Are Pheasants Toast?

This is the book to read. 178 pages covers the history of the Ring Neck Pheasant in North America. And how WE the North Americans developed the Bird known as the Ring Neck Pheasant.

I first read this book, probably 20 years ago. Dug it up and reread just lately.
Written by Biologists with a lifetime of pheasant study in several states including Oregon, NE, SD and MT.

John P. Weigand
Reuel G Hanson

MONTANA'S RING-NECK PHEASANT, History, Ecology and Management.
Published by the MT Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

My experience along with information from this book are what I base my comments and information pertaining to pheasants on UPH and everywhere else.

This is a paragraph summarizing the success of pen raised and released pheasants in MT. [page 74]

"Releasing pen-reared pheasants into new areas is a proven method of expanding pheasant distribution. Since 1930 over 830,000 game farm reared Ring-Necks have been released in Montana, they have been introduced and re-introduced into every potential pheasant habitat in the state. Evaluation of MT stocking program shows it has served it's purpose".

These guys and others did some good studies.

One study, 100 game farm raised hens were Spring released in good habitat without pheasants. Tails on these hens were dyed white. Later 3 hens were spotted with good broods near the release area. Hens with white tails were reported with broods up to 10 MILES away! Interesting stuff.

Same thing with released banded Ringnecks. Bands were brought in up to 10 miles from the release site. One of the astonishing things was 3 bands were brought in from those released roosters 5 YEARS LATER!

Pen raised birds can/do INDEED do well in the wild. But you do need to have things in place.
 
mnmthunting said:
This is the book to read. 178 pages covers the history of the Ring Neck Pheasant in North America. And how WE the North Americans developed the Bird known as the Ring Neck Pheasant.

I first read this book, probably 20 years ago. Dug it up and reread just lately.
Written by Biologists with a lifetime of pheasant study in several states including Oregon, NE, SD and MT.

John P. Weigand
Reuel G Hanson

MONTANA'S RING-NECK PHEASANT, History, Ecology and Management.
Published by the MT Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

My experience along with information from this book are what I base my comments and information pertaining to pheasants on UPH and everywhere else.

This is a paragraph summarizing the success of pen raised and released pheasants in MT. [page 74]

"Releasing pen-reared pheasants into new areas is a proven method of expanding pheasant distribution. Since 1930 over 830,000 game farm reared Ring-Necks have been released in Montana, they have been introduced and re-introduced into every potential pheasant habitat in the state. Evaluation of MT stocking program shows it has served it's purpose".

These guys and others did some good studies.

One study, 100 game farm raised hens were Spring released in good habitat without pheasants. Tails on these hens were dyed white. Later 3 hens were spotted with good broods near the release area. Hens with white tails were reported with broods up to 10 MILES away! Interesting stuff.

Same thing with released banded Ringnecks. Bands were brought in up to 10 miles from the release site. One of the astonishing things was 3 bands were brought in from those released roosters 5 YEARS LATER!

Pen raised birds can/do INDEED do well in the wild. But you do need to have things in place.
Click to expand...

That has been my point all along. Simply releasing birds is not enough. We must have quality habitat for them to survive. Unfortunately many think good habitat is simply a field of waist high CRP. Believe me when I tell you I have walked many of those without producing a flush in North Central Kansas. The reason it worked in the 30's, 40's and 50's is the family farm was full of good habitat. Weeds, varied crops, nesting grass, overhead cover, escape routes etc. Very few places have that now.
 
carptom1 said:
That has been my point all along. Simply releasing birds is not enough. We must have quality habitat for them to survive. Unfortunately many think good habitat is simply a field of waist high CRP. Believe me when I tell you I have walked many of those without producing a flush in North Central Kansas. The reason it worked in the 30's, 40's and 50's is the family farm was full of good habitat. Weeds, varied crops, nesting grass, overhead cover, escape routes etc. Very few places have that now.
Click to expand...

