Goosemaster
Well-known member
What are opinions on state released dumb pheasants? My opinion is,they are going to polute the gene pool of the wild population.
State released pheasant
- Thread starter Goosemaster
- Start date
That1uncle1776
Well-known member
I dont believe they live long enough to reproduce. Im against it but there are states that could benefit from it by getting more $ from hunters and use that to produce more habitat. Imo that money usually lines the big guy at the office pocket or goes to some dumbass water trampoline at a lake. *Nebraska*
Mosby
Well-known member
If stocking birds creates more opportunities for dad's to take their kids out hunting, then I'm all for it. No different than stocking trout. I prefer wild but kids are going to catch more stocked trout than native brookies. States aren't stocking all that much regardless. PA used to stock over 400,000 pheasant a year. I think SD stocked under 20,000 last year. Relatively speaking....not a lot of birds.
Goosemaster
Well-known member
I understand stalking feathers in States like Pennsylvania, but I do not condone stocking of pheasants in Montana.
Goosemaster
Well-known member
I understand stocking pheasant in Pennsylvania. I do not condone stocking pheasant in Montana.
Labs
Well-known member
I concur. I've walked fencelines in public hunting areas in eastern ND after pen raised birds were released and found what was left of bird after bird after the coyotes found them...
BRITTMAN
Well-known member
I have shot quite a few ND pen raised birds in the 80s. I have never found one dead or partially eaten. ND used to band their released birds so that made it a bit interesting. This was pre-CRP and in the Red River Valley where the only cover was located on the few GMAs.
I found a hen pheasant dead on the road though in the Spring. It was banded and had been released the fall before.
I found a hen pheasant dead on the road though in the Spring. It was banded and had been released the fall before.
That1uncle1776
Well-known member
So you think there is a high survival rate for released birds?
Local famers in SD I hunt with did a lot of bird management back in the day. Wild chicks caught and pen raised were as dumb in the field as any other pen raised bird. So they switched to pen raised chicks released into active wild nests which were raised by a wild hen and developed smart birds that lived through the hunts and winter. They knew every covey on their land and kept an eye on results.
All pheasants have up to 80% winter kill and rarely make it to year 3 so how would you ever know if pen raised died year 1 from being easy catches or natural predation. It's all learned behavior, not genes- IMHO.
All pheasants have up to 80% winter kill and rarely make it to year 3 so how would you ever know if pen raised died year 1 from being easy catches or natural predation. It's all learned behavior, not genes- IMHO.
Goosemaster
Well-known member
I hunted on a pheasant hunting ranch near Gregory South Dakota, 20 years ago, and it was easy. Pickings. We hunted in March, there was only two of us and they brought us out in this big huge bus. There was nobody else staying at the ranch. It was 400 bucks a day 20 years ago, I'm sure it's way more than that now. Some rich guy from Georgia or somewhere down south bought this farm, and turned it into a Gucci pheasant hunting operation for executives from all over the United States, but a lot of them came from Chicago. They raised pheasants on this ranch, and they had guides and these buses they took people out on, it was really strange I thought and it was the only time I ever did it because my dad paid.
Bob Peters
Well-known member
AKA The Judge
I come out for opening weekend every year and SD first-year birds are about the same level of dumb on Saturday morning as pen raised if the locals haven't been out the weekends before. They stand around trying to hide behind fence posts, run across the roads out in the open or flush at your feet. A couple of laps around the field tuning them up and they're good and wild by Monday morning. That's why people try and get away from heavily hunted fields- they learn fast how to evade and don't naturally have it in their genes.
Bob Peters
Well-known member
I'm not disagreeing with you, but why do feel the need to shoot high velocity howitzer shells at young dumb birds that flush at your feet or you ground pound off the shoulder?
#prairie storm #marketing gimmick
pheasant forever article:
12 week old released birds-- presumed roosters and into decent habitat
60% survival at 1 week
25% at 1 mo
5-10 % at start of winter
spring released hens
50 % get a chance to nest
5-40 chicks per 100 related hens
wild hens average 4 chicks per hen survive to 10 weeks
intense habitat management and nest predator control do help tremendously
these are believable numbers
take that for what it is worth
12 week old released birds-- presumed roosters and into decent habitat
60% survival at 1 week
25% at 1 mo
5-10 % at start of winter
spring released hens
50 % get a chance to nest
5-40 chicks per 100 related hens
wild hens average 4 chicks per hen survive to 10 weeks
intense habitat management and nest predator control do help tremendously
these are believable numbers
take that for what it is worth
BRITTMAN
Well-known member
I doubt it, but there are usually exceptions to every rule.
Can you provide a link to this piece? I'd be really interested to read it myself.
Chestle
Well-known member
South Dakota Ringnecks: History, Hunting and Hope. - Dakota Pheasant Guide
As a native and having been raised right where the whole Ringneck revolution started right here in Spink County, South Dakota; I believe I can shed some valuable insight into where we have came from and where we are headed with the popular, plucky, and prettiest of all game birds.…
dakotapheasantguide.com
"The headline in the Sept. 3, 1913, Daily Capital-Journal in the State’s Capitol of Pierre read “The Pheasants are Coming.” The article stated that State Game Warden H. S. Hedrick had been notified that 5,000 Chinese ring-necked pheasants were arriving from a game farm near Chicago."
The pheasant hunting we all enjoy in SD started with a relatively few pen raised birds
So it's not that pen raised birds just can't survive. Rather, it's that pen raised birds can't survive under the present habitat/farming & ranching practices which are SO different than the habitat and farming/ranching practices of the early 1900s. In point of fact, WILD bird populations are heavily dependent on lots of good habitat too, not just the pen raised.
Then there's the weather.
FROM: https://gfp.sd.gov/userdocs/docs/Pheasant_Data_Book.pdf ( <- interesting read btw )
For me, the bottom line isn't the issue of pen raised birds. It's all about good habitat and the weather breaking in favor of the birds.
The habitat issue, IMO, is pretty much a lost cause. Enjoy what we have because it won't get better as time goes by. The cost of land, equipment, supplies, etc. essentially demands that every acre produce as much revenue as possible. The conservation outfits like Pheasants Forever are a miniscule drop in the bucket. CRP is out there of course but not in the acreage quantities of old. We've all seen what is out there get hayed off more often than not.
So, again, in my view, these are "the good old days" for our younger hunters.
The future? Think Illinois, a state that harvested over a million birds a year for much of the 60s and 70s. Now they release birds and struggle to harvest 30,000 a year. Or check out Pennsylvania; they plan on releasing/stocking ~215,000 pheasant over nine separate releases in 2025. Coincidentally they harvested about 184,000 in 2024. The agency’s website, pa.gov/agencies/pgc, has an interactive map that provides stocking dates and anticipated stocking weeks to help hunters know where to go. (Probably won't be too crowded in those areas and dates, right?)
Enjoy the good old days now.
A5 Sweet 16
Well-known member
That's correct. The State of SD stocked under 20,000. They stocked zero.