Pen raised bird hunting?

[gamestalker]

I haven't personally tried it, but we do have a place out here that does it, not too expensive either. They offer guided with their dogs, or unguided and with your own dogs. But if you choose to use our own dogs, they still send a guy out with you, and then charge you for any birds that are obviously hit, whether you find them or not.

GS

 

[MCgunner]

Well, i don't like their set up on duck hunting, prefer to guide myself. If they had good duck hunting at that price, I might join just for that, but you guys have talked me out of the pen raised bird thing. I might do it once just for the experience, but I don't care to join their club, don't think.

There's a local guy with duck hunting, self guided, 100 bucks a morning, but I've tried twice and can't get him on the phone. Must be a busy man. On the net, called "Dan's Duck Hunts". I might pop for a hunt or 3 during the year if I can get him on the phone.

 

[sixgunner455]

I hunt birds for the dog work. If I can't have a dog, it's really not interesting to me. If I can't get my dog out during a season, or for training or a pre-season warm-up, sure, I'll hit a game farm, or buy some bobs, or trapped pigeons, and take her out for some fun in the fields. I really do enjoy watching her work.

But like everyone else said, it's not like hunting wild birds.

 

[oldandslow]

mcg,

I've worked on the supply side of pen raised birds as a summer job while a college student. It was summertime in Turlock, California (outside of Modesto). We exclusively raised pheasants for hunting clubs.

We got the hatched chicks and my first job was to grab each chick and burn its beak flat on a red to white-hot metal band. This was so the birds could not peck each other while maturing. Then I had to put on a plastic "blinder" on their beaks so the birds could not see each other. You had to do this as quickly as possible as the chicks would all run to one side of the pen and suffocate each other. From here they were taken to the pens which were covered with fine netting on the sides and top while they matured.

After they matured we would catch the grown birds with a big net on a handle (think a giant fish net). We would cut off their blinders and off they went to the game clubs to be shot. Our birds never impressed me as being very smart. It seemed like a lot of work just to raise a bird to be shot. As this was forty years ago I imagine things may have changed a bit. Good luck.

best wished- oldandslow

 

[Sav .250]

Hunting is intended for "free" range game. IMHO>

 

[ZeroJunk]

I don't much care what anybody calls it. We have used pen raised quail with our own dogs. They will get in the habit of getting closer than they can get to wild birds. So, it has it's downside for training.
But, if there are few or no wild birds around it is the only way to work your dogs. And, the quail taste fine.

 

[jrdolall]

I sure wish I had enough quail to only hunt wild birds but I am not sure that exists in many places anymore. If we only hunted wild birds we would get maybe 25 per year. I already spend a good bit of money trying to keep the few wild ones I have and I doubt anything I did would help increase the population dramatically. Is it habitat? Is it invasive predators like the coyote? More hawks? Disease? Probably a combination of all of these.

I have miles of fence rows around here, and I mean miles, but the populations tend to stay back in the planted pines. We have fence lines between hay fields, soybean fields, property lines, highway frontage and pasture and we try to leave it "bushy" to encourage the quail populations.

 

[mquail]

I have miles of fence rows around here, and I mean miles, but the populations tend to stay back in the planted pines. We have fence lines between hay fields, soybean fields, property lines, highway frontage and pasture and we try to leave it "bushy" to encourage the quail populations.

When I lived in NESD we had predators and lots of them. Then the CRP program came along and within a few years we had pheasants by the gazillions. Just S of my house some friends shot 25 roosters in the time it takes to write this. It all came down to cover and weather. And the right kind of cover mostly for roosting, escape and nesting. In some winters the grass filled up with snow if there weren't cattails around the birds died. If there were cattails then they survived except in the winter of 1997 that was so bad there were pheasants roosting in the trees at night behind my house. By 2000 they were back. Anyway it was all about weather and the right kind of cover. Now that all my neighbors put their land into corn the pheasant numbers have declined locally. If they put their land into another program that encourages the right kind of grass mix then numbers will go through the ceiling again.

 

[MCgunner]

I think I found the club to join, all waterfowl, geese and ducks, guests are welcome for a 50 dollar fee. They allow self guiding, too, for ducks. 1100 a year is might seem steep, but figuring i LOVE to duck hunt, 11 trips pays for it (details are semi complicated) and there's dove and geese, too.

