Pheasants Galore

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countertop

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Back from my trip to Aberdeen South Dakota.

Here was one days take

pheasant.jpg

The daily limit is 3 pheasants. This is a whole lot more than that, but we had a large party and limited out. Their tough birds to hit, especially this late in the season.

Included in our party were 6 fantastic bird dogs, which makes it easier to find them and retrieve them. As far as I can tell, of the 100+ birds we shot over the 3 days hunting only one managed to get away (they run like the dickens on the ground).
 
Jorg - It was private land. Sort of. We were hunting just outside Abeerdeen on a Hutterite Colony. Birds were wild. I spoke with some folks at the airport who were on my plane flying back. Didn't realize they had pen raised birds in South Dakota until I got on the plane to fly back (guy next to me shot at a preserve with them). I suspect the wild birds are a lot more fun. Their certainly tough to hit.
 
It's surprising how close pen birds are to wild. An inexperienced hunter would never know the difference. Still wild birds are more challenging, especially once they become spooky.
 
geophysicishooter

you can see one of the dogs in the truck.

islandphish

Its amazing how long they would hold without the dogs. You'd take a shot, and the next thing you know 4 other birds would launch right at your feet (and get away cause they surprised you) and you had no idea they were there.

To clarify, we had a couple in there which were pen raised but seemed to have escaped the pen (there was a pheasant farm a few miles away that was raising them for what I thought was shipment out of state - they also had an Elk Farm which was raising them for velvet and antlers and shipment to Asia not hunting)

If you look in the middle of the hay bail on the ground, you can see there are red "glasses" on one of the birds (its to the left of the bird head hanging closest to the ground). There is also a bird on the top row with "glasses" (on top of hay bale, to the far left). Both of these were escapees from a pen. I have no idea how long they were in the wild.
 
countertop,

I finally did see the dog in the cab of the truck I was thinking there might have been a lineup shot of all the hunters with the bird and the dogs that pointed them..

what breed of dogs were you hunting behind? german shorthairs? english pointers? Mine's a brittany spaniel. bird dogs are so cool.. I just love the facial expressions they give and they're so darn sharp..

Anyone have a female brittany that's due to be bred?
 
I grew up hunting birds in South Dakota...I really miss those days. Now we hardly see a bird on our property. Funny how things can change so quickly.
I am not going to make a blanket statement, but I know there are a lot of ranches in that state that claim to be wild birds when they are in fact farm raised. Like islandphish said, it would be hard for most hunters not from the area to be able to tell the difference. *flame suit on*
 
geophysicishooter

Mostly labs and vizsulas (sp??) We have a shot of the hunters and dogs that we took, but I'm not posting anyone's picture here, especially my clients picture here.

stownsend,

why would you say "flame suit on" unless your trying to start a flame war?

I get what your saying, but highly doubt these are pen raised (and if so, so what??). First, if they were pen raised and released, I suspect that they would have wanted to charge us.

None of these were "commercial" hunting outfits. I work in Ag and was with a group of farmers from the general area I represent.

As for your statement that "we hardly see a bird on our property. Funny how things can change so quickly. " Yeah, I agree, the pheasant population has taken off in South Dakota - mostly through conservation and wildlife development measures in the past two farm bills, the work of outstanding groups like pheasants forever, and without a doubt, the concerted effort of some to release lots of birds in the state. Where is your property located? And how long ago are you talking? Frankly, whenever I travel in South Dakota (or even Western Minnesota and NW Iowa, but far more so in South Dakota) I am always amazed at the huge quantity of pheasants you see just milling about in fields, flying in trees, and hanging out on the side of the road.

But, again to your flame suit statement. If your going to make a statement, why not come out and make it. Or state what it is your point is?
 
Not trying to start a flame war, just stating that I would dare to bet that most hunters who travel to South Dakota and pay to shoot birds are shooting at raised birds, not wild. I got the impression that you were paying to hunt, if not, then I was wrong and they probably are wild birds. I have tried to have discussions in the past with people and I usually get hammered for telling them they were shooting raised birds (thinking they are wild). I have no problems shooting raised birds, just don't tell me they are wild.
I personally know of more than a few farmers who charge guys to come in and hunt their "wild" birds.
Our land is in Gregory county and from what I understand its almost impossible to get CRP land around there. We would love to get some, but it just doesn't happen around us, other counties, sure, not us. My cousins and I have talked about releasing birds to try and get the numbers back, because we have a great habitat for them, I think the biggest problems are the coyotes and hawks. I can do something about the coyote, but not the hawks. You cross the river into Charles Mix county and there are birds all over, maybe they just don't like to cross the river. :)
The last time we really bird hunted about there was probably ten years ago and I would say we only saw 20 roosters in 4 days of hunting.
Trust me, I wasn't trying to start something, I got the impression that you had gone out there and paid to hunt, I apologize for any misunderstanding.
 
