Rog's Rod & Nimrod

I was savoring a second bowl of homemade potato soup at a great Super Bowl party when my dear old friend, Howard Bich, sat down beside me. To me, Howard will forever be one of the great teachers of life sciences. Anyway, when it comes to wildlife issues, Mr. Bich knows what he’s talking about.

“Roger, in your column, you frequently talk about what has happened to our pheasant population. Do you get much feedback?” asked Howard.

“I get lots of feedback,” I answered. “Some of it gets a little nasty when I suggest that herbicides and pesticides may be a part of the problem, but I understand where many farmers are coming from, and most of the commentary is positive and thought provoking.”

“Has anyone talked about oats?” questioned Howard.

“Howard, you’re the first to mention oats,” I replied.

Howard then went on to elaborate on the past importance of oats and the one time widespread planting of oats across South Dakota. By the time he was finished, he really had my wheel turning, and I went to bed that night convinced that Howard was onto something BIG!

The first question that comes to my mind is this. What were we doing during the pheasant boom sixty years ago that we aren’t doing today? Planting oats is certainly one of them. To the best of my recollection, my personal “oats experiences” didn’t include pheasants. When I first began hunting the West River ranch I’ve hunted annually since 1969, a last hour sashay through the oats on the flat above the Grand River bottom yielded sharptail grouse and Hungarian partridge hunting that I can only dream about today. Oats are good for more than pheasants.

Howard believes that the nesting cover offered by oats is the #1 argument for oats. Where alfalfa is first harvested when pheasant broods still inhabit this prime cover, oats usually aren’t harvested until the young birds are old enough. He goes on to say that since the advent of soybeans and the decline in oats, pheasant numbers have steadily fallen.

Howard also believes that wheat fields rather than row crops are one of the reasons we see far more pheasants in West River areas. He doesn’t blame farmers for not planting oats as they must raise what is most profitable. With this in mind, he would like to see every farmer put in twenty acres of oats for every section farmed. This could be done on the least productive land so long as it is near preferred wintering areas. Bich realizes that the farmer must be paid to plant the oats, and he feels that sportsmen, along with those who profit from pheasants, could somehow foot the bill.

If twenty-five dollars was added to the cost of my hunting license for oats production, I’d still buy a license. Motel/hotel and restaurant owners could also kick in. If my price increase idea is no good, hunters could voluntarily donate the way we do with the TIPS option on our big game licenses.

I would suggest an experimental plot. Nine sections or a three mile by three mile plot in a traditionally good area could be sewed with nine, twenty acre oats plots – presuming that Howard’s twenty acre idea is sound. Perhaps we should do this for a three year period. We would get an answer one way or the other.

There was a time when oats were a profitable crop. Most every farm had some hogs, and hogs needed bedding. Oats also fed livestock. I know nothing about today’s oats market. Unfortunately not everyone breakfasts on Cheerios or Quaker Oats, but I have to believe that oats can be profitable up to a point. Farmers could be compensated for the money difference between corn or soy beans and oats.

Howard concluded his advice for today’s column by suggesting that Pheasants Forever could do an even better job by focusing on nesting habitat rather than food plots. PF could also help with the oats project.

I appreciate Gov. Kristi Noem’s effort to bring back our pheasants. She is offering a hunting license or parks sticker to anyone whose ideas are implemented in a restoration program. Governor, I have already purchased my 2019 hunting license, but a parks sticker would be nice. Oh yes, you could send Howard a hunting license.

See you next week.