Meh, I can live the rest of my life without ever watching a pointer point birds. I rather enjoy watching my lab do water retrieves. I will admit that quail taste better, though. Mmmmmm, grilled quail, but heck, I can just buy the quail to eat, saves biting into shot pellets.

 

[paintballdude902]

ive been told allot of farm raised pheasants run, not fly. you get close and they just run around and maybe fly 10 ft like a chicken.

id save my money and go for wild birds

 

[Citadel99]

I've hunted a good bit of pen raised quail. And the answer is "it depends." Pen raised birds don't fly well at all if it is the least bit wet. A good outfit will have them well spread out and you'll stumble upon some wild bird and mixed coveys as well.

Also, where they get their stock from matters. Some suppliers have better birds than others. You can have a lot of fun on a pen raised quail hunt done right. Done wrong, you're still out in the fields, watching a dog work, and shooting. Not the end of the world but you are stuck wishing it was better.

Mark

 

[buck460XVR]

ive been told allot of farm raised pheasants run, not fly. you get close and they just run around and maybe fly 10 ft like a chicken.

I've been told that Sasquatch is real and the moon missions are a scam. I need to see with my own eyes before I believe it tho. Same with released birds. I have hunted wild pheasants in South/North Dakota that needed to be kicked before they flew also. If you ever hunted pheasants, than you know a running bird gets away more often than one than flies. As I said, some places will pull a few wing feather or two or break a toe to keep birds from running or flying fast/far to make it easier for the shooter. None of the places I hunt do this. The two places I hunt released birds have cover that makes natural cover look quite sparse and the birds react very much like wild birds, as they are raises with little human interaction in flight pens. I have yet to see them run around in little circles in front of me before flying like a chicken.(chickens do not fly, by the way) The fact that I generally shoot at more birds than I have released, tells me that someone is walkin' by them or missing them. Many clubs use "Jumbo" Mongolians. A strain derived from the original Mongolians. These birds are larger, fly slower and are more docile. Because they are more docile, they have a better chick survival rate and manage better in captivity. They do tend to fly slower than a standard ringneck and they also tend to be more reluctant to fly. They also have a lower survival rate when released into the wild. This is the strain that many state wildlife agencies release. Many figure for the standard put and take of release birds, being easier to keep captive till release makes sense. But it does not promote wild populations. This is why many are going back to the standards.

Over the years I have raised quail and used a recall/recapture pen to train my bird dogs. Believe me, after the first time released, you cannot ell the difference between them and wild birds. If you have the right cover, they are a hoot with a pointer. Even wild birds hold tight for a pointer, similar to woodcock. I've had whole wild coveys of quail hold under a single blown down stalk of corn, only to flush one or two at a time, with the last not flushing until the stalk was lifted. A young or inexperienced bird dog will think the scent still there is old, and go look for birds somewhere else, but a good dog will continue to go back after retrieving downed birds to point again.

 

[ZeroJunk]

The only Pheasant hunt of this type I have been on they used Labrador Retrievers to flush the birds. The dog handlers had good control of the dogs and when they started to get "birdie" they would hold the dogs or try to anyway until everybody got ready and the dog would reliably flush the bird. Wasn't my cup of tea, but they were good to eat.

 

[Panzerschwein]

I like it, it's about like shooting a round of skeet... but you get to EAT the targets!

 

[zdc1775]

I took one of my friends from the Marines on his first hunt using one of these outfits.

I know the owner there and they basically hatch and raise the birds until they are big enough that most predators can't/don't bother with them and then release them on one of their fields. If the operation is run like that then it is very much the same as hunting "wild" upland game only that you know that there are birds in this field or the next one over.

They charged by the number of birds you wanted to kill with no more than three times the number flushed. Cost me about $500.00 for each of us to get a dozen birds and use one of their dogs and guides and to rent a shotgun for my friend. That was the owner's friend price, don't know what that would have cost the average guy off the street.

In the end the price didn't matter it made for a fun day and has turned that city boy from Chicago into a dedicated hunter who took his first solo deer this past season.

