An inconvenient truth never mentioned by climate fraudsters: If it's cold enough to kill "pests", it's also cold enough to kill creatures that you don't want killed

Chris Niskanen: Winter taking toll on Minnesota pheasants - TwinCities.com

When Scott Rall looked out of his Worthington, Minn., office window Monday and saw a blizzard raging, he knew there was more at stake than just getting home safely.

"That giant blow probably killed another 10 percent of our pheasants," said Rall, president of the Nobles County Pheasants Forever chapter. "It was a complete whiteout the whole day. That's on top of the rain and sleet we had over the weekend and the 40 inches of snow we've probably had in the last six weeks."

Southwestern Minnesota is staring down the barrel of its worst winter since 2001 and probably the worst since 1996-97. The latter was the worst winter on record, in terms of snowfall and longevity, and no one is ready to put the winter of 2009-10 in that category.

Still, conditions are not good, said Ken Varland, regional wildlife manager for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. "It's brutal. A tough winter."