal roads in the best areas, so the vast majority of these birds won't be noticed. That's not to say prairie grouse numbers will be greatly improved from the poor numbers last season. I would expect it will take consecutive mild winters following normal precipitation through summer and fall, and then warm, not hot, dry springs, to bring them back.

Just to illustrate how bad this year is likely to be, here's an excerpt from a 2021 Nebraska opening day report:

"Nebraska Game and Parks Commission staff contacted 926 upland bird hunters while making bag checks during the opening weekend. Those hunters harvested 338 pheasants, 79 quail, and nine prairie grouse. Hunter success for pheasants averaged 0.37 birds per hunter, slightly below that observed in 2020 (0.48) and 2019 (0.56)." The report says "weekend" but I hope that doesn't total Saturday and Sunday hunts together.

Pheasant indices from the 2023 July Rural Mail Carrier Survey by pheasant

management region. Below, is the average number of 2023 pheasant sightings per mile:

Central 0.41

Northeast 1.07

Sandhills 0.07

Panhandle 0.33

Southwest 0.85

Statewide 0.58

BOBWHITE QUAIL: Northern bobwhite indices from the 2023 July Rural Mail Carrier Survey by bobwhite

management zone. Below is the average number of bobwhite quail recorded per route mile:

East Central 0.55

North Central 0.33

Northeast 0.25

Republican 0.37

Southeast 0.46

West Platte 0.13

NQR 0.04

Statewide (QR) 0.30