 

[HighExpert]

I have done at Orapax in central Virginia. It is expensive, $6 per pheasant, $4 per quail. You get a 4acre plot and they set out the birds about 30minutes before you start. Fun to watch a good dog work and we even picked up some leftovers. The birds are not as fast on the flush as wild birds but still a challenge. I enjoyed it but don't make a habit of it. I grew up in western Nebraska hunting and this is a little too easy.

 

[buck460XVR]

I have done at Orapax in central Virginia. It is expensive, $6 per pheasant, $4 per quail.

If you're getting Pheasant for $6 a bird,I wouldn't call that expensive. That's cheap even for Chukars. Most of the fields around here run 40 to 60 acres and larger. Many times there are several 40 acre plots that are adjacent to each other and can be combined if you release enough birds. Last time out with my two boys we released a dozen birds and it took 6 hours of hard work with two dogs to get them and a coupla extras. No, it is not the same as hunting wild birds that you do not know are there. But it's not shooting fish in a barrel either.

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

Many years ago, a local guy wanted to get rid of some birds because they were getting fat. He offered them for $10 each and flushed them with his dog for us. It wasn't as much fun as hunting wild birds, but it was better than sitting at home. We paid for 10 birds each and I think we collected 16 of the 20.

(chickens do not fly, by the way)

Chickens fly just fine. That's why you have to clip their wings if they are in an open topped pen.

$6 per pheasant

That's cheap! I'm sure they are $20-$25 each around here.

 

[HighExpert]

I had my prices all screwed up. Sorry. Pheasants 4 for $145 and Quail $130 for 10. I was given the trip and didn't realize what it really cost. I have a good friend that has taken me twice and lied a little about what it costs.

 

[MCgunner]

Chickens fly just fine. That's why you have to clip their wings if they are in an open topped pen.

And, Banties fly like friggin' pheasants! That's a good thing as 3 banties are all that's left of my flock after a recent coyote problem. i penned 'em up for their own safety.

Perhaps I could just hatch a flock of banties to flush and shoot. The roosters are going to get ate, anyway.

 

[buck460XVR]

Chickens fly just fine. That's why you have to clip their wings if they are in an open topped pen.

I've raised chickens off and on most of my life and have yet to see a chicken flush like a gamebird, set their wings and glide for hundreds of yards. Seemed they always had a hard time even fluttering up to the 6' high roost roost in the coop. Never had an open top pen....too many flying predators like owls and hawks. But I did let 'em run loose outside. Don't think I ever saw one go more than 10 yards on the wing and that was a struggle. I could see clipping a wing to keep them from fluttering over a 6' high fence tho. Maybe I just had the wrong kind of chickens.:banghead:

And, Banties fly like friggin' pheasants! That's a good thing as 3 banties are all that's left of my flock after a recent coyote problem. i penned 'em up for their own safety.

Seems if they could fly like a Pheasant, you wouldn't have to pen them up to keep 'em away from coyotes. At the Game farms I hunt, they claim most of the released birds that the 'yotes get are wounded birds that fly outta the game farm property to private land or ones that the hunters and their dogs do not find. Healthy birds fly away or roost high enough they can't be got. The majority of the healthy birds get nailed by hawks and owls as they are not adept at watching for predators from the sky, and getting off the ground to roost does not help.

As for shootin' your Banties, around here folks have Guinea fowl and raise them like chickens and would consider someone that shoots them in the barnyard an Elmer Fudd. But in Africa they are a game bird actively hunted for sport.

 

[ZeroJunk]

It depends on the chicken. Most of the breeds are too heavy to fly.
But, we had some when I was kid that could go straight up and fly over a barn with a hay loft. I have seen them fly down to the creek which is down hill to their advantage, but close to 100 yards. Can't remember what they were, and they were young birds. But, it was a Wow I didn't know a chicken could do that sort of thing.

 

[Art Eatman]

For some it's time; for others, distance: Were it not for the pen-raised birds, some folks would never have a chance at quail or pheasant.

Might no be everybody's cup of tea, but for many it beats the bejeebers out of nothing at all.

 

[oneounceload]

Sure beats punching holes in paper at least