Colorado to Release Pheasants? Yes Please

released pheasants

don't count on our fish and game to be helpful, one, they are far more interested in their own brand of politics, two, they are big game oriented followed way down the list by fish and mostly having no interest in being either helpful or polite. actually i have had a good day and just trying to be nice to them

cheers
 
Terrible idea. Anyone who wants to shoot pen raised birds can go to a game farm and shoot all they want. Why drive 2.5 hrs to shoot pen raised birds when you can do that 30 mins from town? It's not cheaper if the state releases birds for you because you'll eventually pay for those birds with higher taxes or licenses fees. Besides, 98% of the birds will get eaten by predators within a day. Wyoming has this program, and it's generally ridiculed. I can think of lots of better ways to spend money on pheasants. Add more WIA, improve habitat, provide financial incentives for WIA landowners to not hay/graze CRP, etc. I'd rather know for sure that I shot a real wild pheasant when I kill one on WIA.
 
dead pheasants forever said:
Terrible idea. Anyone who wants to shoot pen raised birds can go to a game farm and shoot all they want. Why drive 2.5 hrs to shoot pen raised birds when you can do that 30 mins from town? It's not cheaper if the state releases birds for you because you'll eventually pay for those birds with higher taxes or licenses fees. Besides, 98% of the birds will get eaten by predators within a day. Wyoming has this program, and it's generally ridiculed. I can think of lots of better ways to spend money on pheasants. Add more WIA, improve habitat, provide financial incentives for WIA landowners to not hay/graze CRP, etc. I'd rather know for sure that I shot a real wild pheasant when I kill one on WIA.
Click to expand...

You couldn't have said it any better. If they start doing this, I won't hunt or support pheasants in CO any more, I'll make a couple trips elsewhere. What a lazy, thoughtless and ludicrous so-called solution. Spend the asinine amount of money you're about to blow on this mindless sh*t on improving habitat and providing incentives for landowners to improve habitat! Maybe once we have decent habitat then you could release some birds, at least they'd have a 10% chance of surviving more than 3 days. Not sure how many of you have seen our WIA habitat but it would be hard for a grasshopper to find cover in those fields. Officials in the CDOW have become a bunch of political minded jackasses, why do you think they're losing support from landowners? Creators and supporters of this absurd and simpleminded idea can take it deep.
 
Here's what Pheasants Forever says about releasing pen-raised pheasants: http://www.pheasantsforever.org/page/1/stocking.jsp. Hopefully, one of the morons with the DOW will read this before wasting more of our tax dollars. Please let the DOW know what you think if you have a chance.

I forgot to mention that spending that money on water guzzlers on WIA would also be a good idea. We're pretty dry compared to other pheasant hunting states. I've always believed that lack of water is a major limiting factor here. Guided hunting operations in Western Nebraska and Kansas that have installed guzzlers have seen great results.
 
In South Dakota any pay to hunt land has to add 1.1 pheasants back to the population of every bird taken off of their property, I have been on public land and shot birds up there with enlarged nostrils from pecking protectors. So habitiat first, then get some birds out there. JMO
 
GREAT idea!! It can only help! In no way can this hurt!

Maybe some of you SHOULD just stop hunting here...just saying:10sign:

I personally LOVE my wildlife buddies that work for the state!;)
 
Yes, water and the timing of our harvests are two of the major reasons we struggle...anything to help, I'd gladly pay more!
 
Even the link provided is all good news to me!

Not great success, and costs...but still positive results no matter how small!:thumbsup:
 
HeavyC said:
GREAT idea!! It can only help! In no way can this hurt!

Maybe some of you SHOULD just stop hunting here...just saying:10sign:

I personally LOVE my wildlife buddies that work for the state!;)
Click to expand...

LOVE the retort HeavyC, maybe we could educate each other on this topic since we obviously have different perspectives. My questions to you:

1) I don't know what you've seen, but my recent road trip to the Colorado pheasant hot-spots covering most of the WIA parcels proved to me that there is little cover if any for pheasants on WIA or public land. Less and less landowners/farmers are participating or cooperating in the CRP program or pheasant hunting. Therefore there is just not enough habitat or cover to support the number of pheasants us hunters are looking for or numbers equivalent to what we used to have, even 5 years ago. So, without the habitat, cover and food needed for pheasants to suvrive and THRIVE, what sense does it make to spend money on raising and releasing/planting birds?

