It's pretty standard here to holler out "Hen!" when you flush one so everybody knows what it is. Saves you the effort of shouldering your gun!

That’s how it used to be back in the day trapdog, back when hens were illegal.

I think all that spraying of DDT had a big impact on the pheasant population here.

Stocked birds arent going to turn into a breeding population anyhow.I dont see a problem with shooting those hens.

You might be surprised if you really knew how many stocked birds you were shooting in even South Dakota.

I would hope that sportsmen wouldn't ever shoot hens in case there may be a chance that there's enough habitat in the area to support a hen with a brood next spring. Lack of habitat is what decides wildlife populations - weather has an effect too - but habitat is the key. Habitat - if you build it they will come - hens will provide a chance to seed the area.

I agree with you on shooting stocked hens. These are wild birds, however, and it isn't legal to shoot them.

When I was a pup in the late '50's pheasants were thick in most of the south half of the Lower Peninsula. My father shot them by the bushel. By the time I was in junior high they were noticeably fewer. By the late 1970's they were getting downright scarce. Today there are pockets of birds where a guy might find enough to own a pointer, but for a huge swath of country they are basically gone. Nobody seems to have a good answer as to why either. DDT has been outlawed for decades, many areas seem to have the same type of cover too. It is a mystery as to what has changed. There are, however, many more predators now than in the Michigan pheasant glory days.....hawks were shot legally on sight. Nest raiders were trapped by thousands of rural kids as a rule as well. Our quail today are non-existant, and grouse are disapearing in the southern third of the state as well.

It’s been tried in Pennsylvania. A huge area near the center of the state was set aside as a wild pheasant propagation area. No hunting was allowed for years, no dog training, nothing.

They created thousands and thousands of acres of ideal pheasant habitat and stocked the crap out of it. It went on for 10 or 15 years before they shut it down because no viable breeding population was established.

Like I said above, there is basically a zero chance any stocked hen is going to breed and create a new wild population.

It's been tried elsewhere too and hasn't worked. Sure seems like it should, but just doesn't.

Way to go.Congrats

Ring necked pheasant aren't native so my money is on at least some percentage of stocked birds surviving and successfully breeding.

160looser 2 inches on the end of the barrel might be a bid deal to a guy like you but wouldn't make much difference to me. Now that I've insulted you I am trying to remember did you post at one time that you had an old school .257 Roberts layin around without a job? I sure wish I had never parted with mine that little rifle made meat fairly effortlessly. The 80 grain stuff wasn't any harder on coyotes than what guys tout as fur friendly loads and the 119 grain soft points would plant even the bigger end of the Kansas deer. I miss that ugly rifle.

Did the same here.Didnt work.Thats why I said shoot them stocked hens because they are not going to be breeders anyway.

I don't understand that. They got here originally somehow since they're not native..... i.e. were stocked and somehow created a breeding population. What changed?

Hey Lugnut, do the birds flush without dogs. I got a permit to trycause I might have some tome to go. I sure miss the old days when we had wild birds.

Doug,

Been trying to contact you but you are over your limit in private msgs.

Didn't mean to highjack your thread.

Sorry Bob, I cleaned some out.

It was a combination of factors that originally wiped them out, we had a major breakout of the avian flu about the time the decline started. The spraying of DDT took its toll. Federal protections for raptors took a toll. The fur market bottoming out in the mid-80s took a toll. The advent of clean farming techniques took a toll. There were other factors involved as well. Quite a few things came together to form a perfect storm that took us from an over abundance of pheasants in Southeast Pennsylvania to the lack of a breeding population in a little over two decades.

As to why all attempts to establish a wild breeding population have failed to date, I have never heard any type of explanation that makes any sense. Your guess is as good as mine.