Tame Pheasants

kermitpwee

I spotted 3 cocks in the one field today, well the first one was on the road. I stopped the car just beside him and opened the window and he didn't blink. I got out and spooked him and off he went with the two boyo's! If i had a dog with me i would have sent him in just to give the cocks a bit of experience. I don't think these guys will be ready till next year for shooting. They were ok size wise but had no sense. Im a bit surprised because they have been out for 3-4 months. It would be a shame to shoot them come november.

Anybody experience anything similar this year?

irish setter

same story this time every year. when the hard weather sets in and mr. fox gets hungry they won't last

Thomasofmel

Seen lots of them in fields - could catch them by hand - I recon if there would be sand they would try to hide their heads to make themselves 'invisible'. In few weeks time they make too easy targets

EPointer=Birdss

Lads ye should be out running ye're dogs on these birds 1ce or 2ce a week for 3 or 4 weeks. Wont be long getting wild once their hunted a few times.
Gets the dogs fit too....
Sure can't be just walking out the 1st & shooting fish in a barrell.:eek:

homerhop

Thomasofmel wrote: »

Seen lots of them in fields - could catch them by hand - I recon if there would be sand they would try to hide their heads to make themselves 'invisible'. In few weeks time they make too easy targets

No point in shooting fish in a barrel, the lads/lasses behind the trigger should have the savy to let them off.

mallards

EPointer=Birdss wrote: »

Lads ye should be out running ye're dogs on these birds 1ce or 2ce a week for 3 or 4 weeks. Wont be long getting wild once their hunted a few times.
Gets the dogs fit too....
Sure can't be just walking out the 1st & shooting fish in a barrell.:eek:

Couldn't agree more!

cavan shooter

As pointer says work the dogs around them, good for birds and good for dogs. I have on occassion were pheasants are too close to roads or sitting out in fields (asking for trouble) popped off a couple of shots in there direction.

Next time they saw someone come into the field itwas a case of
beep beep zooom

stevoman

EPointer=Birdss wrote: »

Lads ye should be out running ye're dogs on these birds 1ce or 2ce a week for 3 or 4 weeks. Wont be long getting wild once their hunted a few times.
Gets the dogs fit too....
Sure can't be just walking out the 1st & shooting fish in a barrell.:eek:

aint that the truth. i have a few wild clutches hearts broken now at this stage. Im running my dog on them the whole time and everyone's a winner! the birds have a better chance and the dog is getting loads of experience.

we are going to get those estate birds that have been shot over, cocks and ex laying hens for next year. anyone any experience of these. the lads maintain they are a master bird to hunt and they will survive in the wild. we'l release all of those in march in time for breeding.

pullandbang

stevoman wrote: »

we are going to get those estate birds that have been shot over, cocks and ex laying hens for next year. anyone any experience of these. the lads maintain they are a master bird to hunt and they will survive in the wild. we'l release all of those in march in time for breeding.

Speaking from experience it's a complete waste of space. Did it in 2007 in two neighbouring clubs. One put out feeders to hold them and the other did nothing, just let them out here and there. Come Summer both lots of birds were gone - vanished into thin air. I noticed when actually letting them out of the boxes they just walked out and sauntered off up the ditch. This years locally produced birds took off like rockets once the cages were opened.

See the picture in this thread.

killalanerr

stevoman wrote: »

aint that the truth. i have a few wild clutches hearts broken now at this stage. Im running my dog on them the whole time and everyone's a winner! the birds have a better chance and the dog is getting loads of experience.

we are going to get those estate birds that have been shot over, cocks and ex laying hens for next year. anyone any experience of these. the lads maintain they are a master bird to hunt and they will survive in the wild. we'l release all of those in march in time for breeding.

my experience with this system of releasing mature birds is some what different to the other poster,we have released mature cocks on to the club lands for over 5 years now and we have had grate success with this system,the birds are released at the end of the season to replace the cocks which have been culled over the year they do very well as they tend a follow the wild hens who know the best feeding and roosts in their area,you need to keep a good eye out for Mr fox but the poults they produce are reared in the wild and along with the released cocked which turn wild to after hanging out with the hens for the summer make for wild birds which are a real challenge to hunt
having said all that we rared polts this year as well for the first time in 5years which i feel is a waste of time and go to make easy foxfoder so it will be interesting when the tags start coming in to see which give the best return mature or home grown

greylag

a retired game keeper told me that the birds that make it through the season on driven shoots and are sold off in the spring time only survive because they dont fly over the guns. the tend to run from the cover and wont get up. we have tried releasing them in the spring time and found them to a complete waste of money. one of them was shot 8 miles from where he was released.
it makes more sense to buy the same bird in october at least he has not as much time to wander off before the shooting season begins. it would work even better if you had released a few poults as normal during the summer as they would mix in with them and would hold.

Wolfhillbilly

stevoman wrote: »

aint that the truth. i have a few wild clutches hearts broken now at this stage. Im running my dog on them the whole time and everyone's a winner! the birds have a better chance and the dog is getting loads of experience.

we are going to get those estate birds that have been shot over, cocks and ex laying hens for next year. anyone any experience of these. the lads maintain they are a master bird to hunt and they will survive in the wild. we'l release all of those in march in time for breeding.

We've been putting birds down year after year for the past seven or eight seasons and topping them up with estate birds in springtime in a hope to get a wild population established again. Most years the estate birds are nowhere to be seen come shooting season and the birds that we have left over from our stock which we buy as poults never seem to breed in teh wild. This year there has been one clutch of young birds in the area so I'm hoping that is the start of a proper wild stock of birds in the area.
The poults that are let our can be too easy shot at times. On Saturday for exanple we let the first couple go as it would have been too easy. They'd found the first feeder, and were standing looking at us when we entered the field. We hunted them up a few times and when the dog is at them for a while, they don't take long to develop a bit of sense.

EPointer=Birdss

The reason ye can't establish wild cluthes is 2 fold.
1) Predatation
2) All bought birds are incubator birds. You need hens hatched out of clocking hens! I had hens from A.Wogan this year who are as wild as you will get & had 2 sit on their nest for 2 & 3 weeks & then come off them!
In another run I had one of our own hens hatched out of a clocking hen last year hatch 2 seperate clutches.
For the majority of the season we collect eggs place em under broody bantam hens. (You need plenty of these)
Any overspill which there always is go into an incubator. When they hatch they are slipped under the hen with new chicks. A big hen can cover 30+ chicks in a box. Near the end of the season when the eggs slow down if the pheasant hens show signs of sitting we leave them alone with them. An odd incubator bird will hatch in my experience.

We've had dozens of wild cluthes this year. Before any farmer cuts the grass we ask them to tell us. We run the dogs on the long leads to find any nests. If there's eggs we collect em & put em in the incubator, if there's chicks they get slipped under a hen if possible. If not a red light.
From talking to the local farmers they've mentioned seen loads of wild clutches this year as well as the one's you bump into when fixing fences etc
They don't tend to wander as far either when hatched with the hen.
In summary it takes a lot of work to get a wild stock established but once you do you'll have way better sport & birds!