Bird rebound question
- Thread starter duckn66
- Start date
depends on how many are left to re populate.
Shadow
Banned
depending on what is planted and when here- I may put out one of those Cabela's feeders- seem to have a group that kind of hangs around- 6 hens and a rooster- grabbed the camera to take a picture out the window- they sort of ducked around the house before I could focus- got the last hen though-
going to go out with the 4 Britt's here in a little bit- not here- another field
but have been sort of making these wise so the coyotes can't get them-
if they survive, hang around, and we get a good spring- could have a bunch to play with next fall
going to go out with the 4 Britt's here in a little bit- not here- another field
but have been sort of making these wise so the coyotes can't get them-
if they survive, hang around, and we get a good spring- could have a bunch to play with next fall
kansasbrittany
Banned
I'm optimistic that with good conditions, these birds can rebound to the point you'll forget all about low #'s this season. I've witnessed some significant population swings in my short (relative to many of you) time as an upland hunter.
If you want hope, search the internet for "hyper-compensative-reproduction. In a nut shell the reality is, with a spring where we avoid cold rains and substandard temperatures, the birds will persist at breeding, breed a longer season, raise bigger broods, possibly even raise a couple of broods, to fill the availble void, that there is habitat to support.There may be the rub!
according to game and fish, a pheasant hen will raise only one brood per season, they will renest if first attempt fails, which explains late hatches we see from time to time, but if they raise their first brood successfully, they are done......or so the experts say..
they also say pheasants won't drink water from a puddle or a pond/slough...i definitely disagree with that theory.
they also say pheasants won't drink water from a puddle or a pond/slough...i definitely disagree with that theory.
Shadow
Banned
OK, here is the plan.
Everyone else go hunt states other than KS.
I will hunt KS next year, and report back to your guys at this time in 2013. That will take some pressure off them :thumbsup:
good point- but- you and the others that do hunt here- just don't shoot- you'll see how many birds and wise them up a bit to the coyotes- and yet- be able to come back some other time for a good time out with the dog
I agree with kansasbrittany
Yeah, and hawks eat only mice and rats, almost never dine on gamebirds either! I basically agree with the 1 brood per hen per year theory, in normal conditions, but I'm talking about a specific trigger, that nature provides to avoid extinction of a prey species if numbers become dangerously low. We used to spout the one hen -one brood theory about quail, but recent research indicates that in times of stress, hens will leave the brood in the care of the cockbird, and go start a new broood elsewhere.
Recent research is giving us more insight on the validity of the second brood theory.
Fifty or more years ago before radio-telemetry (radio-tagged hens) the "second hatch" was a big debate. Radio-telemetry proves that it does happen, but it is rare and the conditions must be right.
The second hatch or "Double-Brooding" is rear, but it has been documented in two publications. I will give the two references just for back ground information.
1. "A Natural History of the Pheasant" by Peter Robertson. Read page 66 of that book and the author explains that in areas of the world where spring starts early and summers are long and mild a second hatch can occasionally happen. A Danish biologist in New Zealand (using radio-tagged hens) found that hens can very occasionally rear two broods in a single year.
2. "Experimental Pheasant Restoration Project" Go to page 49 of that study under the Nesting section. Two radio tagged hens in the wild in that study produced a second brood after successfully hatching the first nest.
Texas panhandle farms have for the last 30 years have said that their pheasants have a second hatch, in wet grassy summers and wet (El nina) winters and wet springs (not flooding) when the dry land wheat is really green and healthy . But in dry years (like 2008 & 2011 poor dry land wheat) poor hatch or no hatch at all.
2010 was an El nino year in Texas wet snowy winter and wet spring (when I say wet not the kind of wet that drowns chicks but the wet that produces green vegetation and insects).The panhandle wheat was tall and green (lot of vegetation) in late March with warm weather in March and April. The wheat was not cut until mid June.
The hen pheasants could have easily hatched a brood by the first week of May.
If the summer stays green and damp with abundant vegetation and insects and the hens are healthy the chicks can catch insects on their own and they grow fast. So a healthy hen with ample supply of nutrients (no heat stress) can easily lay and hatch another brood by August or early September.
How else would you explain some of the big increases in pheasant numbers from one year to another in places like Liberal, Kansas and also seen around Dumas, Dalhart and Spearman, Texas.
