Standing inside a small, forested cove, surrounded by massive stalks of prairie grass and flowers, Cass County Pheasants Forever President Jeff Nelson smiled from ear to ear as he listened to the rhythmic warbling emanating from the fields in front of him.

While the morning air is often filled with the crowing of roosters, barking of dogs and a menagerie of other murmurs from animals during summer, the particular birdcall of pheasants Nelson was listening to is something that he and other Cass County residents don’t hear all that often.

In fact, it hasn’t been heard regularly in this area for nearly 40 years, Nelson said.

The president and several other members of Pheasants Forever took a major step forward in restoring that sound — and the county’s population of the vibrant game bird — to the region Thursday morning. The organization released 25 young pheasants into the wild at a 37-acre field in Cassopolis, owned by organization members Marty Eby and Diane Seifert.

The 12-week-old birds were raised in captivity by member Curt Johnson, the previous president of the organization. The pheasants spent the previous 10 days caged inside a pen installed at the field, which helped the creatures acclimate to their new home.

Members of the Cass County chapter of the national nonprofit conservation program have spent the last four years planting and cultivating the prairie grasses needed to help the popular species of bird thrive at the property, Nelson said. The once barren fields are now covered with stalks of bluestem grasses, black-eyed Susans and other species of plants native to the region.

“The game birds love these wild flowers and grasses,” Nelson said. “It provides them with cover and food.”

The county was once filled with fields like this, and a result was a haven for pheasants, Johnson said. In fact, opening day of pheasant season was once almost as popular as the start of deer hunting season, he said.

The pheasant population took a massive hit following the winter of 1978, and have basically become extinct in Cass County today due to growth in urbanization and agriculture destroying most local prairie fields, Johnson said,

“[The pheasants] can’t make a comeback, and a lot of that has to do with habitat,” Johnson said.

Since its formation in 1998, the Cass County chapter has helped restore hundreds of acres of county lands back to the original state.

“It’s not just for pheasants,” Johnson said. “Whatever we do, it’s beneficial for all local wildlife.”

The organization plans to continue to do small pheasant releases like Thursday’s in the future, in hopes of one day re-establishing a healthy population of pheasants back into the county, Nelson said.

While the event was certainly a cause for celebration for the members, the somber truth is that many of the freed birds won’t make it to spring, either succumbing to their many natural predators or to harsh winter conditions, Nelson said. Those that survive, though, will hopefully continue to populate the area.

“Hopefully, these birds will pass on their survival instincts to their progeny,” Nelson said.