Released birds - the numbers

S

SPUR60

Member
We all know that hundreds of thousands of birds are released in the state every year. That's a published fact; just from licensed shooting preserve numbers alone it's in excess of 600,000 total birds both hen and rooster, with around 350,000 roosters harvested, across 200+ preserves.

What isn't easily determined however, is how many birds total are released in the state in a given year. I'm working on finding an answer to that for my own curiosity. I won't get it 100% right due to some large pheasant farms being located out of state, but I should be able to get a number regarding in-state sales, and I'm interested to see how they add up with the licensed shooting preserve reported release numbers. Is it close ala 700,000 in-state birds were raised and sold? Or was there 2,000,000 in state birds raised and sold?

Curious while I wait for more info, for those of you fellow SD residents or hunters who spend time here in SD, how many birds total do you think are released in SD by landowners and guides/outfitters annually?

Please keep the comments civil, we can have an interesting discussion without immediately bashing one entity or another.
And for the record releasing birds doesn't really personally bother me, two farms I hunt here in SD both stock their properties occasionally with pen raised roosters; and I have personally purchased birds, both bred hens and roosters for my family land back in MN. The roosters being end of season discounted short tails that we threw out in one of our pieces of ground for a big family thanksgiving hunt. My cousins all shot like crap and we still had a bunch of those dumb ones left when I was back home for Christmas that year.
 
gps4 said:
Is there a list of licensed preserve operators available?
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You'd have to request it from the GFP. I don't believe it's published; only the quantity of license holders is published along with the total associated release/harvest counts.
 
For 5 years we put out 20 roosters for Thanksgiving and took the youngsters. We’d shoot 10-12 and I’d shoot some later but we didn’t get em all. It’s just been a boon. There was already wild fez there and the numbers just got stronger. This year was first year we didn’t put any out. And by far the most birds I’ve ever seen back there.
 
Tomahawker said:
For 5 years we put out 20 roosters for Thanksgiving and took the youngsters. We’d shoot 10-12 and I’d shoot some later but we didn’t get em all. It’s just been a boon. There was already wild fez there and the numbers just got stronger. This year was first year we didn’t put any out. And by far the most birds I’ve ever seen back there.
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So how does releasing roosters increase the bird population year over year?
 
Citori16 said:
So how does releasing roosters increase the bird population year over year?
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Statistically speaking, released birds do not do well in the wild. Their survival rate is not very good, I would say if you released 100 birds you might be lucky to get 10% of those that survive to the next year. So in theory releasing pen birds won't have a significant impact on population the following year.
 
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waterdog09 said:
Statistically speaking, released birds do not do well in the wild. Their survival rate is not very good, I would say if you released 100 birds you might be lucky to get 10% of those that survive to the next year. So in theory releasing pen birds won't have a significant impact on population the following year.
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Studies have shown 2-3 percent survival rate is normal
 
Not sure what’s getting lost in the text. We did not shoot any wild birds. They lived and reproduced. We shot the placed birds, everyone got to shoot and have fun with near zero impact on wild bird numbers. That’s how releasing birds helps the population.
 
I only went to S.D. once. I came away with the impression that there was no way a wild bird population could stand that much pressure.
 
SPUR60 said:
...for those of you fellow SD residents or hunters who spend time here in SD, how many birds total do you think are released in SD by landowners and guides/outfitters annually?
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In addition to the 600k +/- released by preserves, my feeling is that another 50k-200k are released elsewhere & that it's probably toward the low end of that range. It'd take 2500 people releasing 20 apiece to reach 50k. Or 333 outfits releasing 150 apiece to reach 50k. That seems like alot to me, which is why I'm guessing it's most likely below 100k.

I'd be curious to know what percentage of released birds are hens. I'm sure it's extremely low & that regardless of sex, almost EVERY bird lives a very short time after being released.
 
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Tomahawker said:
Not sure what’s getting lost in the text. We did not shoot any wild birds. They lived and reproduced. We shot the placed birds, everyone got to shoot and have fun with near zero impact on wild bird numbers. That’s how releasing birds helps the population.
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Not saying you didn't help the wild birds a little, but I feel like it was probably minimal, particularly in SD, where most wild pheasants have many good options in their home range to hang out & carry on with life while being safe. They're awfully good at not allowing themselves to be shot. It's been shown that a local population can withstand "all the roosters being shot". As long as a decent number of HENS make it to breeding season, there are almost always plenty of roosters around to breed them, whether humans see them or not. Winter & spring weather & habitat conditions are MUCH more critical. I think the biggest benefit achieved by releasing some is that you & your family get to have fun together shooting them, which is fine too.
 
