Where have all the pheasants gone?

[huntrfishr]

We have some nice hedges along fence rows but our tall trees are also all over the place.
Using these trees, it's easy for predators like hawks and owls to pick them up.
Our fence rows could have 10 ft. of weeds and grass beside them but enough tall trees are always on fence rows.
Some places in Michigan where I used to hunt discourage tall trees along fence rows.
I noticed places I've observed in Iowa that has good Pheasant population don't have tall trees like next to railroad right of way.

[kurt tealo]

Back when fur was big money and socially acceptable.Everything with fur on it was trapped and shot.And farmers with chickens and such would be after all fur bearers and all birds of prey.And we know how populations of both have gone now.
Also the lack of habitat.

[werner.reiche]

Back when fur was big money and socially acceptable.Everything with fur on it was trapped and shot.And farmers with chickens and such would be after all fur bearers and all birds of prey.And we know how populations of both have gone now.
Also the lack of habitat.

Agree with the comment about predators, particularly avian ones.

[fishy steve]

problem with farm released pheasants is most of them have bin incubator hatched and the broody gene is gone from them, poeple by pheasants from places like freys and release them, and they have no natural instinct to survive or to reproduce... in order for them to actually survive the eggs need to be hatched under a broody chicken, raised by the chicken in a free range environment... after a few years of that they will get that instinct back and will lay on their eggs...

theres is a population up around north bay of naturally producing pheasants

[greatwhite]

werner you have lived around here longer than I probably. Do you remember when there were lot's of Pheasants?

Agree with the comment about predators, particularly avian ones.

[jaycee]

Habitat, Habitat, Habitat loss and also predators.
The state of South Dakota is also bemoaning the loss of Pheasants, here is the first paragraph from the latest Shooting Sportsman" titled The Pheasant Wars.

This past year, for the first time since 1992, South Dakota's pheasant harvest failed to top the I million mark. The final tally for the 2013 season was 982,679 roosters, down significantly from the 1.428 million harvested in 2012 and roughly half of the 1.83 million bagged just two years earlier. The average harvest per hunter this past season , 7.4 was the lowest recorded since 1089.

They go on in the article to say that habitat loss is the greatest factor and this is due to the fact that corn prices are so high , causing framers to take land out of the CRP designation and putting it into crops [corn ] . One farmer was quoted as saying , "when the prices were low , we listened to you, [the GOV. ] but now that the price of corn is so high we put our land [even marginal land ] into production.

It is a lengthy but interesting article , if you get a chance , pick up the magazine and read it.

[werner.reiche]

werner you have lived around here longer than I probably. Do you remember when there were lot's of Pheasants?

No - never saw pheasants around here...only lived in Limoges 25 years ago.

What I do know about pheasants I know from a guy who releases a few every year near our cottage - trying to get a population established - once he gets a few breeding naturally, they do well until a hawk/owl finds them and then he kills them - one every couple of days until they are all gone. Similar, my brother used to release quite a few (100+ per year) for dog training. He even had hawks kill them between when he planted them and got back to them with the dog. He had a few survive and breed - they all seem to have nesting instincts - and there were about 40 or so going into the winter. But between a fox and a hawk/owl, they didn't make it to the end of January.

I guess it's fair enough to say that the predation to some extent is caused by lack of habitat - they had a cedar swamp for shelter - but not the thick cover like they have in the Dakotas.

[Pat32rf]

Back in the early sixties I lived on Neilson's rd north of Finch. There was four houses within a mile of us that did not raise fields of corn. While we were in a no discharge zone, most townships along the lakeshore raised and released hundreds of birds and then issued township rabbit and pheasant hunting licenses. This let them control the number of hunters and raise money.
The birds around our house had been released years prior by Massey Harris up on their factory farm on Steeles ave. They became a self sustaining flock in our area but Markham was still releasing them in 1964....Now the corn fields are front lawns.

[rem1100]

Niagara on the Lake still has many pheasants, they like to hide in the grape rows. Npt sure if there wild or were released.

rem

[Mount Sweetness]

I also believe that the turkeys are forcing out the pheasants. Have had a spot that held wild pheasant for many many decades, turkeys are in there now...no more ringnecks.