Anyone going to PF banquet Watertown?

[randywatson]

we raise and release hens and roosters on our 160 acre wetland bank property here in SE MN. we are surrounded by black fields on all sides with 0 cover within a couple miles. we've seen a huge jump in pheasant numbers within 5 square miles from our property. Our survival rate of hens is probably 20%. we released 800 hens and 100 roosters in 2022. (oreder a 1,000) 10% error rate in identification from mcfarlanes. we get them at a day old and raise them to 7 to 8 weeks. feed prices this year nearly doubled. the roosters we keep through out the season and release on a needed basis from our flight pen.

our intention is to get some food plots on our property. have 14 acres we can do what we want with. but with it being in a wetland bank with 8' tall bluestem native and endangered flowers and dikes ponds etc. its a work in progress.

 

[A5 Sweet 16]

we raise and release hens and roosters on our 160 acre wetland bank property here in SE MN. we are surrounded by black fields on all sides with 0 cover within a couple miles. we've seen a huge jump in pheasant numbers within 5 square miles from our property. Our survival rate of hens is probably 20%. we released 800 hens and 100 roosters in 2022. (oreder a 1,000) 10% error rate in identification from mcfarlanes. we get them at a day old and raise them to 7 to 8 weeks. feed prices this year nearly doubled. the roosters we keep through out the season and release on a needed basis from our flight pen.

our intention is to get some food plots on our property. have 14 acres we can do what we want with. but with it being in a wetland bank with 8' tall bluestem native and endangered flowers and dikes ponds etc. its a work in progress.

Interesting. I'm trying to understand what's really going on & have questions:
1. How many of the 160 acres are currently what you'd consider somewhat decent nesting/brooding cover?
2. Assuming you do "something" w/ the 14 acres, THEN how much nesting/brooding cover will you have?
3. You say there's no cover within a couple miles, I assume in almost every direction (so like a 12-16 sq mile area with little to no cover). Yet you mention a 5 sq mile area having a big jump in numbers? So are you seeing this jump inside the "no cover area", outside it, or both?
4. If you're seeing the jump inside the "no cover area", where are they living &/or hanging out?
5. You mention maybe a 20% hen survival rate. What's that based on?
6. Are most/all of the adult roosters released shot?

 

[remy3424]

So have you figured-out what is missing from the equation that keeps the birds from multiplying on their own? Or is this a game preserve/hunting club situation and everything gets shot every year? If not, maybe you might not hunt it so hard. If you are releasing roosters "as needed", I think I see where you are at with this. At 7 or 8 weeks, are you releasing these hens all on this 160 acre parcel or selling them? Is this the first year doing this? Like A5, this is puzzling to me. Please throw some details out as to what is happening.

 

[randywatson]

1. of our 160 acres id say close to 140 is suitable for brood and nest rearing. we have a 16 acre pond and 2 other smaller ponds .
2. we would be down to 126 acres
3 & 4. the pheasants we see in the summer are mostly within a couple miles of our place. there are numerous ditches that were constructed in the 1930's to drain the area. we assume the birds are utilizing these areas along with very small patches of grasses around homesteads. the nearest 'decent cover" ie wpa or wma is 4 miles from us. 5 years ago you rarely saw a pheasant out there. we are good friends with the surrounding farmers. they state "we've never seen this many pheasants ever even a couple miles from here" So that leads us to believe that our stocking efforts are working.
5. 20% is based on numbers we see in the summer on the roads with broods. we do a brood count. we know the hens we release are a certain size when we release them and typically our hens are released by mid june so they are gonna be far bigger than a wild brood.
6. the roosters we release arent always shot. some make it through the gauntlet. we dont release roosters until a couple weeks into the season. we do this so we can judge the number of wild birds that were produced and fully made it through the season.

like i stated before if we can get some food plots going itll be a game changer and help the birds along during the winter.

 

[randywatson]

each year we've seen an increase in the pheasant numbers on our property. infact we have huns now come too our property by the end of december. (we didnt release them

we've been releasing birds for the past 4 years. anywhere from 100 to close to 900. last year was 900ish. we did straight hens last year due to cost. significant cost difference. we are trying to boost the hen population so we dont need to do this forever, but one never knows. (we are setup for the long run with our flight pens and chick brooder) the land around us currently is selling for 10k an acre infact a farm 3 miles from us sold for 15k an acre. so to have our piece of heaven in the middle of this black abyss is probably one of our struggles. most everything is black and round up ready.

my 3 brothers and I own this property and we all are bird hunters. Im a lab guy my brothers have english cockers. We bought this property for leisure and recreation. where we can stare at our dogs butts and maybe shoot a few birds have some really big flushes (60 plus) and have the feel of the good ole days without spending 4 hours on the road to get there. 20 minutes from my front door. We have a big extended family and its been great to have this property to bring us all together on a saturday in november for a bird shoot.

i still make 3-4 trips a season to SD. made lots of connections and I tie in my Nodak duck trip with a few days of pheasants in SD. I'll hunt from Northern SD to east central to west river and all points in between.

