To shoot a hen pheasant or not to shoot a hen pheasant?

quail hound said:
Most specialists? I've never read a single study that says pheasants breed monogamously. They shoot hen and roosters indiscriminately across the pond and there once thriving wild pheasant population are now mostly gone.
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Oh boy. Looks like we have a spice thread going! lol

Anyway, one rooster will breed a number of hens but they will also breed as a pair (one dominant hen to one rooster)---in this case the rooster will even stay to help raise the brood. This is something that's been an ongoing issue (and a problem) here in Illinois. It's a sign of a declining breeding population. It's not good.

With that said, you were correct with your other post. One rooster will breed multiple hens in one season. I suppose I don't have to tell you this but you know what your talking about;)
 
Nick,

Have you seen the study that indicates that not having enough edge cover, brushy areas, and bare dirt areas in grasslands effects a roosters ability to establish a breeding area as his territory? I can't find it now but it was very interesting to me. It also seems some pheasant sub species are more polygamist than others.
 
Shooting a hen is a mistake. but not something you should be run out of the family for. Its not like he lied to the country multiple times or intentionally ran a foul of the constitution for crying out loud. :eek:
 
quail hound said:
Nick,

Have you seen the study that indicates that not having enough edge cover, brushy areas, and bare dirt areas in grasslands effects a roosters ability to establish a breeding area as his territory? I can't find it now but it was very interesting to me. It also seems some pheasant sub species are more polygamist than others.
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That may be in Robertson's book??? Yeah, roosters like obvious and very visible markers to establish territory. A very large grassy field (alone) won't necessary produce good bird numbers. Diversity is key.

Anyway, I talked with James Pfarr on the issue last summer and he's seeing the same thing where a ratio of one hen/one rooster is now effecting certain areas of China too. He insisted it's a food source issue. The dominant hen and dominant rooster have a sense of how many pheasants an area can support---food wise. If food sources are low, the hen and the rooster pair up and keep other hen's from joining his harem to prevent too many broods hence, too many pheasants.

I'm thinking it's more of a genetic issue. Who knows maybe it's both maybe neither. But I can say the "switch over" from one rooster/many hens in his harem, to one rooster/one hen (in general) seemed to take effect within a very short period of time.

I believe the ILDNR now has the information gathered by a 4 year pheasant genetic/breeding study conducted here in IL. We'll see what they come up with and go from there.
 
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Campbell76 said:
To the people that say not to hunt with my cousin again. Sorry but I will hunt with him as long as I live. He's more of a brother than a cousin. Did he make a mistake? Yes. It's not like any of you haven't shot a hen. I have shot plenty on accident. No one's perfect. I wish I was legal. If any of you look back at history of pheasant hunting it was very legal to shoot hens. This is the only bird species on the planet that I know of that has rooster only can be shot. Geese ducks quail turkeys chickens chuckars crows pigeons dove. Yep pheasants are the only one.
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I have shot well over 500 pheasants in my life and have never shot a hen. I have probably shot 2000 ducks and I would venture to say less than 25 hen mallards. Sounds like your cousins gets his ethics from his father as the father did not seem bothered as well. A poacher is a poacher. I won't associate with people lacking ethics.

Also shooting one on accident is one thing. Doing it on purpose then getting offended when someone judges your cousin is another. I am curious as to whether you all would have kept the hen had you found it? Sounds like a "yes" since you all told the dad you did not find either.
 
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kansasbrittany said:
Unless quail are flying straight away, I always know if what sex the bird is before I pull the trigger. I used to hold off when I saw a hen, but since reading so much about how it has little, if any effect, I've stopped concerning myself with it.

I probably wouldn't shoot hens even if it were legal. I like the added anticipation of hoping the bird flushing is the "right" sex.
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You are a better eye than I :thumbsup: I have never been able to sex quail on the flush. I have shoot three pheasant hens, one was an honest mistake and the other two were out of frustration at having a bad day shooting and not taking the time to be sure. Those two "bad day" hens taught me to lighten up and I haven't shoot one since.....until the next time I screw up :)
 
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I've seen what happens in the heavy snow areas where the Winter food for pheasants is limited, having say, a unhunted population. Roosters 0ne to one with hens in the population. Roosters are bigger and aggressive, just as soon eat the smaller hens as have them around, there is no love. Hens are not aggressive and move off to the poorer cover and more exposed areas searching for food. Then at Spring mating the dominant roosters will get their harems, thats fine, a couple matings with the dominant rooster will fertilized the eggs developing inside the hen. Trouble is, you have all these "satellite" roosters harassing, wanting to mate with these hens in the egg development, laying/nesting process. Not good, having a ratio of about one rooster to 8-10 hens will give the hen a much better chance of successful nesting.
For sure the system we have for hunting rooster pheasants only, in the wild populations is a very important part of wild pheasant management.
 
I dont know that I would want to based on the information we have in front of us.

