South Dakota pheasants ?

[Nulle]

If you are thinking of hunting So. Dak. this might be the year to do it. With the high grain prices many farmers are getting out of the CRP program and if this happens that will be the end of the pheasant boom in this state.

[fabsroman]

That sucks. Maybe grain won't be as expensive once they come out with a fuel cell vehicle and people actually start buying them. Who knows what the future holds.

[gspsonny03]

That could be a sad thing. I do understand the farmers side of it though. They have had things so tuff for so long that it is nice to see that they are making money on their crops, but it will be at the expense of the wildlife.

[skeet]

CRP has been really good for the critters in this country. Letting the farmers out of it is a mistake. However, if ya think the farmers are gonna make a BIG profit..it just ain't gonna happen. The costs to produce the crops they think they will have ...have skyrocketed. If they have a good crop it will mean they will make a good profit not an enormous one. The people making the emormous profits are the futures investors and futures brokers. The big push for bio fuels is going to stall. It costs more to produce now than ever before. And crops just won't make the amounts of fuel we need. Things like switchgrass and others will be better. And Fabs..The fuel cell thing is still a bit of a pipedream. Your children may see them but doubt we will ever get to use them. Maybe you...but surely not me. Another thing that we need is low temperature fusion and superconductors..Another pipedream, I'm afraid..We really need to invest more in Solar and windpower. The wind generators out here are making lots of power..but the country needs more. And don't forget the NIMBY crowd. They have even been against people putting solar panels on their houses in some areas....much less a big ol wind generator. Sheesh.

[fabsroman]

Skeet,

Honda already has a fuel cell vehicle that it is selling to fleet owners. The problem with any alternative fuel vehicle right now is the availability of the alternative fuel. They have a car out that runs on natural gas, but you have to install a special fueling station in your house for it. The range on it is about 250 miles, which isn't bad. However, where are additional fueling stations other than your house? Same thing goes for ethanol. I have yet to pull into a gas station that sells the stuff. Even if I bought an alternative fuel vehicle, I would have no idea where to get the fuel. About the only place that ethanol is available in my area is the county vehicle fleet site. Kind of pathetic if you ask me. I'm guessing that the big oil companies don't want their dealers to install ethanol pumps in their stations because it would compete with oil. So, these ethanol producers are going to need to start their own ethanol fueling stations, or they are going to have to encourage the independent stations to install them.

By the way, Ford has a fuel cell vehicle scheduled to be launched in 2012. I'm hoping that our cars will last that long and that the technology will be sound when it gets released.

[M.T. Pockets]

I agree with Nulle on this one. I live in MN about 30 miles East of the SD border, right on the edge of CRP.

When a lot of these fields were put in CRP the going cash rent for farmland was about $70, CRP paid about the same for marginal land so the land went in. Now this same land can bring about $200 an acre for cash rent, don't think for a minute that the landowner won't try to take it out and farm it again. Plus new seed technology makes it possible to raise a good corn crop on land that couldn't before.

Two years ago corn was selling for around $2 a bushell. Today the local price is $5.67 a bushell. Much of this is ethanol related, but a lot also has to do with increased exports to developing countries like China that can now afford it, and the low US $$ makes it easier for them to afford.

Who knows what the long term future will bring, but for the next couple years I know that most CRP that can come out probably will.

[skeet]

I know they have fuel cells etc. The only thing is they aren't really efficient enough at this time. If fuel cells were efficient enough every house would have one to fuel their heat and electricity. Just ain't happening yet. And the electric utilities aren't gonna let it happen either. As far as the natural gas..they have had that technology for years. We had a Natural gas fueling station at the Airport where I worked. It just never worked all that well. Was ok for buses. They even had some fleet cars that ran on NG. Only lasted a year or 2. The tanks were too large and the range was too short. And then again NG is a petroleum based fuel. The greenies won't go for it. You have no idea how much the greenie revolution is affecting your everyday life right now. One of the reasons we now have ultra low diesel fuel...and the price we have to pay for it. Global warming is one of the calls to arms with the greenie bunch. Whether it is true or not...they have the world believing it is...so we pay while other countries(developing countries) go about their merry way with the destruction of their environments. (well, we did it in the past, didn't we??). There are many things on the drawing boards that will help to fix a lot of these problems..but will they be developed as long as there is profit in the old ways?? I think you know the answer to that question. In my opinion the dogooders in this country have destroyed our ability to compete in manufacturing that we have lost our place in the world economy..all in the name of political correctness and environmental correctness too. Hell we had a bunch of steel from the twin towers melted down for a monument to the 9-11 debacle...and we had to send it to a foreign country to have it melted. What a shame...and a sham for correctness!!

