Affects of stress during tough winters

birdshooter

Well-known member
Question for you hard cores. What is everyone's opinion about pressuring (stressing) birds when conditions are as they are this late in the season ?

Gotta be slim pickings out there for food and birds probably aren't putting on alot of fat because of that. Not so much worried about the roosters, but every time a hen is rousted out of her cover she's expending needed energy in a time where she's needs to conserve it. Opinions?
 
On a regular winter day doesn't bother me at all, but when a blizard is going on and its is miserable out I feel it is probably best to let them stay in the cover.
 
I wholeheartedly agree during blizzards. Much of the Pheasant belt here in Minnesota after this latest storm will be buried by 20+ inches of snow in many places and even during non storm conditions the birds will be stressed. They will have to fly longer distances to find food and that will be tough in most places as the snow has buried everything. Conserving energy will be very important for hens who normally would be pushed off the little available food when competing with roosters. Just a thought.
 
I've been giving just this subject some thought today

I had hoped to get a couple more days of hunting in here in MN over the Christmas and NY's weekends. However, with as much snow as is out there and with more on the way, I'm starting to wonder if "calling it a season" wouldn't be something small I could personally do to help more birds survive the winter. Mind you, I'm not talking about those I would shoot (or more likely shoot at and miss cleanly), I'm more talking about those birds that would be flushed and forced to find new shelter and food sources.

I really want to get out there a couple more times but I'm debating.
 
i've been to this party before, was told you can't stockpile pheasants, BUT a little common sense can provide a few more birds for next season...you have to ask yourself, if the winter is that rough, does busting a bunch of hens out of survival cover worth that one or two more roosters? we know the roosters will make it, but the more hens, the better we are off the following season.
just my thoughts only......
 
Well depending on where your at, I really don't get it. One thing I know is pheasants know the area better then us. And when flushed what do they do?. They fly right across the road or where ever to another well protected spot and tuck in. So I really dont think a quick 20 second flight makes a hill of beans difference. One would be better off on worrying about feeding birds through a tough winter where you hunt.
Now if this is a little spot with no other place for them to lit for a mile or more, well then I would agree at least during the storm. Those birds are tougher and wiser as adults then you think. They will have a place they go when they get flushed for sure. And they know how to get there quick.
 
I think cover wise you could say that cattails provide that for the most part this time of year. But what concerns me more than the cover itself is the availability of food. I think is safe to say that this years snow is creating a real challenge for the birds to find food. Available food may indeed be more than a 20 second flight and when it is scarce, the birds are not putting on the needed fat to sustain during harsh times. I've seen the affects of massive starvation a couple years ago during a horrible early winter in SW NoDak and it was truly grusom. Granted the shear amount of birds competing for the available food out their was greater than it would be here, but it was still shocking sight. Cannabilism was something I hadn't ever witnessed with Pheasants before.

Things aren't that bad (at least yet) here in MN, but if this cold and snowy trend continues much longer, I think it could only have a drastic affect on next years breeding population.
 
If you want to hunt, hunt. If you want to give'um a break that is cool also.
Unless it;s freezing rain no one day is probably going to do them in if they have survivable cover in the first place. If their cover is poor you are probably doing them a favor thinning the herd. It is ALL about having QUALITY habitat.
 
Well depending on where your at, I really don't get it. One thing I know is pheasants know the area better then us. And when flushed what do they do?. They fly right across the road or where ever to another well protected spot and tuck in. So I really dont think a quick 20 second flight makes a hill of beans difference. One would be better off on worrying about feeding birds through a tough winter where you hunt.
Now if this is a little spot with no other place for them to lit for a mile or more, well then I would agree at least during the storm. Those birds are tougher and wiser as adults then you think. They will have a place they go when they get flushed for sure. And they know how to get there quick.

FC, nine times out of ten, i'd absolutely agree with you. But as birdshooter said, if this stuff keeps up on top of the blow-down and the blizzards we've already gotten, I'm more inclined to put my conservation hat on for the last two weeks for the sake of the seasons to come.
 
There are any number of variables. How cold it is is important. Whether there is ice or hard, crusted snow makes a difference. How long the cold or icy cover stays around figures in. What cover is available is critical. How the food is left afield can make a big difference. What the food is matters.
 
FC, nine times out of ten, i'd absolutely agree with you. But as birdshooter said, if this stuff keeps up on top of the blow-down and the blizzards we've already gotten, I'm more inclined to put my conservation hat on for the last two weeks for the sake of the seasons to come.

Well then why go yesterday? Birds are more resilient then we give them credit for. As long as I can walk out I will go.
 
Well then why go yesterday? Birds are more resilient then we give them credit for. As long as I can walk out I will go.

Well, I went yesterday because I hadn't yet seen how much habitat had been affected. I also went to an area where habitat was less affected, or so I had heard. I'm just saying that now that more is on the way and since having seen what I've seen, I'm making a choice. Not faulting anyone else for making a different one, just stating what I'm gonna do is all.
 
I understand where your coming from, I live out here where you went hunting. I see no issues even after this storm with the birds here. they are fine. We never got any ice. there is dirt showing on a field next to my house that had more corn spill then ever before from severe blow down. The fields here are littered with corn, literally. I also said it depends on condition and where your at. Here there will be no harm what so ever. The hill tops full of corn will be bare tomorrow too.
 
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Here is what I am talking about as far as the corn down. we had ankel deep snow all over here till today, hardly tough going, all fluff. I have been training in it every day. Even this 6" is nothing. Last year was tougher. this is what I do below on tough winters for my birds.
Now in areas south there is merrit to what is being said, I don't dissagree. But that has no bearing on other areas right now. There is standing beans and corn all over as well. There was so much rain the fields never got picked completely. They have it easy around here right now.I am not even feeding them in the yard because of it this year, no need. But back home in the south, I would be catering to them some.
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FCS, that's some good looking stuff for pheasants going into Winter.
Yup, go get a few more roosters out of the flock.:thumbsup:

For me hunting late it would depend on the conditions.
If there is only a couple small parcels that will hold pheasants in a mile or so each direction, I'd leave it alone if the weather is tough. Maybe haul in a couple buckets of corn instead.
 
If you want to hunt, hunt. If you want to give'um a break that is cool also.
Unless it;s freezing rain no one day is probably going to do them in if they have survivable cover in the first place. If their cover is poor you are probably doing them a favor thinning the herd.

First just let me say, I'm just looking for everyone's opinions here as I stated in my first post. Not trying to persuade anyone from hunting the rest of the season by any means. I think i read somewhere that this is probably going to go down as the all time snowiest December on record in Minnesota.

It is ALL about having QUALITY habitat.
And.... available food, which in many parts of the minnesota pheasant belt is all but disappearing under 2 ft of snow.
 
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Well depending on where your at, I really don't get it. One thing I know is pheasants know the area better then us. And when flushed what do they do?. They fly right across the road or where ever to another well protected spot and tuck in. So I really dont think a quick 20 second flight makes a hill of beans difference. One would be better off on worrying about feeding birds through a tough winter where you hunt.
Now if this is a little spot with no other place for them to lit for a mile or more, well then I would agree at least during the storm. Those birds are tougher and wiser as adults then you think. They will have a place they go when they get flushed for sure. And they know how to get there quick.

I am in Kens camp on this one.
 
A recent article that may surprise some about feeding Pheasants during tough winters including myself. http://www.twincities.com/niskanen

I think the key this winter is how long this trend continues. If it's short lived then things may not be so bad, but if this continues all winter or most of it, then a different tale may be told.
 
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