Question for the South Dakota crowd??
- Thread starter Quailnerd
- Start date
benelli-banger
Well-known member
I am not an expert, but I don’t think they’re quite as affected as pheasants…for one thing, they’re equipped to move long distances, and will, when need be. I saw more prairie grouse than usual where I hunt late season, and I suspect they had moved East from where they had been. Also, they’re indigenous to the areas they live, and have adapted to these conditions. Fingers crossed.
A5 Sweet 16
Well-known member
I wish I had some idea about prairie chickens & sharptails, but they're absolutely not my area of expertise. I've only seen them a handful of times in my life, & I've never so much as taken a shot at one. My guess would be as stated above. By now, they've learned how to handle extreme conditions with seemingly little cover.
b-b, define long distance. How far are you thinking the grouse/chickens you were seeing had travelled? I'm of the opinion that pheasants will also move "long distances" (like 15-25 miles, maybe more) when need be. It just so happens that since pheasants are so adaptable & hearty, the "need be" rarely exists. I think a lot of pheasants in 1 part of the state I commonly hunt moved long distances in early fall 2019, when cold temps made bugs unavailable, they needed grain, & there was none planted in the area due to all the water that year. I believe the hatch had been fine that spring, but they sure weren't around to hunt that season. Yet they were back for the 2020 season. It was my most productive area during the 2022 season. I think a lot of pheasants in that same area moved long distances this winter. If I'm right, it will be interesting to see how long it takes them to filter back into the area. I'm guessing, given "normal" conditions, pheasant numbers in the area will be back to normal within 2 years.
benelli-banger
Well-known member
I have a good friend who knows LOTS about all types of birds, including game birds… 80-100 miles isn’t a big deal to prairie grouse. I’ve always been told that birds with dark meat fly far, and that influences the color of their meat…Huns, ruffs, pheasants, etc, not so much…
benelli-banger
Well-known member
Funny thing, lots of farmers complained or commented last summer and fall in my areas about lack of pheasants, and once the snow fell in Nov and beyond they couldn’t believe all the birds around! Biologists could comment on pheasant movement, but I think most pheasants live their whole lives within a few miles of where they’re born. Not saying they aren’t capable of traveling…I’d be surprised if it’s common to go more than 3-5 miles. I’m wrong a lot, however!
A5 Sweet 16
Well-known member
Funny how pheasants don't want to be seen & seem to be pretty good at hiding. Get some snow, bunch 'em up, & make them stand out a little...."Huh, I guess there WERE some around."Funny thing, lots of farmers complained or commented last summer and fall in my areas about lack of pheasants, and once the snow fell in Nov and beyond they couldn’t believe all the birds around! Biologists could comment on pheasant movement, but I think most pheasants live their whole lives within a few miles of where they’re born. Not saying they aren’t capable of traveling…I’d be surprised if it’s common to go more than 3-5 miles. I’m wrong a lot, however!
I don't think it's COMMON for pheasants to go more than 3-5 miles, but I believe they do if forced to. They don't just sit there & welcome death. Obviously, it depends on what type of cover is around & how far away it is. But the darn things move around all day long under normal conditions; they do a TON of walking. It's nothing for a pheasant to end up a mile or 2 away from where he roosted come mid-afternoon, only to end up roosting right back in the same spot. Obviously, it depends how wide-spread the different types of habitat are & how much pressure from hunters/predators he encounters. I know that when I flush pheasants, they almost always seem to know just where they're headed, even if it's 1/2 mile away. My guess would be if he then got flushed from THAT spot, he'd also know where he was headed, & it could easily be further away from where he started. This topic really interests me. I wish we could track them. Not so they'd be easier to hunt. Just because I think we'd all be amazed, sometimes, if we knew how they really spend a day.
benelli-banger
Well-known member
I bet they’ve been collared and tracked…everything else has been!
benelli-banger
Well-known member
My buddy said wild birds have been collared, and they’ll move several miles, usually less than 3-4. My buddy had a friend band and release some 35 years ago, one was shot 40 miles away….very rare, but it can happen.
mlmich@pldi.net
Active member
I think 80-100 miles is pushing it for Prairie Grouse. Maybe 20-30 tops.
benelli-banger
Well-known member
Could be, just going on what I’m told and have read. Interesting about sharpies getting wiped out on Isle Royal about 100 years ago, then it burned in the mid-‘30’s, and grouse repopulated out there, a 20+ mile flight from mainland…”firebird” is correct. Supposedly they follow the smoke.
benelli-banger
Well-known member
Just chatted with a guy who followed a sharpie for 10 miles before he gave up and had to turn off…
benelli-banger
Well-known member
Not implying they’re routinely traveling 80 miles, but not out of the question to re-home if something has changed in their current home area…
carptom1
Well-known member
Pheasants for sure will move 8-10 miles to find what they need. I would hunt north of 90 west river twice a year. Once in late October and again week before Christmas. In October we would find birds on his north property about ten miles from the highway. Once it got cold the would go south to the trees and the thick cover. Spots that held dozens of birds in October we found nothing. It was at least 6-7 miles away. The next year they were back. I really believe drought with early heat kills more than winter. Saw a video in central SD yesterday taken a few days ago. Hundreds of birds in a strip of trees. They will be fine.
benelli-banger
Well-known member
I guess all living things will do extreme things to survive. Just chatted with a buddy who is active with the Wisconsin Sharptail Society, they’ve done some radio tagging and had birds move 50 miles. I used to observe them over near Brule while deer hunting, they’d be in trees above me when I’d get settled before light, then take off one by one it seemed…there were large open areas, barrens I believe…would see ruffed grouse in that general area as well.
I suspect the grouse are much hardier. They'll huddle up and allow snow to drift over them, and ride out a blizzard insulated in the drift. The fact that they are known to travel further than pheasants also gives them an advantage.. I find plenty of dead pheasants after blizzards. Have never stumbled across a winter-killed sharptail.
Goosemaster
Well-known member
Grouse spend time in trees.Doesnt effect them very much.Not sure about pheasant. They can find thick cover.
After our January blizzard, I hiked back into a quarter of ours and found three dead roosters lying within ten feet of a mature shelterbelt. I had to turn around after a couple hundred yards as the drifts were too deep to negotiate, so can only guess as to how many more pheasants I'd have found had I been able to travel further. They don't handle the extreme weather as well as prairie grouse do.
A5 Sweet 16
Well-known member
All roosters. Died in a blizzard. Outside the shelterbelt. Any chance these were pen-reared pheasants?
gimruis
Well-known member
I assume we're talking Ruffed Grouse here, not Sharptail. Ruffies live almost entirely in heavy timber too, which is far more sheltered than the open grassland-type habitat that pheasants generally live in.
Quailnerd
Well-known member
Thanks for comments, let me get the flip side.. do you feel sharpies and chickens boom or bust like pheasant can on a yearly basis? Down here we have bobs and blue quail, bobs will go through huge swings in numbers depending on weather and rain where blues stay more constant, never as high or low.