Where have all the pheasants gone?

I have always wondered where all the pheasants have gone in mt neck of the woods. This should be ideal habitat for them but in 18 years I have seen 2 maybe 3 pheasants. Going to College I lived in Lindsay for 3 years and never saw a single Pheasant.

I'm told that at one time there were lot's of pheasants but they all disappeared. So where did they go? Did the re-introduction of Turkey's do something are they a competing species?

Does anyone remember when there were lot's of Pheasants?

There is still some in Bradley's marsh area on the east shore of lake st.clair and still a healthy group on Saint Ann's Island part of the Walpole Island native reserve. A few locals have tried establishing them here trying everything from using nesting birds to day olds and you see them for the summer then nothin come fall. Not sure why they don't take to the area, we have great habitat but we also have many predators in the area.

Have a few on the property my son and I hunt, obviously won't be sharing GPS coordinates but there are healthy pockets out there.

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The problem here in Ontario is lack of suitable habitat for them, The pheasant prefers a brushy type grass land cover that we are lacking here in Ontario, they need it to breed raise there young and hide from predators. The cover we have here can hold them in summer and fall but once the deep snow sets in it doesn't leave them with much to hide from hawks and coyotes and also lack of food, they can't eat bark off trees like a cottontail rabbits or burrow in the snow. Ontario once had a good huntable population of pheasant and quail in the 50's to the 70's but change in farming practices changed that. The price of workable land and grain skyrocketed, farmers started to work there land right to the end, no more hedge rows between fields where pheasants could live. New improved machinery left less wast grain behind for them to eat. Thats what happened to Ontario's pheasants, as mentioned there are a few pockets of wild birds left in areas with good habitat, but most of the pheasant hunting here takes place on game farms and county release areas.

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Originally Posted by DGM999

Have a few on the property my son and I hunt, obviously won't be sharing GPS coordinates but there are healthy pockets out there.

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To me those look like pen birds especially the rooster in the lower left corner. Although there are some wild birds out there they aren't in that concentration.

How can you tell that or why do you think that?

When I lived in NS there were ton's of Pheasants around Yarmouth and the Anapolis Valey. My grandfather was the manager of the Yarmouth airport and part of his job was to walk around the airport shooting Pheasants. My Uncle tells me most of the Phesants have now dissappeared they see the odd one when out rabbit hunting. He said he see's turkeys now. He seems to think the Turkey's are forcing the Pheasants out.

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Originally Posted by finsfurfeathers

To me those look like pen birds especially the rooster in the lower left corner. Although there are some wild birds out there they aren't in that concentration.

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Does anyone remember hunting Pheasants in the Ottawa Valley?

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Originally Posted by greatwhite

How can you tell that or why do you think that?

When I lived in NS there were ton's of Pheasants around Yarmouth and the Anapolis Valey. My grandfather was the manager of the Yarmouth airport and part of his job was to walk around the airport shooting Pheasants. My Uncle tells me most of the Phesants have now dissappeared they see the odd one when out rabbit hunting. He said he see's turkeys now. He seems to think the Turkey's are forcing the Pheasants out.

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By the time there's snow on the ground wild roosters would have a yard long tail. Most of those roosters have short tails the one in the lower left got no tail. Where I live as a boy there was numerous pheasants however 40 years later with only the hydro right of way left for cover lucky to see 1 or 2 a year.

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Originally Posted by greatwhite

Does anyone remember hunting Pheasants in the Ottawa Valley?

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Although never hunted there myself my dad still tells stories of the Hungarian partridge hunting there not so much pheasant though.

I have always wondered where all the pheasants have gone in mt neck of the woods. This should be ideal habitat for them but in 18 years I have seen 2 maybe 3 pheasants. Going to College I lived in Lindsay for 3 years and never saw a single Pheasant.

I'm told that at one time there were lot's of pheasants but they all disappeared. So where did they go? Did the re-introduction of Turkey's do something are they a competing species?
Does anyone remember when there were lot's of Pheasants?
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I do.
I remember m Dad and I walking out our door - when Wharncliffe Road in London was a dirt road- with his .410, crossing the road and having a great pheasant shoot. Got 7 kids through some tough times with little food. Glad was born in the 1940s. :)