Who says you cant have pheasants in the north east?

[greatwhite]

What ever happaned to them? I have lived here for 18 years and durring that time I have seen one in Marionville and 1 down by the bog.

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..

[recurve40]

I hunted some great private land acreages..in between Kemptville..Mountain and Winchester...was about 20-30yrs ago...I was told by an MNR biologist awhile back that the #1 culprit was cover loss due to liquid manure farming....no cover no food no birds....I was hunting rabbits with my bow on one property near Mountain...off 43 ..20yrs ago....season closed for birds...my springer got into some cattail crap and put out a bunch in minutes....obvious they wintered in that part of the farmers property....I went back 5yrs ago..mthe same farmers son in law told me they hadn't seen any birds in years....I walked that all day...put out nothing.....and no one was hunting it...

[Pointersrule]

Hey Recurve...how are the Huns doing up that way? You can PM me if you wish.

Regards,
PR

[ahadley]

Thanks for the interesting article. Based on the comments it looks like there would be a lot of challenges to such a program here... perhaps a program for enhancing the numbers of one of our native species may be a better option?

[Cintax]

I don't think that hens should be in the bag limit for wild pheasant either. In June of last year I sent an email to the MNR:


"I am worried about Pheasant in Ontario. My belief, is that the taking of wild pheasant should be limited to roosters only to promote population growth. In terms of game preserves, both hens and roosters should still be allowed - perhaps a tag could be applied to the hen to distinguish a farmed bird from a wild bird.

Thank you for your time."


The response I got as below:


"I was forwarded your e-mail regarding pheasants and I’m pleased to respond. Wild breeding pheasant populations were established in Ontario as a result of many years of releases. The releases were successful in part because the mixed, low-intensity agricultural habitat present prior to the 1950’s was very good habitat for pheasants. Hens were added to the bag limit many years ago because large numbers of pheasants were reported to cause agricultural conflicts. While the shooting of hens may have contributed to pheasant declines in some areas the greatest reason for decline has been the loss of grassland habitat. In addition, the same types of releases that led to established populations of pheasants may have contributed to their demise because pen-raised birds presented risks to pheasants that had adapted over time to living in the wild.

MNR’s Aylmer District attempted to rehabilitate pheasant populations a few years ago by releasing wild birds trapped in Saskatchewan in two areas of southwest Ontario. These birds were protected from harvest in their core release areas. This effort was unsuccessful and the outcome further pointed to lack of suitable habitat as the problem.

Most free-ranging pheasants in Ontario are now thought to be pen-raised birds or their immediate descendants with naturalized wild populations largely gone. There has been some discussion in recent years about reviewing small game policies and regulations. Should any future changes be considered there will be an opportunity for the public to provide their input.

Thank you for writing to share your concerns."

[ninepointer]

I don't think that hens should be in the bag limit for wild pheasant either. In June of last year I sent an email to the MNR:


"I am worried about Pheasant in Ontario. My belief, is that the taking of wild pheasant should be limited to roosters only to promote population growth. In terms of game preserves, both hens and roosters should still be allowed - perhaps a tag could be applied to the hen to distinguish a farmed bird from a wild bird.

Thank you for your time."


The response I got as below:


"I was forwarded your e-mail regarding pheasants and I’m pleased to respond. Wild breeding pheasant populations were established in Ontario as a result of many years of releases. The releases were successful in part because the mixed, low-intensity agricultural habitat present prior to the 1950’s was very good habitat for pheasants. Hens were added to the bag limit many years ago because large numbers of pheasants were reported to cause agricultural conflicts. While the shooting of hens may have contributed to pheasant declines in some areas the greatest reason for decline has been the loss of grassland habitat. In addition, the same types of releases that led to established populations of pheasants may have contributed to their demise because pen-raised birds presented risks to pheasants that had adapted over time to living in the wild.

MNR’s Aylmer District attempted to rehabilitate pheasant populations a few years ago by releasing wild birds trapped in Saskatchewan in two areas of southwest Ontario. These birds were protected from harvest in their core release areas. This effort was unsuccessful and the outcome further pointed to lack of suitable habitat as the problem.

Most free-ranging pheasants in Ontario are now thought to be pen-raised birds or their immediate descendants with naturalized wild populations largely gone. There has been some discussion in recent years about reviewing small game policies and regulations. Should any future changes be considered there will be an opportunity for the public to provide their input.

Thank you for writing to share your concerns."

While the above is a pretty good summary of Ontario's pheasant story, the following part is patently WRONG:

"MNR’s Aylmer District attempted to rehabilitate pheasant populations a few years ago by releasing wild birds trapped in Saskatchewan in two areas of southwest Ontario. These birds were protected from harvest in their core release areas. This effort was unsuccessful and the outcome further pointed to lack of suitable habitat as the problem."

The Aylmer pilot project was a success by all accounts. The operative word is "pilot". Less than 300 Saskatchewan birds were released over 2-3 years as a trial to study the birds and the habitat suitability. It was NEVER meant to be a re-introduction program. The pilot project was a success because it gave MNR biologists the info they needed to proceed to the next stage (re-introduction), had there been funding and political will.

Some years ago Pennsylvania did something similar. They conducted a pilot project to test the waters, after which they proceeded to a re-introduction consisting of releasing over 1000 birds per year for 10 years. 10,000 birds after proper study; now THAT is a re-introduction!

[jaycee]

Some years ago Pennsylvania did something similar. They conducted a pilot project to test the waters, after which they proceeded to a re-introduction consisting of releasing over 1000 birds per year for 10 years. 10,000 birds after proper study; now THAT is a re-introduction!

They had the money to do it , our Ministry and province is BROKE.

[ninepointer]

They had the money to do it , our Ministry and province is BROKE.

That's for sure. Just a shame that the MNR would make a statement like that; characterizing it as a failed re-introduction, when it was never meant to be a re-introduction. Much hard work by good people at MNR went into the pilot project and much was learned. The birds actually survived longer than expected.

[welsh]

Whether you call it a failed reintroduction or a pilot project, the problem is the same: insufficient grasslands. Pheasants absolutely need large areas of grassy cover, which are now absent from the landscape. Releasing thousands of birds gets you nowhere until that problem is addressed and the fact is that the will to address it does not exist. We'd be asking farmers to change how they operate and to do that in a reasonable, fair way, we'd need to offer incentives. And where would those incentives come from, given our economic shambles?

I understand the CRP program is falling on hard times in the States for essentially the same reason.

Now, if we could get the habitat back, and started reintroduction, then part of that plan ought to be roosters only.

[ninepointer]

Releasing thousands of birds gets you nowhere until that problem is addressed and the fact is that the will to address it does not exist.

Bang on. Habitat is everything.