Fifty or more years ago before radio-telemetry (radio-tagged hens) the "second hatch" was a big debate. Radio-telemetry proves that it does happen, but it is rare and the conditions must be right.
The second hatch or "Double-Brooding" is rear, but it has been documented in two publications. I will give the two references just for back ground information.
1. "A Natural History of the Pheasant" by Peter Robertson. Read page 66 of that book and the author explains that in areas of the world where spring starts early and summers are long and mild a second hatch can occasionally happen. A Danish biologist in New Zealand (using radio-tagged hens) found that hens can very occasionally rear two broods in a single year.
2. "Experimental Pheasant Restoration Project" Go to page 49 of that study under the Nesting section. Two radio tagged hens in the wild in that study produced a second brood after successfully hatching the first nest.
Texas panhandle farms have for the last 30 years have said that their pheasants have a second hatch, in wet grassy summers and wet (El nina) winters and wet springs (not flooding) when the dry land wheat is really green and healthy . But in dry years (like 2008 & 2011 poor dry land wheat) poor hatch or no hatch at all.
2010 was an El nino year in Texas wet snowy winter and wet spring (when I say wet not the kind of wet that drowns chicks but the wet that produces green vegetation and insects).The panhandle wheat was tall and green (lot of vegetation) in late March with warm weather in March and April. The wheat was not cut until mid June.
The hen pheasants could have easily hatched a brood by the first week of May.
If the summer stays green and damp with abundant vegetation and insects and the hens are healthy the chicks can catch insects on their own and they grow fast. So a healthy hen with ample supply of nutrients (no heat stress) can easily lay and hatch another brood by August or early September.
How else would you explain some of the big increases in pheasant numbers from one year to another in places like Liberal, Kansas and also seen around Dumas, Dalhart and Spearman, Texas.
Recent research is giving us more insight on the validity of the second brood theory.
Fifty or more years ago before radio-telemetry (radio-tagged hens) the "second hatch" was a big debate. Radio-telemetry proves that it does happen, but it is rare and the conditions must be right.
The second hatch or "Double-Brooding" is rear, but it has been documented in two publications. I will give the two references just for back ground information.
1. "A Natural History of the Pheasant" by Peter Robertson. Read page 66 of that book and the author explains that in areas of the world where spring starts early and summers are long and mild a second hatch can occasionally happen. A Danish biologist in New Zealand (using radio-tagged hens) found that hens can very occasionally rear two broods in a single year.
2. "Experimental Pheasant Restoration Project" Go to page 49 of that study under the Nesting section. Two radio tagged hens in the wild in that study produced a second brood after successfully hatching the first nest.
Texas panhandle farms have for the last 30 years have said that their pheasants have a second hatch, in wet grassy summers and wet (El nina) winters and wet springs (not flooding) when the dry land wheat is really green and healthy . But in dry years (like 2008 & 2011 poor dry land wheat) poor hatch or no hatch at all.
2010 was an El nino year in Texas wet snowy winter and wet spring (when I say wet not the kind of wet that drowns chicks but the wet that produces green vegetation and insects).The panhandle wheat was tall and green (lot of vegetation) in late March with warm weather in March and April. The wheat was not cut until mid June.
The hen pheasants could have easily hatched a brood by the first week of May.
If the summer stays green and damp with abundant vegetation and insects and the hens are healthy the chicks can catch insects on their own and they grow fast. So a healthy hen with ample supply of nutrients (no heat stress) can easily lay and hatch another brood by August or early September.
How else would you explain some of the big increases in pheasant numbers from one year to another in places like Liberal, Kansas and also seen around Dumas, Dalhart and Spearman, Texas.
Fifty or more years ago before radio-telemetry (radio-tagged hens) the "second hatch" was a big debate. Radio-telemetry proves that it does happen, but it is rare and the conditions must be right.
The second hatch or "Double-Brooding" is rear, but it has been documented in two publications. I will give the two references just for back ground information.
1. "A Natural History of the Pheasant" by Peter Robertson. Read page 66 of that book and the author explains that in areas of the world where spring starts early and summers are long and mild a second hatch can occasionally happen. A Danish biologist in New Zealand (using radio-tagged hens) found that hens can very occasionally rear two broods in a single year.
