WEATHER CUTS BACK ON QUAIL, PHEASANT NUMBERS

JEFFERSON CITY -- Find good habitat, and you are likely to find good bird hunting.

That's the best advice the Missouri Department of Conservation can give quail and pheasant hunters this year. Despite declines in the statewide populations of both species, there are areas where bobwhite and ringneck numbers have remained fairly stable for the past decade.

Conservation Department biologists say they expect only minor changes in harvest totals in those areas. Missouri's wet, cold spring hampered early nesting success, and an extremely hot, dry summer probably diminished quail and pheasants' attempts to renest. The quail count is down by 27 percent statewide, and pheasant numbers dropped about 50 percent.

The prospects are only fair for Missouri's 1999-2000 quail and pheasant seasons. That prediction is based on recent surveys of quail and pheasant populations. The Conservation Department keeps tabs on both species' populations with surveys conducted August 1-15.