Hunting & Fishing Anyone here raise/release pheasants?

[sirhrmechanic]

Thinking I might get some eggs/chicks in the spring and get them released/established around Schloss Nitrocellulose.

Anyone familiar with Pheasant rearing?

I don't want to do them in cages/pens and 'plant' them. But raise to the size where they can forage on their own in summer.. and be ready for harvest in fall. In an ideal world, I'd get a breeding population going.

Cheers,

Sirhr

 

[sodakhunter]

Ive done it lots of ways. Every raptor and varmint for 5 miles will find your chicks. Its crazy. Also when you turn them out.
What i settled on was to get sexed hens for free from the guys raising them for the commercial hunting operations. Then turn them out when they are old enough to survive on their own. I figure at least yhe predators will eat the tame ones and that is one more wild one to survive the day.

 

[n2ishun]

Average life span of a released (into the wild) fully mature pheasant is 3 days.
Yes that is proven by Kansas state university.
I've run a upland hunting lodge here in Kansas...yup, quail, chukar, and pheasant.
You can look into what is called 'controlled shooting areas' and probably find all the data from every study ever made on the subject.
Pheasant are native to mainland China, not the US and not Europe, they just do not survive well here as a general rule.
If you release 1000 birds expect no more than about 15 to make it a full year.

 

[Waorani]

they just do not survive well here as a general rule

Yeah, they're introduced, not native but tell that to the millions of pheasants from Pennsylvania to Oregon.

 

[hlee]

My dad raised a dozen behind his house a couple of years ago. Released them a few miles from his house on 200 acres he owns. This is in S Texas where there isnt any established population. He sent me a pic a couple months ago of a mature hen that was in his front yard.

 

[lariat]

What about all those pheasants that I have a hunting license for? Who is filling up the pasture every 3 days (on average) with new ones?

 

[hlee]

What about all those pheasants that I have a hunting license for? Who is filling up the pasture every 3 days (on average) with new ones?

^^^ This. We have "Chinese Ringneck Pheasants" in North America because at one time they were popular as "yard birds." As it happens, they are also fairly easily de-domesticated and, unlike pen raised quail- who won't typically set eggs- pheasants haven't lost the instinct to raise their young.

The above notwithstanding, the dad of a buddy of mine released pen raised bob white quail on 400 acres that he owns. They had a small population of quail, but nothing huntable. A couple of years later, they have coveys under every bush and you can't walk the pasture without having the ground explode out from under you as some quail make their escape.

While you can't believe everything you read on the internet, take what the university says with a grain of salt. TPWD says pen raised bob whites won't raise chicks, but the experience of my buddy's dad goes against that as well.

 

[supercorndogs]

Yeah, they're introduced, not native but tell that to the millions of pheasants from Pennsylvania to Oregon.

I think there might be millions just in North Dakota. Pheasants are one of the few things made in China that lasts.

If the average released bird lives only 3 days, I bet its because most of them are shot on day 1. Smart birds run instead of flying when hunters get onto them.