BISMARCK (AP) -- The state Game and Fish Department says roadside surveys show North Dakota's pheasant numbers are the lowest in more than five years.
The department says pheasant numbers are down 50 percent from last year, and brood observations are down 31 percent.
Stan Kohn, the agency's upland game management supervisor, says the harsh winter killed many of the birds and the cool, wet spring hurt young ones.
The department says this season should be similar to 2002, when hunters killed 500,000 roosters.
Pheasant hunters killed nearly 778,000 roosters last year, or about 130,000 fewer than 2007.