Yes, Pheasants need variety, weather even South into Kansas is a limiting factor.
Pheasants need good Winter cover, grassland alone is OK during mild/open Winters. But there are Blizzards, droughts, ice and hail any of which can wipe out a local pheasant population. Brushy cover, woodlots, cattails and a close source of food during deep snow periods is a must.
 
mnmthunting said:
This is the book to read. 178 pages covers the history of the Ring Neck Pheasant in North America. And how WE the North Americans developed the Bird known as the Ring Neck Pheasant.

I first read this book, probably 20 years ago. Dug it up and reread just lately.
Written by Biologists with a lifetime of pheasant study in several states including Oregon, NE, SD and MT.

John P. Weigand
Reuel G Hanson

MONTANA'S RING-NECK PHEASANT, History, Ecology and Management.
Published by the MT Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

My experience along with information from this book are what I base my comments and information pertaining to pheasants on UPH and everywhere else.

This is a paragraph summarizing the success of pen raised and released pheasants in MT. [page 74]

"Releasing pen-reared pheasants into new areas is a proven method of expanding pheasant distribution. Since 1930 over 830,000 game farm reared Ring-Necks have been released in Montana, they have been introduced and re-introduced into every potential pheasant habitat in the state. Evaluation of MT stocking program shows it has served it's purpose".

These guys and others did some good studies.

One study, 100 game farm raised hens were Spring released in good habitat without pheasants. Tails on these hens were dyed white. Later 3 hens were spotted with good broods near the release area. Hens with white tails were reported with broods up to 10 MILES away! Interesting stuff.

Same thing with released banded Ringnecks. Bands were brought in up to 10 miles from the release site. One of the astonishing things was 3 bands were brought in from those released roosters 5 YEARS LATER!

Pen raised birds can/do INDEED do well in the wild. But you do need to have things in place.
Click to expand...

I enjoyed your post, thanks.
 
CRP is not necessarily the best place to hunt adult birds during the fall hunting season - they come and go from it. One day loaded, the next vacant.
But they almost always use grass of some sort to roost in overnight.

THE most important aspect of CRP/grass is that hens "gotta have it" to nest in. Oh, they will nest rarely in other places, maybe a bigger exception is winter wheat. Don't count on exciting birds numbers without VERY significant amounts of "the good stuff'. It is THE most important component of "pheasant land". I'll go so far as to call it their "home". Other components do, of course, assist significantly in protecting/feeding the birds, no doubt.
 
RK I don't know where you hunt, but in kansas the pheasants go as the WW goes. When the wheat crop has good winter and spring moisture followed by a normal mature and good yield, the pheasant hunting is normally very good. The birds can be found there until the weather gets nasty. If you are lucky enough to find a tall cut field with some old sunflowers you really have something.
 
In all my years of hunting pheasants in SW kansas I have found that they go wherever the best cover is that is close to what they need, food!!

Lets just hope that the Kansas ringnecks can bounce back. I hope they do. I don't mind spending my money in the small towns of SW Kansas. Good food, good people, usually good hunting and good times. I have alot of memories from hunting down there and I mean alot.

Greg
 
My hunting in Kansas is not extensive. Hunted around Smith Center on 1/31/09 and around Oberlin on 1/30 & 31/10.

Regional substitutes for CRP/grass, that play a bigger roll, are probably common in some areas but these areas probably still have SOME decent amounts of grass also. Oberlin had plenty of grass around for sure. Smith Center, not so much. I've never been to SW Kansas so I can't comment on that.

In MT, ND, SD, IA, CRP plays a BIG roll.

Follow the ups and downs of the soil bank era grass and then our modern era CRP grass and there is almost a direct correlation to bird numbers.

Back on the issue of pen-reared birds - from the above posts, it seems that some experts say they CAN help wild bird #'s and some experts say they CAN'T.

Guess I'll have to quit my job and conduct my own 10-year study, full time.
 
I think we all agree that you can't have a self-sustaining population of pheasants without the proper habitat, regardless of where the birds originated.

I also still believe that pheasants do a lot of nesting in winter wheat if it is decent, but I don't doubt that they nest in CRP also, and probably even more so in a dry year with poor WW. I think it was a good observation that CRP helps smooth out the boom/bust cycle that can be created by the weather.

