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(NewsDakota.com) – The North Dakota Game and Fish Department says pheasant numbers are up following a roadside survey conducted in July and August.

Stan Kohn with the Game and Fish says the survey shows total pheasants up 59 percent statewide from last year. Brood observations and brood size were also up.

Kohn says several factors contributed to the increase in pheasants, including a light winter, “near perfect” spring weather for production, and good nesting conditions this spring.

In the southeastern quarter of the state, the number of birds observed was up 134 percent and the number of broods was up 144 percent.

“The increase in numbers from last year is encouraging, but hunters are cautioned that the landscape has changed since last fall,” Kohn said in a press release. “A great deal of habitat has been either hayed or converted to cropland as Conservation Reserve Program acres continue to diminish.”

The 2012 regular pheasant season opens Oct. 13 and continues through Jan. 6, 2013. The two-day youth pheasant hunting weekend, when legally licensed residents and nonresidents ages 15 and younger can hunt statewide, is set for Oct. 6-7.

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