Few options to make winter easier on S.D. pheasants

MADISON  (AP) — Wildlife officers say the harsh winter has been tough on South Dakota’s pheasants, but there’s little more that can be done to help them through it.
 The state Game, Fish and Parks Department’s Andy Gabbert says wildlife officers have been looking in fields and doing aerial fly-overs, and the birds are definitely grouping up.
 He says they’re being seen next to food crops and large corn fields that were left unharvested.
 GF&P maintains 11,000 acres of food plots and 8,500 acres of planted woody habitat on game production areas.
 Gabbert says there’s not much more that can be done, but he says landowners can plan ahead for the next hard winter.