GRAND FORKS (AP) - Drought in parts of North Dakota hasn't put a damper on the upcoming pheasant hunting season.

Wildlife officials estimate that the state's pheasant population is up 37 percent from last year, based on roadside brood counts in late July and August. The season opens Saturday.

"We could be on target to match, if not exceed, last year's harvest of 809,000 roosters," said Stan Kohn, upland game bird biologist for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department. "It should be a good pheasant season in North Dakota."

Average brood size was down slightly from last year in the south central and southwestern parts of the state, which were hard hit by drought. However, Kohn said, the number of broods being observed in the two areas should make up the difference.

"The drought may have caused some problems with chick survival, but the large number of broods observed will cover the effects of this, and hunting should be quite good," Kohn said.

"Fringe" pheasant areas such as northwestern North Dakota and parts of the northeast directly north of Interstate 94 also should offer good hunting conditions. The southeast - a bright spot last year - also should have good hunting, Kohn said.

"Some areas will be similar to last year, but many parts of the district will have much improved hunting," he said. "Personnel are reporting many birds in the fields, especially in those counties bordering South Dakota."

Dan Hare, regional Pheasants Forever biologist for North Dakota and Montana, said hunting conditions are better than they have been for years.

"These are the good old days," he said. "To shoot 809,000 roosters last year is pretty significant. It shows people are interested and getting out there, and the bird numbers are there."

Hare attributed the good conditions to the Conservation Reserve Program, which pays landowners to idle erodible land and plant cover crops on it.

"There have been tough winters that affected bird numbers drastically, but they've come back so quickly because of the idle vegetation on the landscape in the spring," Hare said.

The 2006 regular pheasant season runs through Jan. 7, 2007. Limits are three roosters daily and 12 in possession.