But by the last of the decade, both ringneck harvests and hunter participation had declined substantially. According to 1998 IDNR statistics, 237,382 ringnecks were harvested by 77,069 hunters in 417,367 trips afield compared with 158,304 birds taken five years ago by only 59,050 hunters in 297,292 trips afield.

Like all government agencies, the DNR must fight for every available dollar, so public use patterns carry considerable weight regarding which DNR bureaus get the largest slice of the budget pie.

Twenty years ago, there were many more pheasant hunters, and upland game biologists carried considerable clout when it came time to allocate the budget.

With pheasant hunter numbers in Illinois declining at a double-digit rate over the past decade, that once loud voice is now little more than a whisper and upland game management receives mere crumbs of the DNR budget pie.

Additionally, federally funded conservation reserve acreage has gone to states with lower property values like the Dakotas. As of February, there were only 237,693 acres of CRP grassland in 43 counties of Illinois pheasant range.

Of that total, only 129,262 acres were fields, a much better wintering habitat than the 108,431 acres placed in buffers -- field borders and filter strips -- that provide limited escape cover from predators like hawks and coyotes in addition to being a poor option for surviving severe weather.

“Because the playing field was less than level between the states, Illinois couldn't take full advantage of CRP to begin with, so really the loss of CRP acreage over the past couple of years consists of a fairly small negative impact," McCloud said.

McCloud is cautiously optimistic about the new CRP program SAFE -- State Acres For Wildlife Enhancement -- that is expected to bring 20,000 acres of new grasslands to Illinois.

The SAFE program is based on taking croplands out of production for a longer time than previous CRP programs.

“The new farm bill might be better for Illinois if there is an increased emphasis on utilizing continuous CRP practices rather than the bidding process," McCloud said. “But what goes on in Washington is an entirely different arena than politics here in Illinois."