The safety zone program in the 70’s seemed to be the last hooraw of the pheasant population around here, I think they gave my pap a free game news subscription for signing up 6 or 8 acres, as a kid there were always hens raising little ones. But then as the raptor population exploded and the PGC dropped the program the pheasants disappeared. I would estimate the life expectancy of birds with this new program at less than 10 days, pretty sad really.

We have a big time paid hunting outfit that releases birds just down the road from me so as winter goes on they pile up in the cover that I leave for wildlife then thin out in the spring. I put out my game cam a few weeks ago now it’s mostly birds in my food plot pics. We feed them they are fun to watch how spooky they can be and how they pick up movements.

I pop 3 for a annual feed and leave the rest alone some years I don’t shoot any at all but they are great eating.

we see 3x more raptors in the sky above than we do pheasants , it is just constant.

a hawk every mile on almost any road you drive some days.

getting where even seeing a bald eagle is so normal , it's like oh an eagle been 3-4 days since I seen one

not like 30 years ago where it was like the only one you saw all year.

The same here during the migration they seem to be on about every round bale like you say 1 or more per square mile is not uncommon. Just seen a juvenile bald Eagle today when checking my game cam.

I learned to hunt by hunting wild pheasants in the early 1960.s. and 1970 .s and some places in PA even had some birds in the early 1980.s My part of PA had very few deer in the same time period. York county for example would usully have about 350 antlerless deer killed in those days As compared to now probably near to 1000 or more So bird hunting was the main game to hunt . .Dog hunters usually did better than just a few guys lining up and walking the fields But anyone that was wiling to put on experience would get chance of your 2 bird limit for a day .Hunting with a dog or two is the best way o completely enjoy the experience of hunting ringnecks And a wiley wild rooster was a real trophy to get .They can fly with the best game bird out there They have no problem running and flushing out of range and they will also decide to sit tight in cover and allow you to walk by A dog is a great help in all of those scenarios. Now that I am not hunting any more the thing that bothers me the most is not taking my dogs out and working the cover and hopefully bagging a couple of birds I Seeing the excitment of the dogs is worth every minute of the time spent hunting If my dogs think i am getting ready to go out on a hunt they recognized the clothing and all and they get all excited before we ever get out of the driveway It makes me feel sad to not go out with them It is truly a joy that everyone should take part of sometime in life. Lugnut !!! thanks for your post You are still one of those of us that remember the days of our youth and hold it fondly in our child hood and teenage memory May you have many seasons ahead .

when I was a kid we had a bit of a breeding pheasant population 80s and very early 90s, my grandpa and uncle talk about massive numbers of them 50-70s

Grandpa talks about combining corn down to the last maybe 50-60 rows in the middle of a field then they would line up and walk along side the combine birds would be flying out left and right and they would be dropping them

Grandpa also put a very serious hurt on fox in the early mid 50s , if you wonder where that rule about not hunting with the aid of an aircraft came from they had WWII pilot with a plane he kept on his little farm just down the road from grandpas farm. he had a big ol civil defense surplus speaker mounted on the wing strut and would call down where the fox were coming out , they would run them down in cars on frozen fields the person riding passenger really was riding shotgun he knelt on the seat hanging out the window and shooting fox as the driver put him along side (all parties involved are now deceased and yes all from old age )

didn't have coyotes yet they didn't seem to come till the late 80s

given the years I expect the very low raptor population (possibly attributed to DDT) but considering pheasants lay eggs and you would expect DDT to effect them also I bet there was a lot of farmers practicing SSS when they had chicken thieves, the low fox and other nest predator populations and quantities of CRP ground probably did a lot for the production of pheasants.

Hey some great insight into how other generations did things Not to be judgemental It was a different time Many people still where recovering from the great depression And game was a meal more than a sporting event .If a kid was going to be allowed to hunt it was required that he came home with food for supper .Neat info .x

There was a bounty on fox and hawks here in Pa in the 40’s and 50’s wasn’t there?

Good stuff. We've got 1 bird dog at home, and 1 is away at training... and we are chomping at the bit for our season to open on November 11th.

I need my 3 for a chislic feed I better get to it today.

Are hawk numbers are way down this year. I'm assuming the bird flew got them. Rabbit, quail and pheasant numbers are way up

A friend and I were discussing the loss of wild pheasants in PA. We both agree that there is no single factor that can be attributed to the decline and eventual loss.

It was a series of factors. Some of the more significant factors include the avian flu pandemic in 1968, the banning of DDT and protection of raptors in the late 60's, the development of timothy, alfalfa and other types of hay that could be harvested much earlier in the spring than was previously possible, that is when pheasants were nesting and many were killed by sickle bars. The advent of clean-farming techniques that removed many of the old, small-farm hedgerows that were ideal cover. A drop in fur prices resulting in increased predation in the mid to late 80's. That was about the same time our Game Commission ignorantly created a separate Fur Takers License which, combined with low fur prices, caused even more guys to quit trapping. prior to that you could trap on your regular hunting license. The new Furtakers License was the same cost as a hunting license.

There are more contributing factors but that is the gist of it.

Great pics. Thanks for sharing.

I went to Pennsylvania for the very first time in my life for a pheasant hunt this past Friday and Saturday. It was a great experience and a great memory to hold on to. Friday we hunted over a Brittany Spaniel and Saturday over a Drahtaar. The last time I hunted over a dog was in 1983 and it was over an English Setter for Ruffed Grouse near Athens Ohio.

Good lord willing, I would like to go back next year to hunt pheasants again.

You are on target with much of what you say .The majority of pheasant nesting occurs in May June and early July The eggs take about 22 or 23 daya to hatch. But that count down does not happen until the hen starts sitting on the eggs full time So some of those eggs are in the start of the nest fr maybe up to 2 more additional weeks before they hatch Now a you mentioned the hay crop is being mowed in May and June . The average life span of a pheasant is about18 months So a hen born in 2023 does not lay eggs that year In 2024 they could lay eggs If that hen r nest s destroyed that hen will not likely live to produce a nest the next year . Also many farmers no long keep live stock so in many areas the mixed in fields of hay are no longe needed Thus you end up with massive fields of Soybeans or corn Some of that is OK but no grass over usually means no phesant nesting

Don...you whack any with the smoothbore?

Very few birds in my area of the state this year. We saw 4 all weekend. Killed 3 of them. At least I know my CZ .28 does the job well.

I don't hunt them anymore, but I enjoy having them around out my back door. Great pictures, and I have never hunted them with a dog, but I bet it would be more fun watching the dog than actually hunting.

Looks like you guys did well!

That looks like a wild pheasant paradise to me snowy.