Report banded pheasants

I hunt with a Pudelpointer and one partner runs Brittanies the other a Grif. In all I shot about 40 public land pheasants in PA and NJ the past season. Took some on the last day of season as well. My one buddy exceeded 50. We hunt hard and exceed 40 days of hunting a year just for pheasant. Of course we miss our share as well. I do miss the old days of Washingtonville though. I recall wild birds frequently in the area. These released birds are like flying footballs. Not like the grouse I find that give a much harder shot. Of course by the end of the season my wife and kids had every pheasant recipe I could find. It got to the point where my kids would say I guess we are having pheasant tonight for dinner.
 
Yep, it's the enjoyment we all get from hunting pheasants that counts, no matter the location. :thumbsup:

Being retired, we (my wife and I) go out to South Dakota every Fall to hunt those wild birds on public lands.

Though we still hunt here in PA as a refresher course for Rusty, our Golden Retriever. :)
Can't keep up with a Beagle chasing after those roosters anymore. :D
 
FLDBRED
what part of the state do you roam. I regularly run into folks and will walk with them just to enjoy the conversation. I guess I fall under the gentleman hunter category. To be honest. If I limit out after an hour or two I usually see if someone without a dog is looking for company. I helped this one elderly gentleman get a shot on a rooster late in the season after he told me he had not kicked up a bird in years. He had a rooster in about 45 minutes. Very excited about it as well
 
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I got to be honest..I no longer care if a bird is so called wild. I'll take it one step further and say the hay day for pheasant hunting for me is right now..today is the good ole days for me. Habitat is great..you never know where your gonna find a bird and birds last through the season. It's a great time to be a pheasant hunter!
 
Diehardpheasant said:
FLDBRED
what part of the state do you roam. I regularly run into folks and will walk with them just to enjoy the conversation. I guess I fall under the gentleman hunter category. To be honest. If I limit out after an hour or two I usually see if someone without a dog is looking for company. I helped this one elderly gentleman get a shot on a rooster late in the season after he told me he had not kicked up a bird in years. He had a rooster in about 45 minutes. Very excited about it as well
Click to expand...

Well we pretty much roam any where in the State if it offers something we're looking for! We put GREAT effort looking for those "special" areas that remind us of the old days.But our general stomping grounds would probally be in the North East.We are now starting to put our season together and it includes several areas of the State, the planning for us is almost as much fun as the hunts! Just talking about it gets the blood going!
 
Like I stated: it's the enjoyment we all get from hunting pheasants that counts, no matter the location.

What I don't care for here in PA, the game commission publishes their pheasant stocking dates and the game lands they stock at that time.

Some hunters make it a point to be there on that day or the very next day. Well, those pen raised pheasants are still in shock from being on their own in unfamiliar territory, seeking food and shelter. It's like shooting flying chickens.

The PA Game Commission should not publish pheasant stocking dates.
 
I m with you on not publishing stocking dates. I have been at locations when the truck arrives with a convoy following close behind. the problem is that then you will get to many hunters saying there aren't any birds. what the PGC needs is increased habitat which will disperse the birds and hunters. Like I said i find birds the last week if the season but i dont advertise locations. i keep a book with maps of all areas i hunt and keep track of dates and flushes at each location. All public land. Each year i find additional spots and add to my book. If I was new to PA. that book would be worth a pretty penny in time alone. Needless to say no one sees the book. especially my grouse spots.
 
PHEASANT HARVEST RATES

In recent years, the Game Commission has released more than 200,000 pheasants annually on state game lands and other properties open to public hunting.

And the agency wants as many of those birds as possible to end up in hunters? game bags.

In working toward this end, the Game Commission last year conducted a study into existing pheasant harvest rates.

The agency last studied pheasant harvest rates in 1998, when the harvest rate was about 50 percent for Game Commission-raised pheasants released within or just before the hunting seasons.

For last year?s study, agency staff affixed leg bands to 5,566 pheasants. Some of the bands carried a $100 reward, which typically results in nearly a 100-percent reporting rate, increasing the study?s efficiency.

Banded pheasants were released in all Wildlife Management Units, except WMU 5D. Each band had its own identification number, as well as a toll free number to call and report. Banded pheasants were placed in labeled crates to identify where and when they were released.

Reports were accepted for all banded birds, regardless of their cause of death.

In all, 2,073 banded pheasants were recovered, with the reporting rate for non-reward bands coming in at nearly 68 percent.

Forty-three pheasants were found dead and reported. The cause of death was reported as unknown for 24 of them, while 14 were killed on roads and five were killed by predators.

The remaining pheasants were harvested by hunters.

Although most band recoveries occurred on the same property where pheasants were released, one pheasant released in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area was recovered in New Jersey, and road-killed pheasants were recovered up to 10 miles from their stocking locations.

Overall, the pheasant harvest rate was 49.1 percent.

Males were harvested at a higher rate (53.8 percent) than females (41.1 percent), perhaps due to hunter selectivity.

Harvest rates were higher on game lands (48.7 percent) and other public properties (50.7 percent) than they were on privately owned Hunter Access properties (37.3 percent). This could result from greater hunter effort on public property.

Harvest rates were lowest for pheasants released for the Junior Hunt (40.6 percent), likely due to hunter inexperience, and that pheasants need to survive two weeks or more to make it to the regular season.

Similarly, the harvest rate of pheasants stocked preseason was 46.7 percent.

Harvest rates were highest and nearly identical for the first three in-season releases, where the harvest rate averaged 52.9 percent.

More pheasants were harvested on Saturdays (36.1 percent) and Fridays (26.8 percent), with the smallest percent taken on Tuesdays (6.1 percent).

Harvest rates also varied depending on day of week pheasants were stocked.

During the four in-season stockings, harvests were highest for pheasants released Wednesday through Fridays (50 to 53 percent), and 47.1 percent on Tuesdays.

While overall harvest rates and patterns shown by the latest study generally are consistent with those in the 1998 study, the results still provide a good start in identifying how changes to pheasant-release strategies might increase harvest rates.

Clearly, releasing pheasants on public properties later in the week results in the highest harvest rates.

And maintaining a high number of pheasants released, particularly in the first few weeks of the season, should result in more pheasants bagged by hunters.
 
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