Released pheasants are useless!

deeksofdoom

Okay I have a theory which I think that is shared by a lot of guys that released birds are useless, I mean estate reared hens which are hatched under incubators which are for the most part imported from the UK , will not rear a clutch in their first couple of seasons. I think that the same can be said of release pens provided birds will live to breed.

I think the only way of ensuring a wild population of birds is by releasing wild hens, but where are you going to get them. Any dealer that claims that his birds are wild is talking out his aras, because how in all fairness can you catch up wild birds if they are not used to being hand fed.

Sure enough released birds will go wild after a couple of years, but how do you ensure a truly wild population of birds and get them to breed.

Your opinions on this would be appreciated.

Half-cocked

There was some research done a good few years back about survival and breeding rates among released pheasants. Seems that only 2-3% of released birds successfully adapted to the wild and bred. It was partly on foot of this that the government subsidy to clubs relesing birds was stopped. The idea had been that we would build up a large wild population of birds that would attract foreign shooters and thereby boost the tourist trade. With such a miserable return, the scheme was scrapped:(

I know of one off shore island that is teeming with pheasants - no foxes and few corvids. The only predation is by gulls and rats. They would be truly wild as no releasing has taken place since the 60's. There must be islands on the midlands lakes in a similar situation where wild birds could be trapped? Don't know how fox savvy they would be though.

EPointer=Birdss

Get yourself some bantams & hatched eggs.
She will turn em & hatch em better than an incubator.
She will teach them to feed, scratch etc
Most important of all she will teach them to roost.

We kept back 2 hens to experiment this year & both hens hatched under a bantan hatched her own clutch of eggs. One was a viscious yoke it was gas! This gives me stong confidence that the other hens we released do the very same in the wild.

About 60 plus birds shot in the club this year between 4 of us, approx. 50% of those were either bantan raised ot wild hatched.
The remaining 50% were bought as 8 week old poults, tagged & released with the hen raised birds in an open top release run & all learned to roost by copying the others.
They were got the 1st week of September & made the season. All shot within half mile of the release run & hoppers near it, up until the last day.
As i was telling one of the lads, of 40 released 27 tagged cocks were shot & there are still plenty around that got clever & stay near the back of houses where people feed em...
Buyin em & just leavin em off is a waste of time...

deeksofdoom

EPointer=Birdss wrote: »

Get yourself some bantams & hatched eggs.
She will turn em & hatch em better than an incubator.
She will teach them to feed, scratch etc
Most important of all she will teach them to roost.

We kept back 2 hens to experiment this year & both hens hatched under a bantan hatched her own clutch of eggs. One was a viscious yoke it was gas! This gives me stong confidence that the other hens we released do the very same in the wild.

About 60 plus birds shot in the club this year between 4 of us, approx. 50% of those were either bantan raised ot wild hatched.
The remaining 50% were bought as 8 week old poults, tagged & released with the hen raised birds in an open top release run & all learned to roost by copying the others.
They were got the 1st week of September & made the season. All shot within half mile of the release run & hoppers near it, up until the last day.
As i was telling one of the lads, of 40 released 27 tagged cocks were shot & there are still plenty around that got clever & stay near the back of houses where people feed em...
Buyin em & just leavin em off is a waste of time...

A game keeper I know says that pheasants which are raised by bantams act more like chickens then pheasants. As is evident from the birds which you are saying are being hand fed by people living in houses.

The same can be said for pheasants which are raised with Guinea Fowl on estates...... they start acting like Guinea Fowl.

Pheasants are stupid birds!

EPointer=Birdss

deeksofdoom wrote: »

A game keeper I know says that pheasants which are raised by bantams act more like chickens then pheasants. As is evident from the birds which you are saying are being hand fed by people living in houses.

The same can be said for pheasants which are raised with Guinea Fowl on estates...... they start acting like Guinea Fowl.

Pheasants are stupid birds!

I sad nothing about by hand Deeks. They scatter bread & bird seed to draw em into the gardens & they hang around the fields near the houses. From the ones i've spoken to they fly off the minute someone comes out.
I wonder is you game keeper friend hunting the birds pre season?
I doubt it, I bet he only does the boundrys to keep the birds in the shoot so when the beating line approaches they get up in droves.

