Anyone raise and release pheasants?

[nontypicalhunter]

I was thinking about giving it a shot this spring. I have plenty of land and great habitat for them. There are a few out here and was curious if anyone has done it and what kind of results you have had.

[HD]

I have done it in years past, just not for the past 5 or so.
I still have my coup and was thinking of doing some again this year.
The first time I released birds, I didn't have much luck in survival rate because they had human contact. (learning curve) So, they just stuck around home and the local dogs had a dinner.
The second time, I put up a wall on the side of the pen and fed them through an opening (so they never saw a human) That success rate was better when released. They were more skidish when animals or human were around. But, they still stuck around home for the longest time.
The third time, I had a fox get in there and he had dinner till I got him.

I banned the ones I released so I could tell how many made it...or not...

[Randy Kaar]

You "Banned" the pheasants? 


randy

[HD]

Somebody has to keep the rif raf out of the coup..... 

  banded...ban'ed...banned...band.... (you get the idea).... 

[Randy Kaar]

When you start "Banning" pheasants from MNO, You are taking your job here to a extreme...
 
I type worse than you, so there!

randy

[kenhuntin]

I have witnessed about every scenario of releasing pheasant there is for for about 20 years. I know two guys that have a huge pheasant barn with an outside area coverered in pheasant netting. They release between 5 to 700 birds a year on their property. The worst one time loss they had was when skunks tunneled into the pen and killed about 175 of them. The skunks killed them and stacked them in piles. They tried releasing them over the years at all different times of year and always had very little survival rate.  For instance wintering the hens in the barn and releasing them early spring to breed.They have had such limited sucess that now they only get cocks and release them before they hunt. We have sometimes released 50 birds in one area at night and by the time the nine am shooting time comes Hawks have killed 20 of them. If you buy birds the roosters either come with blinders or their beaks are clipped to impede them pecking each other. The ones that have clipped beaks never survive in the wild. Pretty expensive venture for the few birds that make it one year.

[The General]

When I raise them we buy a 100 chicks from a guy over in Avon for a $1 a bird.  We raise them and then have a hunting competition all day.  2 guys 2 dogs on 20 acres of CRP and 3 birds.  We get 30 minutes to find them and then we have a scoring system.  When we are finished we clean all the birds and have a pheasant feast.  I have no idea if the hens make it or not but we just release all of them.  The $200 or so it costs us to raise them during the summer is all worth it for that day of fun.   

[Auggie]

     I have raised several over the years and believe it really only takes the pressure off of some of the wild birds for a time. We have banded birds as HD said and did kill one that lived 3 years which is great for even a wild bird to do. The best birds like HD said are raised with as little human contact as possible. One thing we need to remember is the pheasant was not native to the US and started from captive raised stock. So even if we feed the raptors and yotes, if only 2-3 hens live to reproduce a brood you might just have threw 20-30 chicks on the ground that wouldn't have been there before. Give it a try, learn from it and enjoy the experience. But if you are doing it to drastically increase the population on lands you hunt you will most likely be disappointed unless you butcher them the same day like the General. And in that case I would ring their necks in the pen so I wouldn't have to pick the BB's out of my teeth!

[nontypicalhunter]

Thanks for the opinions everyone. A few things I have heard have been, 1. Raised birds that are released will not reproduce. 2. Your lucky if you have a 1% survival rate. Both of these sound far fetched in my opinion. Growing up where I did I have learned alot from who I considered my second dad, up until he passed he had pretty much evey type of bird you can think of. I think I would fair pretty good with what I know and have learned. I completely understand once they are released into the wild it's 100% out of my hands. Now I'm not a big pheasant hunter, but I like a pheasant now and then. So I really wouldn't be doing this solely for hunting purposes.  Another thing I heard was if you band/tag them you can shoot the hens if you dog training.

What are your guy's opinions on these comments I have been told?

Also, does anyone know of any laws/restriction, permits or other requirements that the DNR/State has pertaining to releasing animals (pheasants in this case) into to the wild? Are there any illnesses that maybe transfered to the wild population?

Once again Thanks everyone!

[kenhuntin]

Once them birds are outside all game laws apply to them unless you have a game farm license.

[Auggie]

And if I remember correctly, even then they still need to be identifiable in some way if not during an open season or if you are shooting hens over your dogs and not on a preserve. Dyes, ribbons, bands etc. I would have to look through my game farm regs to be sure.