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Things were a bit challenging here in ND this Pheasant Season... We did OK but standing crops and early heavy snows were a bit much...


Question: Anyone know of some Pheasant Farms or Pheasant hunt clubs that allow you to hunt your own dog much like a DIY hunt? Any state anywhere really... looking for options over the next 2 months.

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That’s how it is at our local one in Iowa. They just tell you which field to go to. I’d have to think there is similar in ND?

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Place here in Pa will do the same. You can either have them plant the Birds, just fly them out, or hunt Birds that have been previously released and are still out there and pay for what you come back with.

Last edited by battue; 01/08/20.

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Here in KS they plant the birds for you a couple 3 hours before you go out.... you take your dog and hunt them up.

They do a good job, the birds will even flush wild and run like the dickens like wild birds.

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The not so secret fact re most of the high end Pheasant destinations, is the hunters are flushing salted fields.

Mixing genetically inferior pen raised Birds, with the truly wild, imo is not all that wise. However, again money talks....



http://www.startribune.com/debate-i...sed-pheasants-in-south-dakota/500758651/

Last edited by battue; 01/08/20.

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Originally Posted by battue
Place here in Pa will do the same. You can either have them plant the Birds, just fly them out, or hunt Birds that have been previously released and are still out there and pay for what you come back with.


At one I frequent, you just pay for what you want planted. The key is hunting after some huge corporate hunt where they plant hundreds. I can pay for 10 and walk away with as many as I can shoot.

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Originally Posted by battue
The not so secret fact re most of the high end Pheasant destinations, is the hunters are flushing salted fields.

Mixing genetically inferior pen raised Birds, with the truly wild, imo is not all that wise. However, again money talks....



http://www.startribune.com/debate-i...sed-pheasants-in-south-dakota/500758651/

PAYWALLED! the greedy bastards. But I suspect winter and predators are the great equalizers. At least in SD & ND


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Originally Posted by DanTanna
Originally Posted by battue
Place here in Pa will do the same. You can either have them plant the Birds, just fly them out, or hunt Birds that have been previously released and are still out there and pay for what you come back with.


At one I frequent, you just pay for what you want planted. The key is hunting after some huge corporate hunt where they plant hundreds. I can pay for 10 and walk away with as many as I can shoot.



Tell me more about the one you frequent ... Are they open Jan/Feb...? Where is this place? Rates, Website?

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Originally Posted by battue
Mixing genetically inferior pen raised Birds, with the truly wild, imo is not all that wise. However, again money talks....

http://www.startribune.com/debate-i...sed-pheasants-in-south-dakota/500758651/


Originally Posted by nighthawk
PAYWALLED! the greedy bastards. But I suspect winter and predators are the great equalizers. At least in SD & ND


This is one of those cases where opening an Incognito window in Chrome or a Private window in Safari gets you past their paywall. Doesn't work every where but 50%-ish of the time it does.

From the article

Last year, 214 private shooting preserves licensed by the state released at least 468,386 pheasants, up 21 percent from 2011. The total 2017 harvest of those birds — 283,254 — compares significantly to the 828,700 wild pheasants harvested in South Dakota last year.

Interesting article that neither endorses nor condemns. One of the things discussed is how raisers are getting pen-raised bird to behave more like wild but survival rates are still really low in the field.


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“IPSWICH, S.D. -- A rooster jetted out of the corn stalks as soon as Mike Ward and Jax, his German shorthaired pointer, pushed into the crop a quarter-mile away.

The bird flew low and straight, rising over a row of cedar trees that concealed two other hunters. One of them, Mike’s father, stepped out of the pines with a raised shotgun. He ended an otherwise crafty getaway with a single blast.

On a recent cold-weather hunt in the pheasant capital of the world, our group of four wing shooters enjoyed too few of those successes. The wild birds we sought on private land in McPherson County were light in number for the second year in a row.

With gigantic losses of agriculture set-aside land that reared bumper hatches of pheasants as recently as 2007, the ringneck population in South Dakota has fallen well below the state’s standards for hunter satisfaction. It still dominates all other states as a natural producer of wild hens and roosters, but habitat losses are mounting every year as more and more grasses are plowed under to plant corn and soybeans.

The trend became personal this year when we arrived at 124th Street in Hillsview Township to see trees and brush from a familiar shelter belt piled high by a bulldozer.

Anderson: Some luckier than others on Wisconsin's opening day
It made us wonder if South Dakota’s pheasant hunting scene — already laced with nearly 500,000 farm-raised birds — will increasingly rely on artificial propagation.

“Shooting preserves are becoming more of a staple,’’ said John Cooper, retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist who previously served as cabinet secretary of South Dakota Game Fish & Parks. “It’s part of South Dakota’s pheasant opportunity now, but not a part of its heritage.’’

Touchy subject

In some pay-to-hunt circles in South Dakota, it’s somewhat taboo to talk about the use of hatchery-born pheasants. Records kept by Game Fish & Parks show the industry is growing.