We hunt the dogs all Oct to freshen em up but also to smarten up the pheasants. By time Nov hits they are believe me my friend not chickens. Not that they ever were in the 1st place from what i have seen.
Our bantams are grand wild birds too. I will take a video later in the season & show you the birds in the pens & how they react when we approach.
Don't let one opinion put you off, I bet you will get better return out of bantam birds than any bought in ones.

pullandbang

My theory is the more hens you have floating around, the more cocks they'll hold in an area. My theory was "confirmed" last Sunday when we put up quite a few released hens (where there was none before) and managed to bag three cocks in the same area. Each cock had two or three hens with him.

Whether the released hens breed successfully or not is another debate and I'm a firm believer that they will in time. The point is, they will hold any surviving cocks in the area.

Think about it, young healthy blokes on a night out are not going to stay in a pub which is devoid of females! They'll keep moving from pub to pub until they find them. Same is true of all males - unless of course you're a poofter!

EPointer=Birdss

P&B I noticed last weekend that the cocks are on the move a bit now. They are flying & fighting so your theory is correct i would think. I do also think though that it coincides with that birds look to be taking up territories now & following the hens a bit... Only 7 or 8 weeks & they'll be laying again...

irish setter

am i right in saying that buying adult birds and releasing them now is a waste of time???

jwshooter

we let out some blue backs some years ago ,mature cocks .the best hunting we ever got.
buying 6 week olds is a waste of money in my book .

buy a 100 polts @ €3.50 each ,50 cocks say 5 die in the pen .45 to let out in august .
its a wet cold time ,there all not roosting,mr fox ,cats and there favourite past time getting killed on the road, how many will you gave come nov1st.
20 if your lucky

the hens are no good to you any way only 2% will ever bring out one chick.
let them live 4 years max thats not a lot of chicks .thats only if the fox does not get them in the 24 days/nites there on the next.

silly not to shoot them really .

so your paying €350 + feed ,pens, fuel,time,for 20 odd cocks.

mallards

This year I hope to help the wild stock as much as I can with vermin control and feed etc but we will only release a tiny amount of poults and switch over to releasing grey partridge instead.

Mallards

Wolfhillbilly

We've been releasing 60-odd birds a year in the same area for about eight years now. Very rarely do we shoot hens as we are hoping agains gope that some year one of them will breed and raise a clutch. Last year one did as two wild roosters were shot this season so we are hoping that there were also a couple of hens in the clutch as well.
I'll be interested to hear how your experiment works out EPointer. We were consiering something like that ourselves. The birds we had this year were fairly good, gave us a good hunt towards the end of the season but still not the same as a wild bird. I may have rose-tinted glasses on but pen-reared birds seem to stick to hedges and ditches far more than wild birds. Years ago I remember shooting plenty of birds in rushy fields but nine from ten reared birds will be stuck in briars or a ditch. And they also really need hunted a few times before they catch on!!

homerhop

jwshooter wrote: »

we let out some blue backs some years ago ,mature cocks .the best hunting we ever got.
buying 6 week olds is a waste of money in my book .

We found it quiet the opposite JW, released over 100 mature birds, with plenty of feeders and cover for them to roost, come nov there wasnt 20 left, they stayed on the ground and wouldnt roost, when approached by dogs they sat and let the dogs catch them.
Club said never again, we built a pen, put in 600 poults lost less than 20 in the pen and by the end of jan we had shot over 450 of them. We had them tagged and records were kept. Second year we put in 1000 and shot 700.

deeksofdoom

Some mixed responses there I guess its all down to the strain of birds that you release. But hens seem to be a waste of time for the most part. Your putting them out in a vain attempt for them to breed.

We have one farm which is close to a shoot, there have been birds coming in there all season and every week/day at the start of the season there were fellas in there shooting cocks. Now there's about 30 or 40 hens just getting up in bunches, it used to be the best shooting area in the club now its going to be ruined, with stupid hens running all over the place and disturbing any birds that do actually lay.

jwshooter

homerhop wrote: »

We found it quiet the opposite JW, released over 100 mature birds, with plenty of feeders and cover for them to roost, come nov there wasnt 20 left, they stayed on the ground and wouldnt roost, when approached by dogs they sat and let the dogs catch them.
Club said never again, we built a pen, put in 600 poults lost less than 20 in the pen and by the end of jan we had shot over 450 of them. We had them tagged and records were kept. Second year we put in 1000 and shot 700.

it sounds like they were not x shoot birds or caught up wild ones ,but captive reared .
there worse that chickens.

the birds we cought came from ballinacuir in wicklow you would be lucky to get with in a 100 yards of them ,mad feckers.

