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Pheasants....

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katrina

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We have prolly 30 to 40 pheasants that someone has just turned loose..
Our cats are managing to eat about two a week and the hiredhand felt sorry for them and was feeding them when one landed and sat on his shoulder.. There is one rooster with blinders.......
Isn't there any laws aginst this kinda thing... :mad:
 
katrina said:
We have prolly 30 to 40 pheasants that someone has just turned loose..
Our cats are managing to eat about two a week and the hiredhand felt sorry for them and was feeding them when one landed and sat on his shoulder.. There is one rooster with blinders.......
Isn't there any laws aginst this kinda thing... :mad:
Click to expand...

Seems too early to put pheasants out. I think most of the game preserves put them out up there in April.

Might be they just broke out of the pen. Don't think anyone would put them out with blinders on. But then again.................... :???:

You could probably catch them with a long handled dip net.

If not, a 12 or 20 gauge works too. :wink:
 
Sad part is even the ones that get turned out right just get massacred around here.. No instincts for survival what so ever. Hawks, cats, owls and Yotes just obilterate them... The Bobwhite do a little better but not much... Both numbers are way down here from the past but the Bobwhite seam to be bouncing back okay.. They were real numerous before the first winter we lived here.. Snow forced them onto the roads and they became easy pickins for the hawks..
 
IL Rancher said:
Sad part is even the ones that get turned out right just get massacred around here.. No instincts for survival what so ever. Hawks, cats, owls and Yotes just obilterate them... The Bobwhite do a little better but not much... Both numbers are way down here from the past but the Bobwhite seam to be bouncing back okay.. They were real numerous before the first winter we lived here.. Snow forced them onto the roads and they became easy pickins for the hawks..
Click to expand...

The ones that put quail out down here build a wire mesh 'pen' for them to feed in until they become acclimated to the wild.

My buddy who raises over a 100,000 quail each year for hunting preserves estimates that less then 10% make it when turned out.

Fire ants and feral cats are hard on the hatchlings down here too. Not many wild birds (quail) left at all. Used to be a covey on every fence line.
 
Yeah.. and 10% might be on the high end Mike :cry: I am not a big pheasent guy, I like them and all but if I was going to sink my money into a game bird I would probably do Bobwhite just because they were always here.. That being said, The local "hunting club" comes by every year and asks us if they can release 1000 birds or whatever up our sandprairie ground and they do okay up there.. If more farmers would switch back to the old rotations (And I doubt that will happen any time soon) of wheat and oats and corn and pasture and all of that stuff than they would do better.. Problem is where there used to be thick hedgerows ever 1/4 mile they are gone now.... Again, result of farm consoildation (And now, I am not saying we should go back to 40 acre fields) and modern ag practices that feed the world...

I think one of the main surivibility in the wild things is momma isn't there to teach her chicks to run for cover or to not run as the case might be... Oh well, all the modern practics haven't hurt the deer populations around here :lol: :lol:
 
I try to leave an area for habitat if I can, but then everyone else assumes they can hunt it too....private ownership has no value to some.

my dad is a member of Quail Unlimited, so he releases a few birds here every year.....the quail are making a slow comeback.
 
Not sure what the survivability is even on wild hatched chiocks-I had a flock of Merriam's just about established on my place till road hunters wiped them out.
 
In pen raised quail, (and I'm sure pheasants too) one key is having a flight pen with the nylon netting for them to learn to fly and to build up the wing muscles.

The flight pens here are about a 100-150 yards long.

When they are moved from the brooder house to the flight pens, sprinklers are used every other day to acclimate them to rainy weather and to help them self oil their feathers for protection from the elements.

The MAIN key is to stay away from them as much as possible. Do not go around the pen and they will grow up spooky which will help save them in the outdoors.

Quail raised in a pen without the flight advantages are like "sitting ducks". :lol:
 
a friend of mine helps out a guy who raises pheasants. They get about 200,000 a year and sell some most to private preserves, and about 1000 or so go to their place so they can be considerd a preserve. that way, they can hunt until march....right or wrong, thats how it works. Anyway, they release the birds in september. the game warden comes out and sees to it they release them. They have ALOT of wild birds there also, but he tells me they shoot a suprising percentage of pen raised birds when hunting, showing they survive and thrive. says they become as wild as "wild" birds do given a couple months.............
 
The problem is too many think they can get rich quick off of pheasant hunting by buying birds and doing hard releases. The fact is if you want to be trully into paid to hunt phesants with all the compition in many states you must set your land up to be ideal pheasant habitat!!!! Short of that your loss rates on birds will be very high and the hunt quailty will suffer greatly!!!

I know of a great land steward that sets up his land for pheasants and has 1,000's of wild birds and release darn few pen raised. The warm season grasses and food plots are a must for winter survival in the upper midwest, offering food and cover even when snow bound. You can loose more pheasants in a week of severe winter than you can shoot in 8 weeks of heavy hunting and the most important aspect are the hens loose them and you loose a high% of broods and poor hunting will follow.

Habiat is utmost for pheasants and survival, if you just want to release birds in marginal places, expect big time loss.
 

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