First Wild Pheasant Intrastate Release in PA in 50 yrs!

R

Roosterslammer

Member
Today the first five wild pheasants were released in the first wild pheasant intrastate trap and transfer program in PA in almost 50 years. The last program was in the late 60s when wild birds were trapped at the Lewisburg prison in Union County and released in Centre County. The release greatly increased the wild bird numbers in Centre County. This program is being used to spread birds out in the WPRA from areas of high density to new areas of good cover. It is hoped this process will speed up the distribution of birds in the WPRA.
 
WOW!!! This is a dream come true for pheasant hunters in Pennsylvania. Being able to trap-n-transfer wild pheasants born and bred right here in Pa. is something we all hoped for.
I have no doubt that these released birds will be as successful as the other wild birds that were released.We now know what the Plan needs to succeed and the hard work is paying off.
There is no doubt that Pheasants Forever and members like Mr. Lynn Appleman are responsible for a lot of this, but let's not forget the Pennsyslvania Game Commission and gentlemen like Mr. Jay DeLaney. A job well done. The future of upland hunting in Pa. looks great!
 
Very good. If you don't mind, keep us informed on how they "take" to the new area(s) over the next few years.

From what I've gathered, the transfer of wild pheasants from SD to areas in PA did well.

These five birds--are they from that stock or another source?

Nick
 
Nick,

These birds are the descendents of the original stock from Montana/SD, no new birds have been released in "THIS" Wild Pheasant Recovery Area for a few years now. So these birds were born in Pa.. Were pretty excited!
 
Lynn, here's your picture!

WP_20150108_011_zps90cce918.jpg



Awesome news!
 
Man that's a neat photo:thumbsup:. Born and raised in the wild, right there in PA. Something is working.:)

Nick
 
quote... You guys might think I'm crazy, but I keep staring at the picture!



Not crazy.....not crazy at all my friend!
 
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That is wonderful news! Hopefully those 5 birds will do well in that new habitat and we can get some more wild pheasants going.

Out of curiosity, is the game commission of PF doing anything to control the predator population so these birds can survive and flourish? It is great to release tons of pheasants and work on the growth of numbers, but unless the predators are controlled it seems the pheasant population may have a more difficult time growing. Just asking out of curiosity because I would be interested in hearing the process. :)
 
Habitat is the key, it's been proven that if the birds have the proper habitat they will flourish which is exactly what is happening! It is just very difficult to have great habitat at such a large scale.
 
HollowWatcher said:
Habitat is the key, it's been proven that if the birds have the proper habitat they will flourish which is exactly what is happening! It is just very difficult to have great habitat at such a large scale.
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Interesting. I guess I never realized that. I figured habitat was a key portion, but that predator control was also another function of that. I guess if the habitat is good then the predators will have trouble finding them. Thanks for the insight Hollow!
 
The more I think about it, the more I would like to see a wild captive breeding program. You could have taken these five birds and greatly increased the number of birds released in late spring, early summer. Then release the adult birds and capture more birds next winter, never breeding more than one generation in captivity. These wild birds seem remarkable in their ability to adapt and reproduce in a new area.
 
FLDBRED said:
The more I think about it, the more I would like to see a wild captive breeding program. You could have taken these five birds and greatly increased the number of birds released in late spring, early summer. Then release the adult birds and capture more birds next winter, never breeding more than one generation in captivity. These wild birds seem remarkable in their ability to adapt and reproduce in a new area.
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That's how this thing could take off!
 
FLDBRED said:
The more I think about it, the more I would like to see a wild captive breeding program. You could have taken these five birds and greatly increased the number of birds released in late spring, early summer. Then release the adult birds and capture more birds next winter, never breeding more than one generation in captivity. These wild birds seem remarkable in their ability to adapt and reproduce in a new area.
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Has something like that ever been tried before?
 
To my knowledge, this has not been done in PA with pheasants. I believe it has been done with quail with some success. My main question with the captive breeding process is the education of the poults. Protecting the broods in a pen will assure more survival of young pheasants but, what will they have missed by not seeing their siblings die at the hands of predators? The guys at the pheasant farms tell me the penned up pheasants learn to ignore hawks because they cant get at them. This could prove dangerous to the birds once released. I have some questions but I would like to see it tried.
 
This has been done in Wisconsin. They took the offspring of wild pheasants trapped in Iowa and also used pheasants raised from eggs collected in China's Jilin Province.
Amongst other traits they have shown a predator avoidance behavior when compared to the traditional pen raised birds.

A few years ago I started to dig deeper into this and was in touch with a member of the Wisconsin DNR. He was giving me some inside feedback and I was taking it in like a sponge. Thinking this source was going to be available I didn't think to put it down in writing. Well this guy dropped off the face of the earth and "new" information for some reason is hard to come by.

But looking at the great success Pa. has had with relatively few birds I think it's worth a try. You're going to release the adult birds into the wild after raising young anyway.
Boy I would love to capture, breed, and release some of those unique ringless wild pheasants from New Jersey!
 
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