licence to shoot hen pheasants

ronn

any tell me how i would go about getting the the licence and if there is a fee for it,

moan 77

join a private shoot if ya want to shoot hens, but why shot the mothers of next years flock

ronn

moan 77 wrote: »

join a private shoot if ya want to shoot hens, but why shot the mothers of next years flock

i know what your saying, we bought 300 birds last year and nearly 200 were hens, we already released 70 adult cocks to help breed but our lands are over run with hens,
im just trying to get sum info for the club agm, its going to be put to the table to shoot hens this year to balance things out,

so any info on the licence would be great,

homerhop

You have to apply for a licence through the local wildlife ranger. It is based on the amount of birds you are releasing for the on coming season and what percentage of them will be hens

jwshooter

its called a section 42 .

the npws will issue it .you most lightly have to give information on your shoot ,birds bought , reared etc.

it makes very good scene to shoot extra reared hens as there a waste of space, only 2% will ever have a chick in there 4 odd years of life let alone raise it.

any one that tells you different is as bright as the hens.

ronn

thanks for that lads, ill search the npws see what the story is,:D

SpringerF

I'm told section 42's nowadays are as rare as hens teeth............... down my way at least. Something about lads sitting on their hands, somewhere in Monaghan.

moan 77

Better to be looking at them than looking for them i would disagree with the 2% quote, we relased many hens over the years about 50 a year and i have come across many new clutches in the last few years and i can tell ya that was a thing of the past until we increased the hens, but many fellow shooter said it was a waste of good money but we now reap the reward. only last weekend after the march against the greens i relased 40 adult cocks and on sunday morning i saw a cock with 8 hens all sitting togather and enjoying the sun, proof if i ever needed some. You should email Des Crofton at nargc@iol.ie he will know where to go and will point you in the right direction. You might let us know how you get on.

homerhop

We released over 1500 a year and to be honest if hens laid and hatched like some lads suggest we would release less and less each year. We have good vermin control, 300 acres of woodland and plenty of feed crops.
The same with the big shoots any gamekeeper will tell you it is not viable to leave hens which are reared on the ground. They are not successful in rearing clutches.

jwshooter

moan 77 wrote: »

Better to be looking at them than looking for them i would disagree with the 2% quote, we relased many hens over the years about 50 a year and i have come across many new clutches in the last few years and i can tell ya that was a thing of the past until we increased the hens, but many fellow shooter said it was a waste of good money but we now reap the reward. only last weekend after the march against the greens i relased 40 adult cocks and on sunday morning i saw a cock with 8 hens all sitting togather and enjoying the sun, proof if i ever needed some. You should email Des Crofton at nargc@iol.ie he will know where to go and will point you in the right direction. You might let us know how you get on.

i know des l, iv been out stalking with him a few times .

we have had 3 of the wettest summers on record also the worst winter in 40 years.
birds died in my garden where i was feeding them.

the club im in bought some mature cocks for a few years we had great hunting ,now they only buy 6 week olds hunting is crap. these birds have no brain .

studies by the NGA in england will say 2% in a well managed environment .

but every one has a opinion others use facts.

stevoman

we are going down the root of 150-200 fully grown adult cocks. About 600 eggs being hatched in an incubater for the pheasents pen. we also have members who have bantams, so we have about 10 hens on the go hatching these eggs.

we are hoping the hens that come from under the bantams will hatch next year, but we are not crossing are fingers for the incubater stock.

has anyone any experience on raising pheasents under bantams?

EPointer=Birdss

stevoman wrote: »

we are going down the root of 150-200 fully grown adult cocks. About 600 eggs being hatched in an incubater for the pheasents pen. we also have members who have bantams, so we have about 10 hens on the go hatching these eggs.

we are hoping the hens that come from under the bantams will hatch next year, but we are not crossing are fingers for the incubater stock.

has anyone any experience on raising pheasents under bantams?

Sure have & always found em to be great birds. Need to be hunted before the season to wise em up a bit at times but because the roost they generally survive. Mr Fox usually only eats em on the ground!;)

Have seen first hand that they will raise their own clutch also as held back a few to test the theory. Also held back incubator ones & 1 did but few others didn't - sat & came off them! Proof in the pudding & I will go by my own experiences...