Last year, 214 private shooting preserves licensed by the state released at least 468,386 pheasants, up 21 percent from 2011. The total 2017 harvest of those birds — 283,254 — compares significantly to the 828,700 wild pheasants harvested in South Dakota last year.

Janelle Blaha of Game Fish & Parks helps regulate the industry. She checks on more than 100 instate commercial captive game bird breeders and additional out-of-state breeders licensed to supply the market.

In South Dakota, anyone can buy farm-raised pheasants and release them in the wild. But if hunters are paying to shoot those birds, the state requires preserve status.

Preserves can set their own bag limits and extend shooting opportunities beyond the limits of the state’s traditional season. But in exchange, they each must make a limited release of 600 pheasants — more if mortality is high — and tag each harvested bird as “wild” or “released.’’ The public-private partnership recognizes the fact that some wild birds get hunted out of season. In turn, South Dakota benefits from the preservation of good pheasant habitat managed by the preserves. Preserves can release hens, including bred hens, but hunters can’t shoot them.

Like Minnesota, South Dakota stopped releasing farm-raised pheasants decades ago.

Lou Cornicelli, wildlife research supervisor for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, said studies have shown the survival rates of stocked birds are “abysmally low.’’ In college, Cornicelli worked at New York state’s Ithaca pheasant farm.

“They get shot or eaten by coyotes and foxes,’’ Cornicelli said. “They are not very well adapted to the wild, that’s for sure.’’

At Ithaca, the roosters learned not to fly more than 8 to 10 feet off the ground because that was the height of the netting in their pens, he said.

Blaha said hunters on South Dakota’s public lands will only occasionally shoot a wayward, released bird. The telltale sign for most of those birds are remnant, oversized holes in the nose where anti-pecking blinders were mounted while the birds were in captivity. Other markings may include the clipping of a dew claw or the clipping of one toe — usually the middle one — back to the first joint, she said.

Josh Craig, a hunting guide who works west of Watertown, said his pheasant customers have experienced stellar shooting opportunities this season because his outfitting group has released hundreds of pen-raised roosters to supplement a strong base of wild birds.

“That way the hunters get their birds in a more timely fashion,’’ he said.

Wildlife biologists agree that farmed pheasants lack the instincts, cunning and flight skills of wild birds. But Craig said high-end pheasant farms are doing more to naturalize their birds by planting corn and other vegetation inside enlarged flight pens. Some operators release muzzled dogs into the pens to make the birds wary of predators, he said.

Those birds have a chance to live long on shooting preserves if the owners combine high-quality habitat with trapping programs to control predators, he said.

“We’ve come a long way from having to kick the bird to get it to fly,’’ Craig said. “I would venture to say our birds have a high survival rate.’’

On our annual hunt west of Aberdeen with family and friends, we lodged within 5 miles of South Dakota’s largest pheasant hatchery. Gisi Pheasant Farms of rural Ipswich produces upward of 800,000 roosters and hens each year, and its flight pens were still lively with market-ready roosters three weeks into this year’s season.

But Loretta Omland, supervisor at Gisi, declined to discuss the business.

“It’s such a touchy subject,’’ Omland said. “Our customers don’t want it out there.’’

The tiptoe treatment has to do with South Dakota’s reputation as the wild pheasant capital. Craig said he’s up front with customers to let them know he releases pen-raised birds, but he doesn’t dwell on it and he doesn’t say when the birds are dropped.

It’s true, according to one former supplier of tame pheasants, that some preserves prefer secretive deliveries, some in the middle of the night.

Said Omland: “We’re really confident about our business, and I’m proud of the way we do it. … But we have to zip our lips and honor our customers’ wishes.’’

Hunt not shoot

When each of our three hunting days just west of Gisi Farms ended with no one reaching his bag limit of three wild roosters, discussion turned to the day’s most memorable moments.

Hands down, top honors went to one solitary hour of field work by Jax on our final day. In that otherwise quiet window of time, the 17-month-old pup turned from vagabond flusher to focused pointer. She repeatedly stopped and lifted her right front paw over a covered hen or recently occupied grass. It was an instinctual, formative breakthrough for Jax, who worked alone with no other retrievers.

The pheasants had gotten the best of us, but each hunting day ended on the Big Sky prairie — leaning on our trucks and reflecting on our trials and tribulations as the sun set. Fine with us that we were away from the comforts of a hunting lodge.

Cooper, an avid waterfowl hunter and pheasant hunter, said it best. He longs for the return of South Dakota’s wild rooster heyday and won’t settle for shooting on a preserve.

“There’s a hunting challenge involved when there’s not a preserve,’’ Cooper said. “Give me three good dogs and four good guns and then beat your butt down by walking.’’”


Last edited by battue; 01/09/20.

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Originally Posted by Cocadori
Originally Posted by DanTanna
Originally Posted by battue
Place here in Pa will do the same. You can either have them plant the Birds, just fly them out, or hunt Birds that have been previously released and are still out there and pay for what you come back with.


At one I frequent, you just pay for what you want planted. The key is hunting after some huge corporate hunt where they plant hundreds. I can pay for 10 and walk away with as many as I can shoot.



