Predation is the problem. That includes man hunters and everything else that will eat eggs or baby chics. If a hen nest had 75% survival due to zero predators effecting the nest you would have a bunch of poults. From that point all they have to survive is coyotes hawks and all the like. Hunters harvest numbers have way less of an effect as the other predators that hunt them 24/7. If they weren’t good at hunting they wouldn’t eat. That’s ultimately what the issue is. The big proponent to the habitat is to give the poults and eggs adequate grass structure for safety. I think between the coons, possums, coyotes and everything else that have gone unchecked for years since the pelt days is to blame for all of it. But the state can’t do anything about any of that. All they can do is limit what we do in hopes of more nests and more birds that are able to slip through the cracks.