I always hatch chicks in incubator to come out roughly same time as the bantams & slip them in with her own without trouble. Good hen can cover 30 chicks easily but I wouldn't put more than 14 eggs under em so 50% of the birds will be from incubator & 50 as natural as can be without using pheasants...
Also we see heaps of wild clutches around even with the wet summers...
Place is walking with pheasants even still. Rarely a week goes by i don't see 10 or so from the roads around home so birds we're releasing are doing the job in the wild...

stevoman

EPointer=Birdss wrote: »

Sure have & always found em to be great birds. Need to be hunted before the season to wise em up a bit at times but because the roost they generally survive. Mr Fox usually only eats em on the ground!;)

Have seen first hand that they will raise their own clutch also as held back a few to test the theory. Also held back incubator ones & 1 did but few others didn't - sat & came off them! Proof in the pudding & I will go by my own experiences...

I always hatch chicks in incubator to come out roughly same time as the bantams & slip them in with her own without trouble. Good hen can cover 30 chicks easily but I wouldn't put more than 14 eggs under em so 50% of the birds will be from incubator & 50 as natural as can be without using pheasants...
Also we see heaps of wild clutches around even with the wet summers...
Place is walking with pheasants even still. Rarely a week goes by i don't see 10 or so from the roads around home so birds we're releasing are doing the job in the wild...

Great, our bantam birds should be a success so! Im going to put 13 eggs under my silkies and see how i go. I hope to get them to hatch out two clutches each this year.

I want to tag my bantam reared birds, and tag the pen incubater birds a different colour and the fully growns a different colour again to see what the feedback is.

I honestly couldnt care if i shot no pheasants, once i know i have put breeding stock on the ground.

I was thinking about not moving my bantams reared chicks into the big pen and instead hold them back for 10 weeks and just let them out i the wild on their own and not mix them with incubater birds.

How do you encourage the birds to roost for when they are in the wild?

EPointer=Birdss

stevoman wrote: »

Great, our bantam birds should be a success so! Im going to put 13 eggs under my silkies and see how i go. I hope to get them to hatch out two clutches each this year.

I want to tag my bantam reared birds, and tag the pen incubater birds a different colour and the fully growns a different colour again to see what the feedback is.

I honestly couldnt care if i shot no pheasants, once i know i have put breeding stock on the ground.

I was thinking about not moving my bantams reared chicks into the big pen and instead hold them back for 10 weeks and just let them out i the wild on their own and not mix them with incubater birds.

How do you encourage the birds to roost for when they are in the wild?

We release em into an open top run with loads of trees & sheds at 3 to 4 weeks with the hen. She teaches em to roost generally. If the hen doesn't roost then waste of time like. Once they are ready they just fly off themselves. Often come back to roost in the pen but as you walk in they fly everywhere 7 out crowing like f**k...:D

stevoman

EPointer=Birdss wrote: »

We release em into an open top run with loads of trees & sheds at 3 to 4 weeks with the hen. She teaches em to roost generally. If the hen doesn't roost then waste of time like. Once they are ready they just fly off themselves. Often come back to roost in the pen but as you walk in they fly everywhere 7 out crowing like f**k...:D

How long would you leave them in the open run before you take the hen away to begin the next clutch?

homerhop

a few interesting studys from a few years back

http://fwpiis.mt.gov/content/getItem.aspx?id=40610

stevoman

homerhop wrote: »

a few interesting studys from a few years back

http://fwpiis.mt.gov/content/getItem.aspx?id=40610

judging by that any introduction of pheasents is quite useless. :mad:

EPointer=Birdss

stevoman wrote: »

How long would you leave them in the open run before you take the hen away to begin the next clutch?

Once I see em going up at night I take the hens away hoping she gets broody for the next clutch

stevoman

EPointer=Birdss wrote: »

Once I see em going up at night I take the hens away hoping she gets broody for the next clutch

where i am keeping mine its in a garden thats walled off and over the wall is the river and then theres a few fields and then the bog (its at the egde of town).

somewhon said to me that when the bantams are reaing the young let them have the run of the garden with the other couple of hens. he said the bantam will mother them and they will eventually just take off and and move further and further out into the bog etc. Does this make sense?

sorry now all this is new to me so its a big learning curve.

