My dad tells me stories of him.and grandpa going out to the bush behind the field and shooting 4-5 pheasant a week.. I'm 32 years... I have NEVER seen a pheasant here... Lots of grass and abkndaned farms too..
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My dad tells me stories of him.and grandpa going out to the bush behind the field and shooting 4-5 pheasant a week.. I'm 32 years... I have NEVER seen a pheasant here... Lots of grass and abkndaned farms too..
Yes. People insist on believing the habitat is there, but it just isn't. Pheasants need substantial tracts of weedy grasslands for nesting. That's why they do so well on the prairies. We just don't have very much of that kind of habitat. Where we do have suitable habitat it is difficult for the birds to take hold because they are hunted hard, and we allow shooting hens -- not to mention that the birds we release are pen-raised dopes that would be unlikely to survive in the wild.Quote:
Originally Posted by fishhawk
Seems unlikely. Turkeys are birds of mature hardwood forests, so I don't see they would conflict with pheasants.Quote:
Originally Posted by greatwhite
Never seen a wild one but we plant some for the dogs
I believe its winter habitat that is the limiting factor. Once the crops are harvested plowed under and nothing left but a Brazilian strip of fence row where do you expect them to go. Some sort of American style CRP program is what's needed.Quote:
Originally Posted by welsh
Good point. Fly over southern Ont and the problem is obvious. We typically have large fields now, with no hedgerows, so there is very little winter cover for pheasants across most agricultural areas of the province.
Often daydream on the drive up to Hullet what the upland hunting would be like if all the fence rows where set up like Hullet.
When I was a youngun there was a good population of pheasants in the area. It wasn't uncommon for me to have 5 or 6 hanging in the basement back then. Days gone past.
I don't know why the population decreased but it does seem to be around the same time turkey and coyote populations increased.
Coincidence???
When I was a child, my father used to go pheasant hunting in the Winchester/Mountain area, and also in the Larose Forest area. I went with him a few times, but I don't remember there being lots of pheasants. That would have been in the mid 80s. Prior to that, apparently there was a decent population. But to tell you the truth, I sometimes wonder if these were mostly released pheasants. My understanding is that groups used to hold hunting dog competitions in the Winchester/Mountain area, so it could be that hunters would go in after the competitions and pick up the birds that escaped.
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Originally Posted by greatwhite
When you travel west the first thing you will notice is that the birds have ideal habitat conditions and lots of it. We just don't have that in Ontario any longer, compound that with predators and hunting pressure.Quote:
Originally Posted by Roper
Check out ALUS (Alternative Land Use Services). It is similar to the CRP program in the states and has been very successful at putting lots of habitat on the ground so far. Here is the website: alus.caQuote:
Originally Posted by finsfurfeathers