2000 promises to be the best season for the colorful long-tailed birds in several years. The 2000 pheasant season promises to be excellent. 2000 promises to be the best season for the colorful long-tailed birds in several years. Biologists drive 44 survey routes throughout the Panhandle, from Lubbock to Dalhart to Perryton. Each survey line is 20 miles.
Biologists drive a route just after sunrise, counting each pheasant they see.
But people who spend a lot of time outdoors watching wildlife in the Panhandle agree that there are a lot more pheasants in the fields this year. It's dry now, but we had about six inches of rain in June, which was just the ideal time for the hatch. We've seen a number of broods when we've been working on other things. Those early rains certainly helped us. Some of the northern areas, like Dalham and Hartley Counties didn't catch of lot of those rains, and may not be quite as good.