sunny phesant

dicky82

got this lad yesterday, he was a crafty fecker, he broke vertical three times into the sunlight meaning i couldn't manage a shot. i did see where he landed each time though, the fourth time he broke though the sun was behind me, nice tail, a released bird.

pmac77

how was he for meat? was he lite after the cold spell or did he keep condition?

blackstairsboy

That's what I love about hunting with springers. You really have to work for your birds. The hunting is what it is all about for me. Watching springers really hunt a bird especially old and wily cock pheasants that run ahead of the dogs and make things difficult and interesting. For me to shoot one old wily cock pheasant with spurs half an inch long in January after a hard and long hunt gives much more satisfaction than shooting any amount of birds on the opening day or week.

dicky82

pmac77 wrote: »

how was he for meat? was he lite after the cold spell or did he keep condition?

im just looking at the picture there again, it doesn't do him justice, he was quite plump, plenty of hoppers out to be fair though.

dicky82

lads can anyone tell me whats an impressive tail length? i think this lad has an impressive one but i'll measure it tomorrow. whats average?

EPointer=Birdss

dicky82 wrote: »

lads can anyone tell me whats an impressive tail length? i think this lad has an impressive one but i'll measure it tomorrow. whats average?

Just be happy with what god gave you Dicky. :D:D

Birdnuts

Ha Ha!! - love the smug look on your buddies face:D:D;)

steyrman2

nice bird is that a cable tie on his leg i have shot a few around here we use different colour ones each year

dicky82

yep its a cable tie, just to give me an idea of what my return is.

dicky82

EPointer=Birdss wrote: »

Just be happy with what god gave you Dicky. :D:D

reminds me of the joke, 'who you going to please with that little thing' . . . 'ME'

kermitpwee

dicky82 wrote: »

lads can anyone tell me whats an impressive tail length? i think this lad has an impressive one but i'll measure it tomorrow. whats average?

Hard to know mate. They usually measure them from the beak to the end of the tail with the bird stretched out. If ya use this method then 42inches would be a good bird.

Spunk84

dicky82 wrote: »

lads can anyone tell me whats an impressive tail length? i think this lad has an impressive one but i'll measure it tomorrow. whats average?

i think 36 to 42 is good size tail length but then again i really dont care what size of tail the bird has as long as its a good size bird.

I pay more attention to their spurs and colors than tails.

dicky82

well, i measured it today just out of curiosity, it was a whisker under 36".

dicky82

Spunk84 wrote: »

i think 36 to 42 is good size tail length but then again i really dont care what size of tail the bird has as long as its a good size bird.

I pay more attention to their spurs and colors than tails.

someone told me that you can roughly tell the age of the bird by the spur size, how long could a cock phesant live though? surely two seasons would be average?

blackstairsboy

I was told that nearly all will not see a fourth year. Maybe wild birds would survive longer I don't know. Should do an experiment releasing birds with different tags for each year. Should give a good insight.

EPointer=Birdss

blackstairsboy wrote: »

I was told that nearly all will not see a fourth year. Maybe wild birds would survive longer I don't know. Should do an experiment releasing birds with different tags for each year. Should give a good insight.

We Tag different colours every year. So far a 3 year span is best I've seen but that's not to say the old Wiley birds don't get shot at all & last another year or 2... Most birds I shoot though are 1-2 yrs with the majority been from the current season.
Also some amount of wild birds around this year! Dry early breeding season a god send!

blackstairsboy

That's true all right a dry May and June makes all the difference. We have a lot of wild birds around. Fingers crossed for this year.;)

ronn

dicky82 wrote: »

yep its a cable tie, just to give me an idea of what my return is.

thats a good idea but would the birds leg not grow into the cable tie?? Is there not bands like they use on racing pigeons or rubber bands,

dicky82

i released these birds in september so the leg was well formed by that stage, also there was enough room for the tie to spin round but not a huge gap that could result in it snagging, the reason i released these birds so late was because i don't have release pens and im not set up for foxes, so releasing them as poults would have been a waste. just my way of trying it anyway. . .