2) Wouldn't you rather see the habitat improved anyways? Do you think wild pheasants would thrive and increase numbers on their own with better habitat?

3) IMO if CDOW begins to farm, raise and release pheasants, we are going to see a financial impact and increase somewhere. Either a potential double to the cost of a small game license, a double in the cost of a habitat stamp or an entirely new pheasant stamp. If hunters are just looking to go out and bag birds by the bushel at an increased cost, wouldn't you direct them to a gun club where birds are planted for them and they only need to drive 30-45 min from major cities?

I love the banter, it's good for everyone.
 
"1) I don't know what you've seen, but my recent road trip to the Colorado pheasant hot-spots covering most of the WIA parcels proved to me that there is little cover if any for pheasants on WIA or public land. Less and less landowners/farmers are participating or cooperating in the CRP program or pheasant hunting. Therefore there is just not enough habitat or cover to support the number of pheasants us hunters are looking for or numbers equivalent to what we used to have, even 5 years ago. So, without the habitat, cover and food needed for pheasants to suvrive and THRIVE, what sense does it make to spend money on raising and releasing/planting birds?"

A) Everything costs, that is a certainty :( ...You are correct, conditions are poor, habitat has been pretty darn good where I have been going on WIA, but I agree not all is good, and some is even ridiculously poor. Though maybe a few extra dollars and renewed WIA Permit program with doubled costs, can help pay the landowners more! I am still pissed they took that away a couple of years ago...IMHO things have only gotten worse since! The farmers certainly deserve it! Increased costs is inevitable...and as I mentioned, I'd gladly pay 5 times as much as I do now to continue hunting here in my home state. I'd sure spend far more than that going to another state.

2) Wouldn't you rather see the habitat improved anyways? Do you think wild pheasants would thrive and increase numbers on their own with better habitat?

A) Obviously that is a given. Though permit fees can help with this too!


3) IMO if CDOW begins to farm, raise and release pheasants, we are going to see a financial impact and increase somewhere. Either a potential double to the cost of a small game license, a double in the cost of a habitat stamp or an entirely new pheasant stamp. If hunters are just looking to go out and bag birds by the bushel at an increased cost, wouldn't you direct them to a gun club where birds are planted for them and they only need to drive 30-45 min from major cities?

A) See answer to first question.


Really, there are no good or perfect answers...after all, we are all trying to hunt in a freaking desert here! The division does what they can, with what they have...they need more, that is all there is too it. ...and I for one would be willing to give them more. And I'm a poor mofo too, so it is definitely not like I got money busting outta my pockets!! I also wear out the preserves as much as possible to ensure my dogs get the birds they deserve!

Heck, going to drop a few hundred in a couple of weeks at Auer Bird Valley! They have great flying birds by the way if anyone is looking! I cannot recommend them highly enough.
 
I personally think it would be a good idea..if they also made some more steps to improve habitat and perhaps import some wild birds from other areas.

I hunted pen raised birds released by states back in NY and CT. While it does not compare to wild birds, you still get the same excitement when that rooster busts out of cover.

And hunting a preserve is not the same...a preserve will cost upwards of $150 for a few birds..I would rather pay 5 or 10 more for my license and actually have a chance at some birds rather than drive 300 miles to walk empty fields all day.

My bird dog saw more action in the stocked forests of NY and CT in his first two years then he has since we moved west. We have harvested one rooster in two years. Pretty pathetic.
 
gsphunter23 said:
I personally think it would be a good idea..if they also made some more steps to improve habitat and perhaps import some wild birds from other areas.

I hunted pen raised birds released by states back in NY and CT. While it does not compare to wild birds, you still get the same excitement when that rooster busts out of cover.

And hunting a preserve is not the same...a preserve will cost upwards of $150 for a few birds..I would rather pay 5 or 10 more for my license and actually have a chance at some birds rather than drive 300 miles to walk empty fields all day.

My bird dog saw more action in the stocked forests of NY and CT in his first two years then he has since we moved west. We have harvested one rooster in two years. Pretty pathetic.
Click to expand...

Truer words have never been spoken! ...boy it can get frustrating at times...but when those dogs finally get to do what they love...it is all worth it!!:beer:
 
HeavyC said:
Yes, water and the timing of our harvests are two of the major reasons we struggle...anything to help, I'd gladly pay more!
Click to expand...

