Wild pheasant movement

I stole it...akp posted it first.
 
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A5 Sweet 16 said:
I believe they will. You hear theories like, "Pheasants will live a lifetime within a mile of where they hatch." Obviously they might. But if they're forced to move, they'll move. And move. Think how hard it is, really, for a pheasant to go 5 miles, or even considerably more. It's not hard at all. When weather is halfway decent, they spend the vast majority of their day walking around. And they don't just walk in circles. They're walking from one little safe spot to the next. They can end up travelling a couple miles, easily, walking during a "normal" day. Then throw in adverse conditions. They can walk a lot more. Or obviously fly. Ten 1/2-mile flights & they've covered 5 miles. Easy. 2019 in eastern SD was a year that, I believe, saw lots of pheasants moving long distances of several to many miles. There were parts of the state where almost no crops were planted due to too much water. When late fall rolled around & they became reliant on grains & seeds, they were forced to move to find them. Areas that had pheasants all summer long all of a sudden didn't. And 15-20 miles away, where there were more corn & beans....all of a sudden had more birds than usual.
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I agree, I think they will move 5 or 10 miles. I'm thinking 10 miles is a max.
 
The Iowa DNR conducted a survey of winter pheasant movement many years ago. They determined that the birds only required suitable winter cover near the center of each township for good survival. A township in Iowa is 6 x 6 miles. So winter cover could be spaced about every 6 miles.
 
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