I guess the real positive was the mention of habitat enhancement in the article. Other than some very short term, right after release, hunting benefit, those pen raised birds will do little to solve the pheasant shortage. Study after study points to habitat enhancement being the key. The uninformed/misinformed hunting public think dumping more pen raised birds (to feed the coyotes) will result in a regrowth of the wild pheasant population.
The elephant in the room is the overuse/misuse of nasty herbicides by agri-business. "Oh no they wouldn't sell those chemicals if they were bad for us" (my retired grain elevator manager neighbor). Living in a small town and right next to a riparian creek environment, I am (was) fortunate to have a very large flock of Ca. quail across the street. One day I watched my herbicide addicted neighbor don his chem-backpack; walk across the street and spray his gravel parking area for weeds. Within 10 minutes his wife (who loves to watch the quail and pheasants from their home's picture window) is out scattering bird seed over the gravel...Guess what?...I have not seen a quail or pheasant since. Both these elderly people are very nice people, but possess a near child-like naivite about the dangers of herbicides.