[fabsroman]

There are a lot of things that have caused us to lose out competitiveness in the world economy as far as manufacturing is concerned. Unions and human rights were the start of it. Why do you think the US automakers are having such a tough time. The unions demand health insurance, retirement accounts, 40 hour work weeks, and a decent wage. What do you think the workers in Vietnam, Korea, Thailand, and China get? Do you think employers actually pay for their health insurance and set up retirement accounts for them? I could be wrong about this, but I seriously doubt it. How about the fact that Americans buy foreign stuff because it costs less. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Getting away from oil is just something that has to happen eventually since it is a limited resource. Problem is, gasoline isn't the only thing made from oil.

[skeet]

There are a lot of things that have caused our manufacturing base to be destroyed. Unions..definitely..but the Nafta Treaty that isn't really working the way it was supposed to is a very big one. And the Unions in their great wisdom supported the Nafta thing with donations to the key legislators in the whole thing. There are a bunch of Marxists and absolute communists in Congress now days. Destroying the country of their birth...and OUR birthright. And we let them do it..in the name of so many PC ideals amoung other reasons..Apathy being one of them.. NAW..couldn't happen here!! Ever hear that?? Well, it did!!

[Nulle]

In the Aberdeen South Dakota the corn field goes from as close into the farm ditch as possible and planted tight. There is a big ethonal plant that takes all they can haul in.
I lived in this area when the Soil Bank went out and saw the great decline of the pheasants in the 60's when it was gone and that is what we are headed for again.

[skeet]

I do agree that farmers have had a pretty rough time of it.. It is however partly their fault..at least in the past. They let the value of their crops get away from them. The futures traders took over the valuation of the crops from farmers long ago. I know..I was a farmer for many years. But the deed was done by the time I got nto it. Farmers out west got together at one time and formed Co-Ops..but they were even seduced. Then the gummit got involved and it all went to H in a handbasket. And as Nulle said. The soil bank went away and everythig went to H as far as pheasants were concerned. Wasn't just pheasants either. Erosion into the Chesapeake bay was at the worst in the 70's and 80's...just in time for ditch to ditch planting. They did and the bay suffered tremendously. Everywhere did. Soil erosion in the prairie states has trippled since 1950. But again..ethanol and bio fuels will not even begin to comensate for the fuels that will be necessary in the future. And believe this..The price will escalate. maybe exponentially. Hate to see this ethanol and bio fuel thing. It is just a temporary thing that will die out and then the plants will be just sitting there...doing nothing...cept maybe making WHISKEY..good ol Corn likker!!

[fabsroman]

If it gets too terrible, I'll start riding my bike most places for errands. Anything less than 10 miles is a joke for me. Maybe we will be more like China in that regard, with the use of bicycles over vehicles. I know, they aren't practical for hauling heavy stuff, but they work for people to commute in the city. I know some people that do so. Of course, they don't live 50 miles away from work. Me, I commute 2 flights of stairs to my office in the basement, and we are going to move closer to my wife's work pretty soon, so everything should be okay on the gasoline, ethanol, fuel cell, car front for me. I'll just have to worry about heating and cooling the house.

[Nulle]

I have a 25 mile trip to work and have a piece of junk car that gets 40mpg and I will run the wheels of that thing . It gets better gas use than my motorcycle. My new Chev truck sits in the yard with a full 35 gal tank incase I need the 4 wheel drive for snow.

[Nulle]

The Game Fish and Parks advised the 08 brood count shows 8.56 pheasants per mile with the best area in the Central part of the state. This is 64 per cent ahead of the 10 year average.
On the flip side of that we lost 260,000 acres last year due to CRP contracts expiring.

[gold40]

Our group hunted South Dakota pheasants earlier this month near MUNRO, and had great success. 15 guys limited every day by 3 p.m. This is a good year for pheasants up there. Some guides still have open dates.

JERRY