Northern Range pheasants

M

mnaj_springer

New member
So this hasn't happened recently but I started thinking more about it and got curious:

Anyway, what's the furtherest north you've seen pheasants? Were they in the typical range or was the spot surprising?

I had a couple surprising sightings this summer. Northeast of Brainerd I was traveling a county road and saw a hen fly (I'm 100% sure it was a pheasant). A couple weeks later I saw a hen with chicks near the same spot. About a month after that, about three miles from where I saw the hens, I saw a rooster.

It was surprising to me to see them at these locations, and the presence of chicks makes me believe they are wild... anyway, has anyone else had this weird experience?
 
Hard to say,because of game farm escape birds. I have run aross some birds around Grand Rapids and North, but I'm sure they were not wild.
 
Furthest north... probably Staples. I'm pretty sure they were wild, but who knows unless you get your hands on them?
 
Where's the game farm?

And this was far enough from Pine Shadows to give me some confidence that it wasn't from there.

How long before you would considered an escaped pen-raised bird a wild bird? To me a hen with chicks suggest that she was able to lay eggs, incubate them, and raise them to a certain age without all of them dying... there's some wildness there...
 
mnaj_springer said:
Where's the game farm?

And this was far enough from Pine Shadows to give me some confidence that it wasn't from there.

How long before you would considered an escaped pen-raised bird a wild bird? To me a hen with chicks suggest that she was able to lay eggs, incubate them, and raise them to a certain age without all of them dying... there's some wildness there...
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In SD they release hens in spring to be bread & up bird numbers not sure how wild they are???
 
SMO where did you get that info from? In the 20+ years I've been going to SD and the countless CO's I've talked to I have never heard of them releasing hens in the spring to try and bring up bird #'s? It's not something that works well as any pen raised bird released into the wild usually doesn't last more than a week due to predators unless they are in a controlled area.
 
waterdog09 said:
SMO where did you get that info from? In the 20+ years I've been going to SD and the countless CO's I've talked to I have never heard of them releasing hens in the spring to try and bring up bird #'s? It's not something that works well as any pen raised bird released into the wild usually doesn't last more than a week due to predators unless they are in a controlled area.
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Did not mean all SD sorry if it sounded like that...

I got this info from magazines & guys on this forum & off of I beleave save the habitat save the game type snow many times I've talked to SD hunters or residents there is no law in SD sstopping people from releasing birds in SD they brang up this technique saying it does not work & only small amount survive...

I've never asked a CO if they herd of this I doubt u brang it up about hens in spring if u did & co never herd of this I must have maid this up???

I know private farms release birds in SD all season & prior to the hopes of these guys put n. Hens out in spring was to say there baby's were wild & not released sounded stupid to me... But there was a guy on these forums about 1 year ago maybe more talking about releasing birds on public ground near redfield b4 the season said a private foundation he worked for I never new anybody released birds on public ground in SD ???
If I get board I'll try to find that thread pissed a lot of guys off. Maybe 2 years back???
 
The furthest North I have seen a pheasant in MN was W of Baudette back in the 70s, obviously a released bird. Most of the time when you see such a bird its either a game farm escapee or someone released them. More recently I've seen birds along Hwy 18 from Mille Lacs to almost Sandstone. May be escapees that survived winter or??!!
 
Ok. I'll add another recent sighting. My wife said she saw a lone rooster along a local country road. I trust she saw what she says because I am constantly showing her pictures of birds. This was only 5 miles south of Aitkin. I'm not sure if it was a release bird or not. Seems highly unlikely it's a scratch bird from a preserve.
 
Duluth Pheasants

In the 1980s there were wild populations of pheasants in Duluth, mainly around the grain elevators and in Superior, WI. as well. The harsh winters of the early 90s pretty much killed them all off. Now, there are wild pheasants as far north as Carlton.
 
Duluth Pheasants

Also, in the mid 1960s my dad and I used to hunt pheasants around Pine City and see a fair number of birds.
 
I may be beating a dead horse with this post but it genuinely intrigues me. My wife told me she say 2 hens the other day (this is about 10 miles from where she saw the rooster) near Aitkin. I definitely did not believe her. Hens, sharptails, and ruffies can look similar. I showed her 3 or 4 pictures of sharptails (without her knowing they were sharptails) and she said no to all because the tails were too short. I showed her a picture of a hen. She said yes. She also said the tail was long... 8 to 12 inches. So it seems they were pheasants.

So now I don't think there are multiple people releasing these birds and they were quite a ways from each other. So I'm left with the thought that there is a small breeding population here. Could these milder winters be encouraging fringe populations to grow?
 
I have no doubt those are wild birds your wife saw. There's a huntable population just south of Mille Lacs lake on private as well as the WMAs. The furthest north for huntable pheasants in MN is north of Detroit Lakes in the Wabun/Mahnomen/Bejou area. They actually have a PF chapter up there (named Pine to Prairie I believe). Historically this area had excellent bird numbers but like everywhere else modern farming decimated them. In recent years I hear bird numbers in that area have come back some, with the help of mild winters and PF habitat work. I hunted and shot some birds when I lived near there from1989-94. Good habitat with lots of brushy cattail lowlands and quite few WMAs and WPAs. Lots of Prairie Chickens too.
 
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