Tell me more about the one you frequent ... Are they open Jan/Feb...? Where is this place? Rates, Website?



It’s Doc’s Hunt Club in Adel, IA. Just outside the Des Moines metro. I’m not sure on the rates, but I think they are in that average $15-$20 range. Open September through end of March I believe. They also have a lodge/cabin on site you can rent.

Very short drive into the western suburbs, and probably only 20-30mins from downtown Des Moines so quite a few hotels, bars, etc nearby.

I know they’ve got a Facebook page.

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Originally Posted by battue
The not so secret fact re most of the high end Pheasant destinations, is the hunters are flushing salted fields.

Mixing genetically inferior pen raised Birds, with the truly wild, imo is not all that wise. However, again money talks....



http://www.startribune.com/debate-i...sed-pheasants-in-south-dakota/500758651/


I’m not a game bird biologist, but I doubt of many or any pen raised birds survive very long in the wild.


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Decades ago, there was a pheasant survival study done, somewhere in the Midwest IIRC. Two 10 sq. mi areas were partitioned off; I don’t remember how now but one was open to hunting with the usual regulations an the other was closed off completely. Nor do I remember for the period of time whether it was five or ten years.

But, starting out with about equal numbers and tagged birds, the blocks’ numbers were about the same after the designated period of time. Conclusion: you cannot stockpile pheasants. In the wild there is about a 3-yr lifespan regardless.

A rooster can mate with up to twenty hens in the spring, but competes with them for food and cover over the crucial winter months so carrying a lot of roosters over the winter is actually counterproductive for game farms and even places in SD where the wild population is strong and there are also released birds.

Anyway, if egg to death averages 3 years or less for a wild bird, imagine that of a pen-reared and then released bird.

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Have hunted wild-born pheasants several states and one Canadian province, Alberta, both Dakotas, Idaho, Montana and Nebraska. Have also shot a few pen-raised birds now and then. Am always somewhat surprised when somebody who's only shot pen-raised birds thinks they''ve been pheasant hunting.


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Originally Posted by dale06
Originally Posted by battue
The not so secret fact re most of the high end Pheasant destinations, is the hunters are flushing salted fields.

Mixing genetically inferior pen raised Birds, with the truly wild, imo is not all that wise. However, again money talks....



http://www.startribune.com/debate-i...sed-pheasants-in-south-dakota/500758651/


I’m not a game bird biologist, but I doubt of many or any pen raised birds survive very long in the wild.


I worked on a bobwhite quail radio tracking project and the wild birds didn't do too well either. Weather and habitat play a huge factor as well as predators. It's interesting that pheasants, chukars, and gray partridge were all successfully introduced a 100+ years ago but we can't keep the populations going today. Habitat and predator control(especially) are things that aren't being addressed.

I expect to see more pen raised bird hunting in the future as the human population continues to grow.



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Interesting views...I have hunted pen Birds that have been out awhile and many of them were runners that didn’t hang around to be shot. Birds with predators around, that would take off and fly at the sound of you calling a Dog. Again these were Birds that had been out for some time. Ones that when you cut open their croup, you found it full.

Have also hunted wild in places we’re there were many. In these particular situations, a limit of three came easier on the wild.

Survival is a different question.

Last edited by battue; 08/09/20.

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In the last couple of years the pesticide sprays impacted pheasant in Western and Central KS... it was nasty - they finally figured it out, and hopefully they got it fixed.

We used to hunt Goodland KS opening day, but it’s a 6 hour drive, and for the cost of gas and hotel I can shoot a bunch of pen raised birds and be home to watch the game ... and do other stuff...
Kind of a hard choice to make the Western KS run

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I shot a lot of wild pheasants years ago when i was a kid but now they are so few and far between that I don't even go after them anymore. Nowadays it's all about the dog. He's the only reason I go out, just to watch him work. He can't tell if it's a wild bird or pen raised.

And it doesn't help if there are no birds in the area. Nothing to point, nothing to shoot at and nothing to retrieve.

Give me a day of chasing a pen bird(or stepping on them) and the dog is happy knowing he's done his job.


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Originally Posted by Cocadori
Things were a bit challenging here in ND this Pheasant Season... We did OK but standing crops and early heavy snows were a bit much...


Question: Anyone know of some Pheasant Farms or Pheasant hunt clubs that allow you to hunt your own dog much like a DIY hunt? Any state anywhere really... looking for options over the next 2 months.







Fun one here in NE Wyoming. The owner is great, has a new small cabin built overlooking some great ground that you can stay at if you would like. His place is called Pheasants on Kara Creek.

http://www.wyomingpheasants.com/index.html

I usually go visit his place 2 or 3 times a season. There are no natural pheasants in my area and being from the Mitchell SD area, I really enjoy the pheasant hunt.

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Haven't been there in years, but have a Bud who guides and runs his Dogs here..They sell hunt packages, so many Birds for so much. You can either have them put Birds out or hunt for Birds that have been released previously...He says the cover they have is exceptional...



http://www.tntshootinggrounds.com/photo-gallery.html


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