Phesant Release

Thomas Drennan

Hi lads being releasing phesants since i was teenager and im now in my late 40ts and its fair to say to this day i have failed to hod my birds on the ground i release them on ,tried game crop found most of it a waist of time bantam reared them for the last few year even took the bantams to the release pen tought it might help hold them even took the rooster said he would vocal and might be a call back sound but to know avail any ideas

daithi55

this might be a lot of hassle for one person but rathcormac gun club are having great success with this method http://www.rathcormacgunclub.ie/section422927_147500.html

EPointer=Birdss

Same breed? Wasn't Michigan blue backs by any chance? Right wonderers
Has neighboring clubs left crops late or anything?
Mild bit wet weather might not be helping. Our groves are drowned wet & holding zero birds. Their going to drier ground.
I've found this year that a lot of houses are feeding out of their back yard coupled with this which is drawing birds. One neighbour told me he'd 12 cocks feeding out his back & would I mind not shooting them :rolleyes:
I said I won't within a 100 yards & I'd be there off season gunless training the pup.

Birdnuts

EPointer=Birdss wrote: »

Same breed? Wasn't Michigan blue backs by any chance? Right wonderers
.

Don't they also run the Ringnecks out of town??

wwwboof

try keeping 7/8 birds in the pen until late in the season say first week of jan and let 6/7 birds out every couple of days from sep on.

i have done this for 2 years now with sucess works well for partridge.

but the main thing to do is plenty of feed as many feeder as posable in the area.:D
and be on top of the vermain

landkeeper

that may work with partridge but pheasants are not covey birds they act differently they like to wander and the bluebacks and better flying strains have little or no homing instinct
food and dogging in are really the only way to keep pheasants where you want them

terminator2

full hoppers will hold birds

Alchemist2

full hoppers will hold birds... not a mission in mild conditions when there is an abundance of wild food..

EPointer=Birdss

Birdnuts wrote: »

Don't they also run the Ringnecks out of town??

I dunno. They're a bit smaller i'd say & I didn't notice any aggression. Lovely looking bird. Last time we had em we'd get a few in the woods in the edge of the shoot which was a great mix but returns weren't great.
Reeves I've heard are territorial alright.

EPointer=Birdss

Does that hold spice do anything or is they just a gimmick?

Thomas Drennan

I tried ever breed black necks ring necks you name it have about 14 barrell feeders out nearly all year round ,I trap and shoot magpies grey crows and foxes nearly all year,as my birds come at different stages i try to get them out at 6 weeks to prevent them turning into farm yard fowel,but after about 2 weeks i could meet them in groups 2 miles from where i released them

Birdnuts

Thomas Drennan wrote: »

I tried ever breed black necks ring necks you name it have about 14 barrell feeders out nearly all year round ,I trap and shoot magpies grey crows and foxes nearly all year,as my birds come at different stages i try to get them out at 6 weeks to prevent them turning into farm yard fowel,but after about 2 weeks i could meet them in groups 2 miles from where i released them

Red Legged Parthridges are like that too - I encoutered birds near Kill Village that had been released a few weeks prior nearer Newbridge according to what I found out subsequently

landkeeper

out at 6 weeks , do you mean out of pens at 6weeks? if so they are far too young

Thomas Drennan

I found that by releasing the phesant at 6 weeks they adapt to the wild better ,birds kept 2 long turn into domestic fowel and make bad hunting and easy prey for foxes, dont forget my birds have easy access to the pen and can enter and leave at will and with the mother inside should help hold them but im afraid not .:cool:

landkeeper

without writing an essay the whole principle of a release pen is to instil some sort of homing action in the birds , you should site it in an area that they would normally find attractive with shelter food and suchlike they will regard that general area as their home turf
it sounds to me as if your ground isn't attractive to birds or they are getting too much disturbance where they are OR they are not getting enough time without disturbance before they have settled

Ronnie Beck

you could ring them and put the word out to local clubs. See where they're going. Just an idea.

Thomas Drennan

Thanks lads for the feed back i hope to contact one or two people for further info

Sika98k

landkeeper wrote: »

without writing an essay the whole principle of a release pen is to instil some sort of homing action in the birds , you should site it in an area that they would normally find attractive with shelter food and suchlike they will regard that general area as their home turf
it sounds to me as if your ground isn't attractive to birds or they are getting too much disturbance where they are OR they are not getting enough time without disturbance before they have settled

I think Landkeeper sums it up nicely,without as he says,writing an essay.

But where you say you release the birds at 6 weeks do you mean you put them out in a release pen ? If you let them out in the big bad world their timespan on this planet will be short.

Thomas Drennan

Well i take the bantam to the release pen at 3 weeks over the next 3 weeks the bantam teaches them to fourage catch incects an freeze when something passes over and go to roost its at the 7 week mark the problem starts its at this time they decide to head off ,pity because the few that hold are great hunting,far before the bird on the ground at 9 or 10 weeks.

oats 2

released my poults this year earlier than usual.they were starting to pick each other so said f..k it i will let them off. not sure exact age but anyway they really survived well.way more street wise than the adult birds the club got in october.same problem tho they tend to wander a bit.pheasants are difficult i think an not getting any easier in certain areas.areas wit advanced dairy farming an land being reclaimed is affecting the habitats of wild pheasants.only for the woodcock we'd av little around here but its hard to beat the noise of a cock pheasant breaking cover wit the springer up its backside.