2. "Experimental Pheasant Restoration Project" Go to page 49 of that study under the Nesting section. Two radio tagged hens in the wild in that study produced a second brood after successfully hatching the first nest.
Texas panhandle farms have for the last 30 years have said that their pheasants have a second hatch, in wet grassy summers and wet (El nina) winters and wet springs (not flooding) when the dry land wheat is really green and healthy . But in dry years (like 2008 & 2011 poor dry land wheat) poor hatch or no hatch at all.
2010 was an El nino year in Texas wet snowy winter and wet spring (when I say wet not the kind of wet that drowns chicks but the wet that produces green vegetation and insects).The panhandle wheat was tall and green (lot of vegetation) in late March with warm weather in March and April. The wheat was not cut until mid June.
The hen pheasants could have easily hatched a brood by the first week of May.
If the summer stays green and damp with abundant vegetation and insects and the hens are healthy the chicks can catch insects on their own and they grow fast. So a healthy hen with ample supply of nutrients (no heat stress) can easily lay and hatch another brood by August or early September.
How else would you explain some of the big increases in pheasant numbers from one year to another in places like Liberal, Kansas and also seen around Dumas, Dalhart and Spearman, Texas.
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KBell
New member
I will share this with you my Kansas friends. If you can take the four hens and one rooster on my 400 acres of family farm in Iowa and hypercompensate that next year into the 48-72 birds I used to harvest during the season next season I will plant the longest, sweetest kiss on each and every one of you that you have ever had!
Well my Iowa friend, you didn't get there in a year, and you probably won't get back in a year, but you might get a whole lot closer than you think! I hope so anyway.
OKIEGunner
New member
Good weather; mild winter, early spring with timed rains for a prolonged summer green-up with lots of bugs, and mild summer temperatures. A potential double clutching and a reduction in predator pressure could all contribute to a strong rebound. With two consecutive years of cooperation with Mother Nature it could happen.
BleuBijou
Active member
A Danish biologist in New Zealand (using radio-tagged hens) found that hens can very occasionally rear two broods in a single year.
Still trying to figure out what very occasionally means??!!!!! It is at best a rare occurrance! But every little bit helps!!!! I did a 5 year study on Woodies, bands and all and there was never a double clutch documented this far North!!!! Well, I had one hen that hatched a clutch( I watched them jump to the water out of the nesting box) and 4 1/2 weeks later, I caught her in the same box with 12 eggs!!! Leg bands do not lie!!! She hatched that clutch as well!!!!! It can be done if conditions and variables are perfect!!! That hen I banded was on her 4th year of being banded when she had 2 successful cluthes!!!! She was experienced and was the first hen to start laying in the 40 boxes I had out!!!! All but 2 boxes had eggs, but 12 boxes were dump nests for inexperienced hens ,which had anywhere from 20-30 eggs in them and will not sit on them. Once they secure a site, they will renest and sit!!! It is just a experience or age thing!! They do not know exactly what to do, but figure it out quickly!!! With the age class of hen pheasants this year, I think if conditions are good, it will rebound quickly!!!!:cheers:
Still trying to figure out what very occasionally means??!!!!! It is at best a rare occurrance! But every little bit helps!!!! I did a 5 year study on Woodies, bands and all and there was never a double clutch documented this far North!!!! Well, I had one hen that hatched a clutch( I watched them jump to the water out of the nesting box) and 4 1/2 weeks later, I caught her in the same box with 12 eggs!!! Leg bands do not lie!!! She hatched that clutch as well!!!!! It can be done if conditions and variables are perfect!!! That hen I banded was on her 4th year of being banded when she had 2 successful cluthes!!!! She was experienced and was the first hen to start laying in the 40 boxes I had out!!!! All but 2 boxes had eggs, but 12 boxes were dump nests for inexperienced hens ,which had anywhere from 20-30 eggs in them and will not sit on them. Once they secure a site, they will renest and sit!!! It is just a experience or age thing!! They do not know exactly what to do, but figure it out quickly!!! With the age class of hen pheasants this year, I think if conditions are good, it will rebound quickly!!!!:cheers:
OKIEGunner
New member
Weather, weather, weather
projected model for precipitation can be found in this link.
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment/DOD.html
projected model for precipitation can be found in this link.
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment/DOD.html