There has been a release and shoot state refuge close to land my family used to own for 30+ years. Pen raised pheasants haven't successfully transitioned to a sustainable wild population. You will occasionally see young wild birds but not to the extent you would expect given the number of birds released that survive the hunting season and the number of years involved.

I used to hear that the reason there weren't pheasant in southern Illinois was because the soil was lacking a nutrient required to make the eggs viable but I don't know whether that was true or not; the habitate is certainly suitable. Central Illinois - Douglas, Champaign, Vermillion, etc. counties - in the 50's, 60's, and early 70's had wild bird populations that were comparable to other pheasant hot spots. That isn't the case anymore and it has to do with agriculture practices changing.
 
Why can't you get CRP land??? I'd suspect that in Gregory its too valuable as row crop land and you simply aren't going to qualify for enough of a payment to offset the profits you'd make from growing corn or wheat. Was there aonther reason??

What conservation measures do you have in place? wind strips? filter strips? do you get any WHIP funding?? Don't need CRP land per se to get birds, but it certainly helps. I usually hunt birds in Iowa and Minnesota and generally have almost as much luck in as afar as my ability to limit out, though what was different here was that we hunted ALL DAY and we had 16 or 17 people with us (hence the big a** pile of birds). In those places I'm generally hunting filter strips, not necessarily CRP land.

This trip we were driving the birds into some prairie potholes which struck me as more likely to be WRP land than CRP land, but I don't know for sure. I can ask.

I've always been led to believe that the vast majority of birds in South Dakota originated from pen released birds, and that most were located well east and north of you.
 
I remember when we used to have takes like that in SE colorado . With the changes in habatat , and especially last winters weather i will not even hunt this year , preferring to leave what we have for seed .
 
Countertop-
The way I understood it, and I might be wrong, but its not as simple as just saying I want my land to be CRP, but someone has to come out and evaluate, and then you have to be approved. My uncle tried a couple years ago and I guess the guy for the county doesn't approve hardly anyone. It is more profitable to row crop, but we were looking as some smaller pastures that we could easily leave empty.
We have some nice shelter belts in place, and make sure to leave plenty of uncut area around them. Besides that we are not being too agressive because there aren't a lot of birds anywhere. We looked at planting birds, but heard they have maybe a 5% survival rate.
Maybe things will change and the birds will be back, I remember 20 years ago when the birds were just everywhere. Of course we still have the deer and turkey so the sting isn't as bad...
 
stownsend

yeah, that could be. Each state has a separate budget based largely on acreage and if you go tin too late then it would be more difficult to qualify. Some places do it watershed by watershed.

Guy who came out would be NRCS employee or someone from the local Conservation District.

I'll contact you offline to discuss further. Running around the hill right now trying to get a farm bill passed.
 
On the subject of crp it was stated

The way I understood it, and I might be wrong, but its not as simple as just saying I want my land to be CRP, but someone has to come out and evaluate, and then you have to be approved.
Click to expand...

This is half the process . Once approved you bid in at a price per acre and they then take bids or do not at some set of weighted values that is for good reason secret lol . We as a family farm have some crp left , but most is broken out again and in production ( good for wildlife ) . I can see no ryme or reason on what is in crp and what is not as far as land production ability goes.
 
stownsend- we used to have a problem w/ our bird numbers, too. we found that by killing feral cats and coyotes the problem was resolved. the cats were a far bigger problem than the coyotes. hawks are a problem, but not enough that they can't be offset by killing every cat you see. skunks are a bit of a problem, too, as are coons, but again, cats are the biggest problem.

if you can hold off on haying for a little while longer than the usual first cut, you'll also do better. and, if you can leave a couple rows of corn standing for winter feed, you'll also notice an increase.

countertop - nice work!
 
I can tell you that where I have seen the best increases in pheasant numbers you see several things happening.

First, CRP is more common.

Second, More home grown hunting operations with released birds are going.

Third, and most importantly in my estimation, the huge increase in leased land specifically for hunting.
 
dakotasin-
Its hard living in Michigan and being so far away. So you think I should take out the barn cats?
The farming of our land is leased out, but we retain the hunting rights. I might be able to work out something with him to help the birds out.
 
not necessarily... the cats do help w/ the rodents. but any feral cat - like the ones you see out just cruising around that you've never seen before. the semi-tame ones that hang out in the barn aren't really an issue because they aren't ranging out there a mile in search of food.
 
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