Pheasants Flushing!

bauerline

bauerline

Well-known member
I ran the dogs down at the club that is close to home. Not long after getting to the fields the dogs find a group of 5 hens and 3 roosters running through the woods that runs along one of the switchgrass fields. After some of the birds flushed we moved on and we were able to find some of the quail that have been liberated from the johnny house several weeks or months ago. Some have been out since the start of November. I flushed a few of the quail and then moved on. After walking a bit with not finding anything and not paying attention I look up and decide to take these pictures (they are not the best):

IMG_20130110_154449.jpg


IMG_20130110_154500.jpg


After this I saw a hawk flying around and decided to stick around and hope it moved on. I was glad when the hawk flew off without finding any of the birds I flushed. Then it was time to go home and let the birds find a safe place before it gets dark. One thing I noticed is all the birds were found in good cover and when they flushed they went to more good cover. Even though they were raised in a pen they seem to learn for the mistakes of the birds that get taken by the hawks.
As I walked up to the dogs I decided to try and take a video and got this:

 
WOW.... YOU ARE GETTING BETTER AND BETTER AT THIS!!! That's some great stuff, thanks for the report. That cover looks great and the birds have seemed to adapted to it real well. Kinda makes ya think about what they say about pen raised birds! Great job!:thumbsup:
 
I think pen raised birds can learn to survive if they have good cover. After they see some other birds get taken they learn to hide better. I do see some birds feeding at times but they are never far from cover. I think the biggest problem with the pen raised birds is the nesting know how and brood raising. The past few years I have been able to find birds into the spring and then I stop running the dogs. I'm not sure what happens to them over the summer.

I have an idea or two to try with the next round of chicks I get (that doesn't sound right and I better not read that alound with my wife around). And with some new habitat in the works I think the area can increase the holdover numbers.
 
Your success with hold-overs is exceptional, let's face it, your not releasing thousands of birds, yet the percentage of survivors is very high. Your cover is concentrated in one area, something the experts say is detrimental. I never really bought into that. I know of relatively small areas that hold and have held wild pheasants for years. Looks like your having as much fun with raising and releasing the birds as the actual hunting, that's great. Would love to hear about your ideas for next year.
 
There were about 130 pheasants released on the property with the last ones going out in November. It got hunted pretty hard during parts of November and knowing that birds are still around is a good sign.

I want to put something up on the sides of the pen this year so the birds don't see people walking around. People like to look at the birds and I think they get too comfortable with people. I think if the birds have less contact with people they will do better when released. I'm thinking of using the black stuff that is put down to keep weeds out of flower gardens. I'll just have to try it and see how it goes.
 
Sounds like a good idea. The farmer down the road from my property raises and releases some pretty healthy birds. One of the things he does is, release a house cat in the pen from time to time. The cat really isn't looking for a meal, and isn't in there very long,but the birds soon learn to avoid it and start to use survival skills against predators.

Any chance of building a breeder pen out on the club property? Something along the lines of a much bigger pen, with good nesting cover, just a few hens and a rooster.
 
There has been a little bit of talk about keeping some birds to breed but I'm not planning on doing that now. Maybe in the future but right now I don't want to over extend myself with projects. I'll keep you updated on how things go.
 
I ran the dogs today down at the club. Although we didn't find any pheasants today it was not time wasted. The dogs were working one of the switchgrass fields when I heard an eruption of wings. About 15-20 quail flew up out of the field and landed in another field. Then about 5 more singles left the field. It was very neat to hear and see that many birds take off.
 
That's pretty neat! Do you think your area could support a wild population if wild transfer birds were available? You've had excellent hold over ratio's.
 
FLDBRED said:
That's pretty neat! Do you think your area could support a wild population if wild transfer birds were available? You've had excellent hold over ratio's.
Click to expand...

I think wild birds may have a good shot after some habitat work is done on the additional land. I don't know if any wild birds would ever be stocked in the immediate area but who knows what the future holds.
 
FLDBRED and HolloWatcher, I figured you would like any updates I have on bird sightings. I was driving home after work and I saw these two birds crossing the road several miles from the area where I run my dogs:
IMG_20130122_144941.jpg

I saw a single hen and rooster hanging out together.
I then went to the club to throw some left over food out for any of the quail that are hanging around. As I walked up to an area they sometimes hang out in I saw around 20 birds flush out of the woods. They flushed when I was 20 yards away from them. They seem to be getting more touchy as time goes by. I also saw a couple of singles that held in the woods.
 
bauerline said:
FLDBRED and HolloWatcher, I figured you would like any updates I have on bird sightings. I was driving home after work and I saw these two birds crossing the road several miles from the area where I run my dogs:
IMG_20130122_144941.jpg

I saw a single hen and rooster hanging out together.
I then went to the club to throw some left over food out for any of the quail that are hanging around. As I walked up to an area they sometimes hang out in I saw around 20 birds flush out of the woods. They flushed when I was 20 yards away from them. They seem to be getting more touchy as time goes by. I also saw a couple of singles that held in the woods.
Click to expand...

bauerline,

Good for you, for trying somthing, that the expert say doesn't work. I've seen it work and so have alot of other members on this sight. You must have puffed up with pride, every time you see them. :thumbsup::10sign::cheers:
 
I do enjoy seeing them and I hope I get to hear the quail calling again this summer. It would be nice if the birds make it into next late summer/fall. If I ever find any broods I'll be sure to post about that.
 
I took the dogs out for a run and was able to get a few pictures of them working some birds.
IMG_20130202_141114_zpsa19f2971.jpg

They locked up about 50 yards in front of me while walking down one of the paths.

IMG_20130202_141426_zps280630fd.jpg

Blitz on some of the quail that were running through the briars.


IMG_20130202_141420_zpsc51402c0.jpg

Nittany on some quail that went a different direction
Sorry the pictures are not very good. I didn't bring the good camera.

There were about 15 quail in this group that held tight in the briars that grew up in the switchgrass. The birds seem to be doing well on their own so far.
 
Good to see that Blitz is on the mend!:thumbsup: Those quail seem to be doing real well. How far from the release site did you flush them?

I was able to locate some of those special pheasants this morning, but couldn't get a decent picture. I'll keep trying.
 
They were a few hundred yards away. They are hanging out out in a 17 acre field of CREP or in the woods which is about another 10 acres.

Too bad you couldn't get any pictures, I'd like to see them. I'm sure those birds are still fun to chase.

Blitz is doing better but still won't jump on the bed. But running doesn't seem to be a problem.
 
Cool Pictures! I am glad Blitz is better..what happened? You probably mentioned it on here or the other site already but I might have missed it. It's good that you are still able to get out with the dogs!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top