EPointer=Birdss

stevoman wrote: »

where i am keeping mine its in a garden thats walled off and over the wall is the river and then theres a few fields and then the bog (its at the egde of town).

somewhon said to me that when the bantams are reaing the young let them have the run of the garden with the other couple of hens. he said the bantam will mother them and they will eventually just take off and and move further and further out into the bog etc. Does this make sense?

sorry now all this is new to me so its a big learning curve.

Theory makes perfect sense & we used do that too but lost a half dozen great hens to a huge tom cat awhile back before he was "relocated" & half ruined that season & the following as we had to hatch out more hens for following season instead of pheasants & they were very young then for that year so no the best mothers. Back on track now. They roost grand but not the highest as pheasnats do & aren't the best at fleeing from day time predators by comparison to even young pheasants. Also given most hens are white orange etc they stand out & draw the eye of avian predators. Sparrow hawk could clean out a clutch in dat. Have seen em take them up to 7-8 weeks!! :eek:
Least in the run they've some protection & can hang CDs & keep an eye out for any lurking predators...
That's why we went the open top run route as the hens can't escape & are fairly safe. No losses season gone bar a few to a hawk...

cavan shooter

I kinda did a little experiment this year and bought poults in June but reared them up and released after the season and most recently 2 weeks ago. (Normally I bought adult birds) They are big strong birds, fed on rolled barley in the main mixed with maize with a touch of aniseed spice.

The pen is quite big and so are the hoppers so contact with them is probabally as they got older only once a week or less. They were very flighty as well and had plenty of roosting areas in the pen.

Since they were released they are still holding there own and coming to the feeders in the field, I saw one of them sparirng with a wild bird.

I dont let poults out I think your better holding them till there older, and wiser (if such a pheasant exists) and not for shooting in the season there bought. I keep a mixture of Cock and Hens and release a cock and two/three hens.
Okay Im happy if i get 2 or 3 pheasants a year and the dog gets worked.
My next job will be hunting them away from fields adjacent to roads (still too many pot hunters IMO spotting already for next year).

jwshooter

a keeper once said .
from the day a pheasant is hatched its main goal in life is to commit suicide .
by any means it can.

johngalway

jwshooter wrote: »

a keeper once said .
from the day a pheasant is hatched its main goal in life is to commit suicide .
by any means it can.

They must be related to sheep somewhere along the line.

If the 2% rule is to be believed it seems foolish not to be able shoot hens in season, what's the point in 98% of them going to waste - unless I'm missing something.

EPointer=Birdss

johngalway wrote: »

They must be related to sheep somewhere along the line.

If the 2% rule is to be believed it seems foolish not to be able shoot hens in season, what's the point in 98% of them going to waste - unless I'm missing something.

What an excellent point!
If just releasin incubator birds on that 2% rule that is an interesting comment!

johngalway

Would hen pheasants ever be tagged or ringed or numbered in some way? Just wondering as it'd be a way of figuring things out if the birds were caught up at the end of the season. Don't know a lot about fezzers me, except the ones around here are thicker than pig****.

jwshooter

were the only country that does not shoot them .

dicky82

jwshooter wrote: »

a keeper once said .
from the day a pheasant is hatched its main goal in life is to commit suicide .
by any means it can.

:D:D:P:P:P

johngalway

jwshooter wrote: »

were the only country that does not shoot them .

That would make sense.

ronn

well lads rang the npws this morning, the licence to shoot hens is called. licence to shoot pen reared birds,

all i have to do is write a letter to them saying i want to shoot hens and put in invoices for the birds that have been bought,

more info is on the npws website under licence section,
thanks for the help lads

mallards

I'm in a dilemma myself. In previous years we released both hens and cocks but only shot cocks. Only the odd hen ever raised a chick and then it was only a single chick or two. Last year we shot both hens and cocks and had a nice enough year.
I also held back 12 hens and a cock in a large enclosed pen with the intention of taking the first clutch of eggs and hatching them myself under an incubator. Then I would release the rest of the birds to raise their own clutch.

Am I better to do this or take the first clutch of eggs and rear myself until they are poults then release and also exchange the birds I have with the game rearer now, who will give me two poults in August for every bird I give him?

