pheasant release

irish setter

Our gun club has decided to buy surplus adult pheasants from a shoot to release this year. Just wondering have any other clubs ect tried this method and have any tips to make it as successful as possible? What kind of results could we hope for?

bunny shooter

My clubs hold them in a pen for approx 1 x week after transportation to allow them to settle. We release them early in the morning in pairs as this gives them all day to find their bearings. We release them in areas with tillage and good ditches and cover. We have been releasing adult birds for 4-5 yeras now and it seem to be working as we have a good supply of birds in our area. We have a few areas where wild clutches have been seen and raised. Our population is very healthy despite a good few being shot every season (cocks only of course). We have been buying roughly 60 hens and 40 cocks every year and the bigger number of hens seems to be paying off as they seem to be breeding and raising clutches the year after release. We release them into areas where we know there are no birds using info gathered from the members of the club.

Invincible

If you spread straw in the fields where you release the bird's,shake some oats/barley through it,this will leave them with food until they're established in the area's.Place suspended feeders away from hedge's to supplement their natural food.

Terrier

Our Club bought surplus adult pheasants and held them for 1 week from 2003 to 2006, roughly 75 birds every year. We tagged them with leg and wing tags. Not one bird was every returned to date!!
Last year we released 90 (56 cocks and 44 Hens) birds we breed ourselves (NARGC subsidized) and 11 were returned with many still visible over our shooting district. Increasing the Pen and about of birds this year to 200..

cavan shooter

I have experience of both rearing and purchasing adult birds and everything bunny shooter and invincible says is spot on. I would add the following

Make sure you ween them off or feed them what they where fed before, else theyll hitch, fly or walk back to they home place:D. Find out how there been fed Feeders are good youll need plenty ditto for cover they like to scratch and rummage so straw is good and it will hold them around the straw as it acts like entertainment,

Predators should be well controlled particulalry foxes and if you releasing pairs in spring mags and greys.

Wolfhillbilly

Our shoot hasn't had as much success with buying in adult birds. We have added 10-12 (3 cocks and rest hens) over the last few years but seem to have very little left over when teh season starts. There has been none of our birds breeding for about five years and we only shoot cocks and there are plenty od hens left over at the end of January as well as the ones we bring in.
has anyone ever heard the theory that birds hatched from incubated aggs will not breed in the wild?
Not sure if this is true but it seem to be if our shoot is anything to go by.

Invincible

I've heard that spoken of,reason meant to be,that the chick can sense whether theres a bird sitting on their egg when they're incubating.I've seen an ad in the shooters digest for adult birds that are gathered up at the end of the shoot and not "breeding stock rejects"that were caged for the winter before deciding what to keep for breeding and what to sell to the gunclubs,supposed to be used to fending for themselves,used to the wild,wary of the auld fox.

gunnerwoodcock

Hi folks reading all these posts use have me wondering am i doing the right thing we have 180 cocks and 40 hens coming in the morning we have pens ready the straw sounds like a good idea will do this .... Hope to god it works out or my heads on the chopping block ;0 ....

Mauser 308

My experience of birds caught up and sold from a shoot, is that they are runners. If you have a pointing/setting dog then they are a nightmare.

The second you enter the locality, they are running head down like Fu**. And wont sit for anything.

ronn

We got estate birds last season, I had a disaster of a season but everyone else in the club had great shooting.
We got more this year and have just stared to release them a few at a time

cookimonster

A couple of us bought 45 birds and released them in groups of 5 around our permissions . We let them out very close to our feeders with plenty of grain spread around. The smaller numbers meant calmer birds and they hung around the release area for a good while before slowly melting away.
I released 10 into a small wood with no feeders as it is surrounded on all sides by tillage fields and has held birds well in the past.