"Based on annual average harvest from 1997-2002, our top pheasant counties are Ford, Iroquois, McLean, Carroll and Whiteside," Cole said. "It should come as no surprise that these counties are all right up there when it comes to enrollment in current CRP programs."

Unfortunately, the playing field is not as level as the ground in Champaign County when it comes to government subsidies for taking cropland out of production. A generation ago, the epicenter of Prairie State ringneck production was in the tabletop-flat country of central Illinois. If prevailing economic conditions made it feasible to create 20-acre blocks of set-aside acreage in Champaign County, the prime cropland of central Illinois would regain the state pheasant crown within three years.

The hilly country of Carroll County in northwestern Illinois where I grew up was considered "marginal" back in the good old days of pheasant hunting in the Prairie State. The rugged topography of northwest Illinois is tailor-made for contour farming practices and government subsidized "filter strips" of CRP ground. A 20-acre block of switchgrass is the upland game equivalent of a high-rise apartment complex for humans. Filter strips are like single-family dwellings, taking up considerably more acreage per number of residents.

If it weren't for the American dream of a house on five country acres, McHenry, Will and Winnebago counties would be far ahead of Carroll County in regard to prime hunting areas. Suburbanization in north-central and northeastern Illinois has taken literally thousands of acres out of crop production, eliminating pheasant hunting opportunities in the process.

Remember that personal footnote of harvesting 73 birds back in 1973? Many of these were shot just south of Durand in Winnebago County. There are still pheasants skulking along the bottoms of Otter Creek, but with houses on either side as far as you can see, hunting there is out of the question. Hanna Banana, the yellow Lab that has been my hunting companion for the past five seasons, goes "bananas" when she sees these birds along the creek as we drive by observing the posted 30-mph limit.

Hanna retrieved 54 birds last year for me and others, and most of them came from vast blocks of more than 20 acres of habitat like switchgrass on public lands. I'm sure that most species-specific pheasant hunters who don't have passions for deer and waterfowl hunting -- and an obsessive desire to chase fall walleyes -- shot many more roosters.

If you want to hunt public lands where there is an opportunity to pop 50 birds this fall, it's going to cost you. The substantial capital outlay comes for purchase of gasoline at about $3 per gallon, and other travel costs like lodging and meals. Purchase of a non-resident small-game hunting license in states bordering Illinois will set you back about $75 per state, which is just a drop in the bucket when juxtaposed against the grand scheme of things.

Don't blame John Cole and the other dedicated professionals in the Illinois DNR for a pheasant forecast that pales to years gone by. According to DNR statistics for the 2004-2005 season, 55,075 hunters killed 200,059 pheasants in the most recent year for which all statistics are available. This DNR data indicates a 10 percent increase over the 2003-2004 season, which is a 26 percent increase over the five-year average!