Pheasant Hunting IQ Test

Interesting test. However, the answer to question 23 is INCORRECT! You can age most gamebirds using the 9 and 10th primary feathers, except for PHEASANTS. Below is an except from one of many papers on the subject.

Most gallinaceous birds can be identified as juveniles or adults using the outermost primaries (P9 and P10)
which are retained until after the first breeding season and are often identifiable by colour and wear. The
pheasant Phasianus colchicus, however, moults all ten primary feathers during its post-juvenile moult so alternative
techniques are required
You can see the full text of the paper at:
http://gamebird.forestry.uga.edu/quailvi/proceedingschapters/mss/Woodburnetal2009.pdf
 
Unimpressed, the questions about gauge choke and shot size are very subjective.
 
Fun but I disagree on some questions:confused:--some of them a LOT:eek:--oh heck what do I know about it--killed a ton of pheasants doing it wrong all these years:D
 
Got 19/27 for 70%. Couple of them I debated and picked the wrong one or I would have had 22 or 23. Couple of questions were a little "off" but I missed the bonus as well. Fun, quick exercise.
 
True or False: A hen pheasant hatches more than one brood in summer.
Correct answer: False - Hens will renest two or three times if their nests are destroyed, but they will have only one brood a season.

That doesn't even make sense. They might renest but they still only hatch one brood.
 
Hi Tom,

I got through half of this test and gave up...to slooo. Had 100% up to that point but assume the question were more subjective toward the end.

See you Tuesday night...
 
Geez

44% on the test.

95%+ in the actual field this year.

Guess, it's a good thing I don't have the eat the test paper.:cheers:
 
F&S used to be a nice publication many years ago.......it is now nothing more than a shell of it's former self, ridled with advertisements......i can imagine how "seasoned" their writers must be now days as well.....:rolleyes:
i wouldn't walk to the mailbox for a free issue.
 
22 correct. A lot of these are extremely subjective.

I have killed a lot of pheasants as a young guy without a dog and hunting by myself. Dogs are great, and I would not go back to hunting without one, but it is do-able, or at least use to be here in kansas.

Shot size of 6 seem a little small to me. I start with 5's and move to 4's late in the season.

Fun test anyway.
 
Thrasher said:
22 correct. A lot of these are extremely subjective.

Shot size of 6 seem a little small to me. I start with 5's and move to 4's late in the season.

Fun test anyway.
Click to expand...

I moved to #5 this year on the advice of this board, and everything I've hit this year has dropped stone dead or dying. A noticeable improvement over the previous years of shooting #6s. Still, anything to do pheasants will entertain me. ;) C'mon weekend.....
 
Yes I agree, #23

Actually had a Montana State Biologist who told our group the the correct procedure for aging a bird is the beak test.


BrowningCitori said:
Interesting test. However, the answer to question 23 is INCORRECT! You can age most gamebirds using the 9 and 10th primary feathers, except for PHEASANTS. Below is an except from one of many papers on the subject.

Most gallinaceous birds can be identified as juveniles or adults using the outermost primaries (P9 and P10)
which are retained until after the first breeding season and are often identifiable by colour and wear. The
pheasant Phasianus colchicus, however, moults all ten primary feathers during its post-juvenile moult so alternative
techniques are required
You can see the full text of the paper at:
http://gamebird.forestry.uga.edu/quailvi/proceedingschapters/mss/Woodburnetal2009.pdf
Click to expand...
 
PHEZZYBOY FROID said:
Actually had a Montana State Biologist who told our group the the correct procedure for aging a bird is the beak test.
Click to expand...

Depends on what you mean by aging. I think my answer (hanging by the neck) should have been correct as that's how I age my birds before process them for the table. Now if you mean determining how old they are then yes, the beak test will tell you if they are young of year or not.:cheers:
 
quail hound said:
Depends on what you mean by aging. I think my answer (hanging by the neck) should have been correct as that's how I age my birds before process them for the table. Now if you mean determining how old they are then yes, the beak test will tell you if they are young of year or not.:cheers:
Click to expand...

Personally, I can tell by the overall appearance of the bird if it's a year old bird. My procedure is to "thank the lucky stars," I got one! look at the craw to tell what he's been eating to try to find more! I look at the spurs to determine if he's a fryer or a stewer. The semantics of age, are left to the thesis papers of the professionals. Over the years, I use, this theory, there are some here today, and in some years there are "more" here today than usual. Besides if you do all this lobotomy investigation, and it turns out it's an old bird, what do you do? Release him! I think the #3 shot steel was a bogus question, I said #6 lead, but I have no problem with #5, or #4 in windy cold conditions. I would normally use #4 steel. If you are in quail country 7/2 lead, if you use more than #4 steel you are out of the quail business. If I need migrating waterfowl shells in 3 1/2", I would spend more time on the range, or get a better dog. :), I missed that question too!
 
48%, but probably like most of you I missed some that were arguable.

Would like to see that guy hit a late season rooster flying dead away at 40-50 yards with 6 shot!! A lot of those birds get away even when hit with 4 shot.
 
Best time of day

I didn't think they were right on the time of day, either. I have killed far more pheasants before noon, especially early in the morning in places you can hunt early, like NE, KS, WY, that I ever have after 3pm. In SD the best hunting is 10-1, after that it goes downhill. And from 4 on it can be A LOT of death marching through the fields with nothing to show for it.

In fact, it is sort of a known thing in the group of guys I hunt with that if you haven't got most of your birds by 2pm you are not gonna get them unless you get VERY lucky. I just can't think of many pheasants that I have killed as the sun was going down, although there are countless times I thought I was "gonna walk in on 'em!" My experience is that they are very nervous right before sundown and move around a lot and many are still trying to get that last bit of food.

That is base on 20 years of hunting and over 20 days each season. Just my opinion.
 
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