Lawton, OK – According to the state officials, because these roadside surveys produce low observation numbers, they can have a wide degree of variability.
But the consistency of the survey methodology over time allows us to interpret the information on a historical scale.
Data collected provide an index of the spring breeding population (crow counts) and recruitment success for that year (brood surveys).
Traditionally Alfalfa, Beaver, Cimarron, Grant, and Texas counties have held the highest pheasant numbers.
These five counties have been included in spring crow counts since 1973, and brood surveys since 1980.
In 1998, surveys were expanded to 13 counties including Ellis, Garfield, Harper, Kay, Major, Noble, Woods, and Woodward.
The spring 2023 crow count survey returned a smaller number of calls heard per point than in 2022.