Sturdy winter cover always seems to be at a premium out in western KS. In my best spots, I think it makes all the difference.:thumbsup:
 
There was some good winter wheat in western Kansas. I helped cut some 65 bushel wheat in Lane and Scott counties and some 40 in Ness and Hodgeman. The friend I was helping had 3000 acres that averaged in the mid 40's. I saw lots of baby pheasants in the wheat, the question is did they make it through the heat? Some of them were big enough I'm sure they did, the very young chicks who knows. I'm heading back out when I'm done with corn harvest, but from what I hear there are more birds than last year but not as good as the previous few. Remember though, some of the last few years before last year was as good as it gets. I think maybe we all got spoiled.
 
Thanks for this positive report.
 
No doubt winter wheat is good cover and provides food. Most of it is probably sprayed? insects will be scarce and Winter wheat is stubble or to short for cover about 9 months of the year. If there's little other cover available pheasants are going to be scarce.
 
mnmthunting said:
No doubt winter wheat is good cover and provides food. Most of it is probably sprayed? insects will be scarce and Winter wheat is stubble or to short for cover about 9 months of the year. If there's little other cover available pheasants are going to be scarce.
Click to expand...

I don't mean to be disagreeable.... but.....at least in Kansas you find the birds in stubble at first light and at last light. Unless the birds are sleepwalking:p thats where they are. They are there untill it really gets nasty. The last couple of winters that never happened. We were finding birds there in January. Most broods are reared in the wheat and they relate to it because that's home. I have been hunting pheasants here for nearly 40 yrs and that has always been the case. Our winters are not like yours in the north.
 
fsentkilr said:
There was some good winter wheat in western Kansas. I helped cut some 65 bushel wheat in Lane and Scott counties and some 40 in Ness and Hodgeman. The friend I was helping had 3000 acres that averaged in the mid 40's. I saw lots of baby pheasants in the wheat, the question is did they make it through the heat? Some of them were big enough I'm sure they did, the very young chicks who knows. I'm heading back out when I'm done with corn harvest, but from what I hear there are more birds than last year but not as good as the previous few. Remember though, some of the last few years before last year was as good as it gets. I think maybe we all got spoiled.
Click to expand...

Nice positive post, hope you are correct about the numbers up a little from last year.
 
carptom1 said:
I don't mean to be disagreeable.... but.....at least in Kansas you find the birds in stubble at first light and at last light. Unless the birds are sleepwalking:p thats where they are. They are there untill it really gets nasty. The last couple of winters that never happened. We were finding birds there in January. Most broods are reared in the wheat and they relate to it because that's home. I have been hunting pheasants here for nearly 40 yrs and that has always been the case. Our winters are not like yours in the north.
Click to expand...

i've shot a lot of pheasants out harmless looking fenclines bordering wheat stubble....
 
Some of the best pheasant hunting I had last year was in short wheat stubble that everyone else was driving by. They will stay in it until the weather gets bad. Whats is even more surprising is that the dog can point them and you would swear you should be able to see them but you can't.
 
fsentkilr said:
Some of the best pheasant hunting I had last year was in short wheat stubble that everyone else was driving by. They will stay in it until the weather gets bad. Whats is even more surprising is that the dog can point them and you would swear you should be able to see them but you can't.
Click to expand...

SHHHHHHHH! We are talking about it too much. Ok I made it up. There are no birds in the wheat stubble. I am in therapy for lying now. To those of you that I offended on here I apologize. Don't waste your time in the stubble this year. I will hunt it as penance for my actions. again I am sorry.
 
Carptom, you make a good point. I can believe that the farther south into "pheasant land", there becomes a lesser need for classic CRP/grass as the winters are generally less severe. However, if WW flops, then CRP can be an important backup plan.

If the hens feel safe putting a nest in good, healthy WW, that should work fine. However, WW does have a bullseye on its back and the farmer is eager to take dead aim with his combine. If CRP haying is permitted in some years, it usually must be done late summer after the broods have cleared out.

On another issue that seems to have surfaced: Let's not confuse fall hunting COVER(aka, honeyholes, etc) with life-cycle HABITAT needs. They do have some overlap but there are important subtle differences.
 
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