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birddude said:
I only went to S.D. once. I came away with the impression that there was no way a wild bird population could stand that much pressure.
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They can & do. After the first couple/few weeks of the season, most heavily pressured wild roosters simply avoid being shot. So in order to allow some people the opportunity to see clouds of pheasants & limit out by noon, like they see on YouTube, preserves release birds & charge money for people to shoot them.

Just for fun, consider the 350k released birds shot at preserves in a season (which runs 9-1 to 3-31 I believe). If the average guy's trip is 4 days hunting & people limit out each day (damn well better at a preserve), that's about 29,000 hunters, or about 145 per preserve, for an average of 20 guys a month over the 7 month season. It seems likely that October through December will be heavier, with the other months lighter. Seems like a fairly reasonable quick guestimate to me. For what it's worth.
 
A5 Sweet 16 said:
In addition to the 600k +/- released by preserves, my feeling is that another 50k-200k are released elsewhere & that it's probably toward the low end of that range. It'd take 2500 people releasing 20 apiece to reach 50k. Or 333 outfits releasing 150 apiece to reach 50k. That seems like alot to me, which is why I'm guessing it's most likely below 100k.

I'd be curious to know what percentage of released birds are hens. I'm sure it's extremely low & that regardless of sex, almost EVERY bird lives a very short time after being released.
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Just from a quick google search I was able to find one pheasant farm raising 250,000 birds annually with another 5 farms raising 135,000 total between them. Now obviously not all of those birds had to be sold in SD. Some could have went to other states as well. But there's more than 6 farms raising birds in significant quantities in SD so it will be interesting to see the numbers. What I won't be able to account for is the farms in NE, MN, and WI who's main business is clients in SD. I do have some anecdotal numbers and I may call and ask if they have an approximate number that they know come here to SD.
 
Citori16 said:
Studies have shown 2-3 percent survival rate is normal
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Crap, that is almost as bad as quail. I am guessing part of the issue is the habitat they are released into. Drop them into great habitat, I would guess the rate of survival would be much better....unless those birds are more domesticated than chickens.
 
It seem I recall my older family members, 30 to 40 years older than me, I'm 56, talk about conservation efforts where pheasant eggs where places under free range hens. The hens would hatch and "teach" chicks to feed and survive, they didn't have a coup to roost. This was the method at the time to help pheasant populations, central Indiana is where this took place.

I tend to agree with Remy that pen raised birds are more domesticated than chickens.
 
hen pheasants will parasitize another hens nest to lay eggs
thus not all of her chicks are "hers'
this makes a case for releasing hot/bred hens in spring -- still a low yield

pheasants forever had a recent article that roughly said:
released rooster pheasants-- 50% 1 week survival , 25% 1 month survival and 5% and 1 year survival
I am sure there is some variation dependent on weather, size of field, predator control and others factors

I do release some 8 week old birds into good cover
I think it makes a difference and cannot tell any difference form the native birds i shoot-- assuming some of them made it

it is really all about field cover and spring moisture and summer heat for native wild birds
 
I was told this story by a buddy.

He had a family trip to SD this year. There's a guy who's lived out there a long time, let's say he moved there from MN 30-40 years ago. He had a good career and bought a chunk of land, the thing is laid out just like one of those prime Game Production Areas, except it's private. I think it's a quarter or half section, can't remember. Foodplots, treerows, crp, the whole nine yards. The guy is older now so doesn't hunt much, but invites his friends to come out. My buddy and his son, along with his cousin(s) etc. were invited out. He was very appreciative of this and had no complaints, all had a good time. Then he tells me after all the stories about birds shot, seen, etc. that the guy bought a pile of pen raised birds and had them released before season. My reply, "??????????" My buddy thought he either felt pressure to produce, or maybe it was ego where he wanted everyone to think he had a great property where they killed a bunch of birds. I was really confused. When you have a sweet property gobsmack in the middle of prime SD pheasant territory the last thing I would ever do is release a pile of distended nostril toe-clipped roosters. This was not any kind of resort or "guide" property. On the contrary very few people hunt it a year. Just an example of how it may be difficult to figure an exact number of released birds are blasted in the Mount Rushmore State every fall.
 
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