Where have all the pheasants gone?

[topher]

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..

[welsh]

The problem here in Ontario is lack of suitable habitat for them....

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.

He seems to think the Turkey's are forcing the Pheasants out.

Seems unlikely. Turkeys are birds of mature hardwood forests, so I don't see they would conflict with pheasants.

[Cass]

Never seen a wild one but we plant some for the dogs

[finsfurfeathers]

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.



Seems unlikely. Turkeys are birds of mature hardwood forests, so I don't see they would conflict with pheasants.

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.

[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.

[finsfurfeathers]

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.

[Roper]

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???

[rf2]

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.

Does anyone remember hunting Pheasants in the Ottawa Valley?

[Bandwagon]

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 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.

[Mauthman]

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.

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.ca