I would gladly pay more too:thumbsup: As a matter of fact start charging again for the walk in areas again and use that money....
 
Tough subject. Studies show that pen raised birds don't survive in the wild, so they better release birds the evening before the opener. Also, think about how many "weekend warriors" this would attract. You think its crowded now; just wait until the paper publishes the releasing of thousands of birds.

I agree they need to focus on habitat. Good habitat results in good bird numbers. Hot weather combined with emergency haying/grazing that has been allowed the last two years have been devestating to pheasant populations. Record corn prices and the desire to convert CRP to corn isn't helping either.

Charging for WIA is a no brainer. They could improve habitat or add additional acres with the funding. I haven't heard a single person that disagrees strongly with this notion. Maybe we can get some traction to get it reinstated.

All this said, I will provide a shameless plug for Pheasants Forever. Local chapters are doing great things in Colorado and have really picked up steam the last few years. The biologists on the eastern plains are impacting thousands of acres each year. Check out the following link for more quick facts.

http://www.coloradopf.com/colorado-fact-sheet

Happy hunting everyone!
 
chadsbritt said:
Charging for WIA is a no brainer. They could improve habitat or add additional acres with the funding. I haven't heard a single person that disagrees strongly with this notion. Maybe we can get some traction to get it reinstated.
Click to expand...

I had started a response and got distracted for an hour or three, and seems like everyone's made most of the same points.

The point above is something that can be changed quickly - get that $20 WIA fee going again and you've got money to use on habitat (which I think everyone here agrees is the primary way to bolster pheasant populations). Compared to out of state licenses, it's still a pretty cheap deal.

They could add a pheasant stamp on top of that for additional funds specifically for pheasants and pheasant habitat (since the WIA technically includes all manner of game and non-game species). Would be a little confusing if someone wanted to use the WIA for, say, rabbits, but didn't want to hunt pheasants, of course.

The main point DOW raised was hunter recruitment (both in the article this week and when they eliminated the WIA fee). That will improve (albeit slowly) as the habitat improves and the wild populations revive, but there are other ways to help with that. The 'novice' thing this year seems like a good idea, although it also appears it wasn't very well marketed since not a lot of people seem to have heard of it.

One thing that I've been mulling is a program that Wisconsin had when I was in college there. They had a similar situation as CO where there were some areas that had the habitat to support decent wild bird populations, but not a lot of opportunity close to population centers.

What they did was sell a pheasant stamp (before the days of WIA programs), and they also funded a release program on state lands near larger towns (Madison, mainly). Those areas required purchasing 'tags' (iirc, it was 10 tags a year for $5 back then). This had the double bonus of availability of birds (they released them into these tracts at unpublished intervals) and some sort of 'equality' with the 10 tags/year thing. They allowed natural propagation in the places that had decent wild populations to start and didn't release birds there.

Some combo of the two efforts might be a good starting point.
 
cedham - sounds like a good plan.

Shoot me down for this :laugh: but I would like to see line hunting curtailed. It just makes me sick when I see a dozen or so folks spread out in a line walking across a field. IMHO that isn't pheasant hunting, that is simply pheasant shooting. The thing is that you don't typically see that after opening weekend in Colorado. It would be fine with me if DOW or whatever it has been renamed would put the complete kibosh on line hunting altogether or maybe the first 2 weeks of the season.
 
CO_Weimar said:
cedham - sounds like a good plan.

Shoot me down for this :laugh: but I would like to see line hunting curtailed. It just makes me sick when I see a dozen or so folks spread out in a line walking across a field. IMHO that isn't pheasant hunting, that is simply pheasant shooting. The thing is that you don't typically see that after opening weekend in Colorado. It would be fine with me if DOW or whatever it has been renamed would put the complete kibosh on line hunting altogether or maybe the first 2 weeks of the season.
Click to expand...

Amateur weekend at it's finest! Eliminating this type of hunting for the first couple of weekends would certainly help bird numbers, but I doubt it ever happens. I know a lot of guys look forward to it and it's tradition for many. I too prefer smaller groups, but to each is their own.

Maybe they we could do something similar to SD and not allow hunting until noon for the first couple of weekends.

I also wish they had a youth opener that was a week earlier than the regular opener. My kids can't hunt yet, but it sure would give kids a good opportunity.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top