 

[A5 Sweet 16]

1. of our 160 acres id say close to 140 is suitable for brood and nest rearing. we have a 16 acre pond and 2 other smaller ponds .
2. we would be down to 126 acres
3 & 4. the pheasants we see in the summer are mostly within a couple miles of our place. there are numerous ditches that were constructed in the 1930's to drain the area. we assume the birds are utilizing these areas along with very small patches of grasses around homesteads. the nearest 'decent cover" ie wpa or wma is 4 miles from us. 5 years ago you rarely saw a pheasant out there. we are good friends with the surrounding farmers. they state "we've never seen this many pheasants ever even a couple miles from here" So that leads us to believe that our stocking efforts are working.
5. 20% is based on numbers we see in the summer on the roads with broods. we do a brood count. we know the hens we release are a certain size when we release them and typically our hens are released by mid june so they are gonna be far bigger than a wild brood.
6. the roosters we release arent always shot. some make it through the gauntlet. we dont release roosters until a couple weeks into the season. we do this so we can judge the number of wild birds that were produced and fully made it through the season.

like i stated before if we can get some food plots going itll be a game changer and help the birds along during the winter.

That's super interesting. More questions:
1. I assume any WPA/WMA within a few miles also has some suitable nesting/brooding cover?
2. Do you think any nearby WPA/WMA have changed at all in the last few years, or do they look pretty much the same as in the past?
3. So you release at 7-8 wks, which is gangly looking, but maybe 2/3 the size of an adult pheasant. Do they tend to travel in groups/broods of their own?
4. So this survival rate. Are you talking about surviving until late summer or early fall? Or through the winter?
5. How does releasing adult roosters during the season help judge the number of wild ones?

 

[randywatson]

1) i dont hunt the wpas wmas here in se mn those areas get pi$$ pounded and by mid november those birds are either dead before you arrive or out of the cover when you open the door.

2) see #1
3&4) the hens we release stay in packs and for the first 2 weeks will hang out next to the flight pen. some will die from avians. we base survival as making it to the fall. we did our job to get them full size now its their turn to be wild chickens. we've found that 7-8 weeks has shown the highest survival rate.

5) we like to wait 2-3 weeks after the season starts just to see how the hatch was and areas of our land that they are utilizing more than others. every year this changes. we know which birds are wild and which are released based on the crusty and flared nostrils from the blinders once we shoot them.

we do prescribed burns annually. last year 30 acres. this year probably 40 acre patch. depends on what we have time for. we also are doing maple and walnut syrup this year. 700 maple taps and 175 walnut taps. no rest here.

 

[A5 Sweet 16]

1) i dont hunt the wpas wmas here in se mn those areas get pi$$ pounded and by mid november those birds are either dead before you arrive or out of the cover when you open the door.

2) see #1
3&4) the hens we release stay in packs and for the first 2 weeks will hang out next to the flight pen. some will die from avians. we base survival as making it to the fall. we did our job to get them full size now its their turn to be wild chickens. we've found that 7-8 weeks has shown the highest survival rate.

5) we like to wait 2-3 weeks after the season starts just to see how the hatch was and areas of our land that they are utilizing more than others. every year this changes. we know which birds are wild and which are released based on the crusty and flared nostrils from the blinders once we shoot them.

we do prescribed burns annually. last year 30 acres. this year probably 40 acre patch. depends on what we have time for. we also are doing maple and walnut syrup this year. 700 maple taps and 175 walnut taps. no rest here.

Thanks for playing along w/ my curiosity. Sounds like you've got a good thing going. And whatever the exact reasons for the pheasant increase, I'd be inclined to roll with what you're doing. If it ain't broke, right?

 

[sdviking]

1) i dont hunt the wpas wmas here in se mn those areas get pi$$ pounded and by mid november those birds are either dead before you arrive or out of the cover when you open the door.

