Different crop contents

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wisturkeyhunter

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Weird diet this bird was on some kind of worm and juniper berries. Plenty of grain in the area but I guess this bird like the security of staying in the bottom of the draw. 4 other birds 2 pheasants and 2 sharptails from the same BMA today all were loaded with grain.

It was an older bird with decent Spurs.
 
Pheasants love bugs. I've always noticed that the only reason pheasants stop having insects in their crops is that the weather is too cold for bugs. They like high protein feed if they can get it.

Looks like the juniper had some type of tent caterpillar or webworm.

Tim
 
The old birds get that way by being smart, if they can make a living in the tough places to hunt they do. Juniper berries, rose hips, Russian olive, grass hoppers and other bugs, and wild seeds grow some big old hook spurs.:cheers:
 
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quail hound said:
The old birds get that way by being smart, if they can make a living in the tough places to hunt they do. Juniper berries, rose hips, Russian olive, grass hoppers and other bugs, and wild seeds grow some big old hook spurs.:cheers:
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For sure,never seen one with worms like this but plenty of different natural plant food and hoppers.

Just crazy how different this birds crop was than the other birds I've been killing but most guys would look at the area I killed him in and say there's no pheasants there.
 
wisturkeyhunter said:
For sure,never seen one with worms like this but plenty of different natural plant food and hoppers.

Just crazy how different this birds crop was than the other birds I've been killing but most guys would look at the area I killed him in and say there's no pheasants there.
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I came across the same in SD this year. Young of year birds had almost pure corn with a little green grass in their crop and the one older bird of the day had Russian olive and hoppers. All taken on the same land.
 
He stumbled upon a nice pile of those ugly things. They look like maggots:confused:. He may have pulled them from a carcass laying around.

What kind of habitat did you find him in?
 
1pheas4 said:
He stumbled upon a nice pile of those ugly things. They look like maggots:confused:. He may have pulled them from a carcass laying around.

What kind of habitat did you find him in?
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A draw full of thick thorny brush,junipers and heavily grazed grass,I kill a lot of birds out here in that type of stuff most guys wouldn't think of as pheasant habitat. Don't think they were maggots but I thought that at first too.
 
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