That being said I have shot 4-5 hens throughout my hunting career. I dont think I ever did it on purpose -- but maybe once when I was 15-16 and had just started hunting -- I got the equivalent of buck fever -- but didnt miss the mark - just got so excited when the bird got up I shot it, wasnt really thinking clearly. Felt guilty as hell after that and told the land owner what I did and explained the situation and all was forgiven.


I think the other times it was truly me misidentifying the target on accident.

The most recent thing I can think of was a few years ago when I was in college -- same situation - bird got up - I was damn sure it had a green head and shot - dog went to retrieve and I felt pretty sick.


In regards to your cousin - thats a tough deal -- I would definitely try to get him to stop doing it though.
 
My respect to all those who were bold enough to admit their mistakes on a public forum. People are so quick to judge, but it takes a lot to be able to admit that you've messed up in the past.
 
I've never shot a wild hen on purpose and really don't think I'd be able to do it if allowed. I've shot two accidentally, with the incidents occurring about 30 years apart. The first one, when I was 15, I was maybe a bit too trigger-happy. The second one, just a few years back, was purely a case of my mind playing tricks on me and causing me to see features that weren't really there.

I also shot a wild hen at a pen-raised club one time. It was way back in a brushy corner where birds were never planted, but escapees often took refuge. Something looked different about it when the dog brought it back so I checked and, sure enough, there was no hood hole through its beak. I showed it to the club proprietor, who breeds his own birds, and he confirmed that it wasn't from his stock. He guessed that it was the offspring of pen-raised parents that had survived the spring and summer back there.

The idea that shooting wild hens has no deleterious effect on a pheasant population is truly asinine.
 
hens

If you hunt pheasants, and claim to have never shot a hen, then you must have eyes and skills like Tom Knapp! Hearing these claims makes me want to put on my hip boots..... it's getting deep and smelly, if ya know what I mean. Everyone has shot a hen.
 
Not everyone has shot a hen. But if you accidentally do, hopefully you learn to be more careful. I'm not going to roast anybody for doing it once or twice in a lifetime, as many people have admitted. But if you're doing it once or twice a season, then you really ought to pay more attention to what you're doing.

Each one of those hens has the potential to hatch a bunch of new hens and roosters the following Spring.
 
COWAN said:
If you hunt pheasants, and claim to have never shot a hen, then you must have eyes and skills like Tom Knapp! Hearing these claims makes me want to put on my hip boots..... it's getting deep and smelly, if ya know what I mean. Everyone has shot a hen.
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Nope -- not me. I'm sure of what I'm shooting, or I don't shoot. And I've missed roosters because of it.
 
hens

I totally agree with you Toad, it will happen from time to time. I've shot 2 in 28 years, both were accidents and both claimed and eaten.
I guess what my point is, is that I would never criticize anyone for shooting one and never condone the act of doing so, and sure as hell not label someone a poacher for downing a hen. Sometimes it just happens.
 
hens

ness said:
Nope -- not me. I'm sure of what I'm shooting, or I don't shoot. And I've missed roosters because of it.
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Very good ness. I like your mindset, "I'm sure of what I'm shooting, or I don't shoot." Sounds like a good rule to live by.
 
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COWAN said:
If you hunt pheasants, and claim to have never shot a hen, then you must have eyes and skills like Tom Knapp! Hearing these claims makes me want to put on my hip boots..... it's getting deep and smelly, if ya know what I mean. Everyone has shot a hen.
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Everyone but me and my son. My dad shot one about 7 or 8 years ago. When he shot it I said "Dad you just shot a hen". His response was "I am smart enough to not shoot a hen". When my dog picked up the bird and retrieved it my dad felt like an idiot. He just laid down the bird and on we went. That is the difference between a mistake and being stupid enough to do it on purpose. It does happen but I have been lucky enough and smart enough to not make the mistake. Neither has my son.
 
I hate to think how many Prairie Chickens I have not shot, thinking they might be a hen pheasant. :(
 
hens

SetterNut said:
I hate to think how many Prairie Chickens I have not shot, thinking they might be a hen pheasant. :(
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I've never hunted Prairie chickens, do they flush and sound like pheasants? I see how the colors could fool you.
 
COWAN said:
I've shot 2 in 28 years, both were accidents and both claimed and eaten.
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I went the surgeon's route and buried my first mistake -- I was hunting with my dad in Idaho that day, but we'd each taken a dog and gone different directions. Nobody found out about it until the first time I mentioned it on an Internet forum somewhere, and that was at least a quarter-century after the fact. I doubt the old man would've thrown a major sh!t fit, but I was too embarrassed to fess up.

The second one I smuggled all the way home from Montana. I had my wife mix it in with two roosters in this pheasant nuggets dish she makes so I never knew when I was taking a bite of wild hen meat.

I sincerely hope it never happens again, but I'm not going to bet my life on it. I'll put my level of experience and conscientiousness up against anyone here or anywhere else, but the human mind can be a very strange thing.
 
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