2) see #1
3&4) the hens we release stay in packs and for the first 2 weeks will hang out next to the flight pen. some will die from avians. we base survival as making it to the fall. we did our job to get them full size now its their turn to be wild chickens. we've found that 7-8 weeks has shown the highest survival rate.

5) we like to wait 2-3 weeks after the season starts just to see how the hatch was and areas of our land that they are utilizing more than others. every year this changes. we know which birds are wild and which are released based on the crusty and flared nostrils from the blinders once we shoot them.

we do prescribed burns annually. last year 30 acres. this year probably 40 acre patch. depends on what we have time for. we also are doing maple and walnut syrup this year. 700 maple taps and 175 walnut taps. no rest here.

Good job! Its a lot of hard work and money to get where you are. Food Plots corn seems to be king, but some of Pheasants forever Roaster Booster blends are good too. If you are planting any bushes I'm a big fan of Elderberry. They can handle the deer damage and can grow to 8 feet tall in three years. Pheasants do like the berries they produce. sdviking

 

[Weimdogman]

Good job! Its a lot of hard work and money to get where you are. Food Plots corn seems to be king, but some of Pheasants forever Roaster Booster blends are good too. If you are planting any bushes I'm a big fan of Elderberry. They can handle the deer damage and can grow to 8 feet tall in three years. Pheasants do like the berries they produce. sdviking

Everything you said is

 

[remy3424]

So how many roosters were shot on this property this past season and how many do you want to shoot off this quarter? It sounds like you really pound them. After 4 years, without introducing any new birds (assuming there were a few around), I would think you would have a wild population that would be ready to explode...assuming your winters haven't been brutal. For food plots corn is good, deer eat it too, Sorghum is another to try, easier for the birds to get to. We had been doing half and half, but last year they were all sorghum food plots. Corn might be easier as round-up ready is generally available, not some much for the sorghum...wish we could get RR sorghum, I am sure it has been developed. Carve out 4-5 acres (maybe more if deer winter there) of the 14 you have available and get those food plots going in a few months! If you have several hundred birds carrying over, they need to eat. Your local PF group likely has food plot seed available to their members. See what happens when they have food! If you really have several hundred birds there, you might put in 6-7 acres of food plots and replant half every spring and leave half for summer food...assuming there is food left from the winter. You'll get it figured on a see how many birds it can support without introducing the tame birds.

The elderberry we have here are wild, and grow in clumps and are pretty "stocky" as few branches, not much for cover at all. The do have good amounts of the berries on them. If your climate/soil is good for wild plum, try some of those, they grow fast, everything eats plums it seems and they create much better habitat. I wish hazelnut did better here, I love those too...gray dogwood is nice for habitat.

 

[Elksniper]

I travel to hunt wild birds several times per season but I also live close to a state put and take property in northern Wisconsin so I hunt those birds often enough too. The DNR deems the chances for bird survival here low, so it’s also a hen/rooster property where you can legally shoot both. The property gets hunted hard right to the last day of the season (myself included) but there are always a few birds that make it. I run my dog there all the way until it closes for nesting season on April 15th and most seasons I can still find birds then. So far this winter we’ve had 3 good rain/ice storms and plenty of snow and just last weekend I found 2 roosters and a hen that had survived so far. I have also found broods in August as well, so occasionally they will be successful at nesting. I’m not saying I’m in favor of releasing birds or that I think that’s the answer but I do think if they can survive the hunter pressure (even shooting hens) and the winters here, that the survival rate might be higher than we think. If there’s good habitat, I think some released birds can help supplement or repopulate an area. Especially if they could have a season without being hunted.

 

[Weimdogman]

I travel to hunt wild birds several times per season but I also live close to a state put and take property in northern Wisconsin so I hunt those birds often enough too. The DNR deems the chances for bird survival here low, so it’s also a hen/rooster property where you can legally shoot both. The property gets hunted hard right to the last day of the season (myself included) but there are always a few birds that make it. I run my dog there all the way until it closes for nesting season on April 15th and most seasons I can still find birds then. So far this winter we’ve had 3 good rain/ice storms and plenty of snow and just last weekend I found 2 roosters and a hen that had survived so far. I have also found broods in August as well, so occasionally they will be successful at nesting. I’m not saying I’m in favor of releasing birds or that I think that’s the answer but I do think if they can survive the hunter pressure (even shooting hens) and the winters here, that the survival rate might be higher than we think. If there’s good habitat, I think some released birds can help supplement or repopulate an area. Especially if they could have a season without being hunted.

Good post and nice to hear ! The most important thing about your post is
"If there's good habitat,.."