Who says you cant have pheasants in the north east?

[Richi]

I dont knw why pheasants havnt had good luck here in Ontario and the climate here isnt the reason,just look at Saskatchewan. We have lots of ring necks and our winters are harsher then Ontario. Same as the coyotes wouldnt have that much of an impact as Sask has more coyotes then Ontario. So only thing I can think of is food/habitat. Way more grain fields in Sask.
When I lived in St.Catharines I did see about 3 or 4 but that was in a 10 year period. So they are around there just very few.But the last time I lived in St.Kitts was 4 years ago. So that might of changed.

[jsevink]

Turkeys will eat absolutely anything they can get down, including young grouse in June.

Nothing I love more than grouse hunting.

[Bigboss]

Theres talk of wanting to introduce turkeys into the Timmins area. I personally dont think they will survive the extremly cold winters and the snow cover which will prevent them from feeding. They still need permission from the MNR to introduce them here.

I dont like the idea. Seems like a gamble for the opportunity at one bird per year. If your that desperate for a turkey, you can travel further south and go get them IMO. Dont jeopardize our upland game for one of these birds.

[fishing1]

in the good old days there were alot of pheasants in the windsor area. there are still some as i seen about 10 birds last week feeding in one field right inside the city limits. there is a little maybe 10 to 20 acre parcel of land that is undeveloped and that is where we used to hunt them many years ago. they can servive if given the chance.

[JUDGE]

I beleive it was the the possums that have decimated the Pheasant and Quail in Essex county.
Befor they showed up we had a great population of Game birds.
just my opinion

[Thymallus]

I think that if we are going to get anyone outside of the hunting community excited about game birds they had better be native. Personally, I would get behind the effort to get Northern Bobwhite up to huntable numbers before I would get excited about pheasant.

[GRAARG]

There is actually a fair amount of science behind this and it is well understood what pheasants need. There are colder and less hospitable places than SW Ontario which support large pheasant populations. The two keys are cover and not shooting the hens.

Full article here: http://www.ontariooutofdoors.com/hun.../?ID=74&a=read

This is a key concern, says Mike Parker, a biologist with Pheasants Forever in Michigan. "The biggest limiting factor on a pheasant population is the lack of secure nesting cover," he said. "You need big blocks of undisturbed cover that's not hayed or mowed during nesting season. Predators have little impact in areas with large blocks of quality habitat. If predation is a problem, it's often a symptom of insufficient habitat."

Though hunting was virtually a non-issue with the reintroduced birds, Parker also suggests Ontario's current pheasant-hunting regulations are not conducive to population rehabilitation. Ontario is one of the few jurisdictions that allow hens to be taken. Hubert concurs and says major regulatory changes should be considered if the programme is to be reinstated.

[Tman]

A landowner where I hunt deer in 91 killed to wild hens while cutting first hay of the season. both were nesting in the hay field. I had seen and heard pheasants there for years, periodically. However we haven't seen one since. So I do believe it is cover and land use strategies. Can't blame farmers for doing there job

[fishhawk]

A landowner where I hunt deer in 91 killed to wild hens while cutting first hay of the season. both were nesting in the hay field. I had seen and heard pheasants there for years, periodically. However we haven't seen one since. So I do believe it is cover and land use strategies. Can't blame farmers for doing there job

That's sad.

[recurve40]

30yrs ago..near Winchester there were pockets of pheasants..the MNR had sharptails there as well...used to put up Bobwhite...though I never did shoot any...was after Hungarian partridge...having hunted wild pheasant in the west of Canada...they need undisturbed nest sites and a lot of thick swale and cover like cattail marshes and grasses to overwinter....farmers need incentives and sadly Govt isn't about to do that...they can survive our winters..its finding as has been said large tracts of nesting sites and NO hens in the bag limits....IMO..