EPointer=Birdss

I feel adults are a pure waste of time! Can't teach an old dog new tricks & all that.
If you can teach em to roost & you hunt em pre season you will have good pheasants, end of in my opinion. We have tried every variation & way over the years & poults released with our own few bantam raised pheasants & bantams themselves in open top run with plenty of trees has worked a treat. We only bought cocks as our own hens will lay & have proved they will, so no need to buy incubator hens that wont lay.
Hence every released hen in theory has the potential to hatch a brood or 2. Hence a strong wild population.
We have good relationship with local farmers & they tell us when they are planning to cut silage.We hunt all fields with the pointers before hand & can be guaranteed to pick up a few clutches of eggs that you put a hen off. Pop them in a wooly hat, bring em home & put em in an incubator. Not ideal put better than them getting run over which does happen as well sometimes. More clues to a strong wild population.
On top of all this if you don't irradicate the foxes now (before they lay) & keep on top of them through the season your wasting your time. I ease off in Nov as the birds are reared so not as easy targets. Keep a few traps going. Mink the same & you need to "relocate" wild cats that will take up residence near release runs. Don't forget the corvids! Hit them hard now also.

Lot of lads put off, using bantmas as there is a lot of work involved & 1 or 2 commited lads in the club get landed with the job every night... :eek:
Try it & see before knocking it I say anywho...

deeksofdoom

jwshooter wrote: »

it sounds like they were not x shoot birds or caught up wild ones ,but captive reared .
there worse that chickens.

the birds we cought came from ballinacuir in wicklow you would be lucky to get with in a 100 yards of them ,mad feckers.

So is it possible to buy wild hens? Are they estate reared birds or are they truly wild? will they raise a clutch of chicks?

I think your best bet would be to get in a wild batch of hens and then release cheaper estate reared cocks. This would promote a wild stock of birds in the club.

EPointer=Birdss

deeksofdoom wrote: »

So is it possible to buy wild hens? Are they estate reared birds or are they truly wild? will they raise a clutch of chicks?

I think your best bet would be to get in a wild batch of hens and then release cheaper estate reared cocks. This would promote a wild stock of birds in the club.

Deeks if you like I will hold back a few hens for you this year & you can test em out in a pen next year to see if they lay?

deeksofdoom

EPointer=Birdss wrote: »

Deeks if you like I will hold back a few hens for you this year & you can test em out in a pen next year to see if they lay?

Very kind of you E=pointer, we don't have a pen in the club at the moment. But a friend of mine has one that I could use which county are you?

EPointer=Birdss

deeksofdoom wrote: »

Very kind of you E=pointer, we don't have a pen in the club at the moment. But a friend of mine has one that I could use which county are you?

PM sent

sniper83

A fella in our club had 2 hens with a cock layin eggs in a pin. When we had enough eggs we let them off.
we managed to hatch about 60 chicks with the help of bantams but all the chicks got a flippin virus and died. Twas very frustrating expecially when we had them vaccinated:(
Dont no is it worth the hassel mite jus buy poults this year but would'nt mind having a go myself...

jwshooter

i buy some x layers every year just 20-30 and let them about the house.
there €3 each.

they have not hatched any young birds this 3 years, that iv seen.

the feeder by the house has 5 cocks and 4 hens every morning ,i should have more hens by right.

if we get another horrible summer ,wild pheasants will be all most wiped out

irish setter

our club have tried many different methods of release over the years and for the past few years have been releasing adult birds caught up off shoots with no real success. the club next to us use the same method and have alot of success with it. the difference i believe is the source of birds and the fox control. little or none done in our club bar the bit i do so making an effort to step it up this year also we are buying the birds from the same place

deeksofdoom

In fairness the replies for the most part are mixed some people swear by pheasant release pens and others by relasing adult birds. its probably down to the strain of birds but its impossible to know what are the best strains to get coz the fellahs selling them are going to tell you what you want to know and if a bird particuar type of bird does well one part of the country it may not do so well in another, at the end of the day its all down to luck.