Mallards

Birdnuts

I don't really hunt myself so this question might come across as a bit dim for ye pros - anyway last thurday while out birdwatching near Pollardstown Fen near Newbridge I parked the car on a road on top of a ridge that offered good views over the Fen. I was just finished setting up my equipment when I noticed that in the 4 acre field right in front of me was at least 2-3 dozen pheasants, 90 % of which appeared to be hens with a lightish creamy tinge to their plumage. A nice sight to behold but what really struck me was their tameness. If my springer/collie cross who i left in the car had spotted them there would have been carnage given her strong hunting instinct that sees her quickly dispatch anything she can catch - and she is a fast dog.

Since these birds appeared to have all the survival capabilities of Rhode Island Reds I'm just wondering what sport they offer later in the year to justify the investment in their rearing?? - Do they get cuter as the year goes on or what?? - over to you guys:)

jwshooter

Birdnuts wrote: »

I don't really hunt myself so this question might come across as a bit dim for ye pros - anyway last thurday while out birdwatching near Pollardstown Fen near Newbridge I parked the car on a road on top of a ridge that offered good views over the Fen. I was just finished setting up my equipment when I noticed that in the 4 acre field right in front of me was at least 2-3 dozen pheasants, 90 % of which appeared to be hens with a lightish creamy tinge to their plumage. A nice sight to behold but what really struck me was their tameness. If my springer/collie cross who i left in the car had spotted them there would have been carnage given her strong hunting instinct that sees her quickly dispatch anything she can catch - and she is a fast dog.

Since these birds appeared to have all the survival capabilities of Rhode Island Reds I'm just wondering what sport they offer later in the year to justify the investment in their rearing?? - Do they get cuter as the year goes on or what?? - over to you guys:)

next time let your dog hunt them .you might learn some thing

Birdnuts

jwshooter wrote: »

next time let your dog hunt them .you might learn some thing

- Please expand!!

EPointer=Birdss

Birdnuts wrote: »

- Please expand!!

Even if they didn't fly I doubt your dog would ever catch 1 in a foot race!

& believe you me they get alot smarter every time they've been flushed.
You have to work hard by January to shoot one. Have seen em get up a field ahead the minute you enter it & fly for half a county they get so wild!
Remember it is breeding season now so they are a bit distracted. Wouldn't you be in a crowd of 90% women mad for some action! As for the hens probably too busy given out about the other hens to notice you. :D
Might seem tamer this time of year.
They're ground birds & they're natural instinct is to run, sit & hide rather than fly. Might seem stupid but even so when you get close they burst out of any cover. This is what makes them suitable sport birds. Most predators wouldn't catch 1 in the day, grand for us we have guns!

If you hunt them from late September with a young dog to wise both parties up a bit you'll have grand wild birds by the time the 1st Nov comes around.

Great birds pheasants!
(Awful to be wishing the life away hoping for Nov already isn't it )

Birdnuts

EPointer=Birdss wrote: »

Even if they didn't fly I doubt your dog would ever catch 1 in a foot race!

& believe you me they get alot smarter every time they've been flushed.
You have to work hard by January to shoot one. Have seen em get up a field ahead the minute you enter it & fly for half a county they get so wild!
Remember it is breeding season now so they are a bit distracted. Wouldn't you be in a crowd of 90% women mad for some action! As for the hens probably too busy given out about the other hens to notice you. :D
Might seem tamer this time of year.
They're ground birds & they're natural instinct is to run, sit & hide rather than fly. Might seem stupid but even so when you get close they burst out of any cover. This is what makes them suitable sport birds. Most predators wouldn't catch 1 in the day, grand for us we have guns!

If you hunt them from late September with a young dog to wise both parties up a bit you'll have grand wild birds by the time the 1st Nov comes around.

Great birds pheasants!
(Awful to be wishing the life away hoping for Nov already isn't it )

Thanx - As I suspected these birds undergo a steep learning curve as the year progresses so that by November their as cute as foxes:)

dicky82

Birdnuts wrote: »

Thanx - As I suspected these birds undergo a steep learning curve as the year progresses so that by November their as cute as foxes:)

but not as cute as kittens, aaawwwee..... :D:D

EPointer=Birdss

dicky82 wrote: »

but not as cute as kittens, aaawwwee..... :D:D

:rolleyes:

EastTyrone

use put the pheasant eggs under banties, but are youse making the bantie go broodie or whats the strory there??