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Posted By: pullit Hens and their new family's - 06/24/22
Been seeing hens wondering around with their new little ones often around the house here. From what I am seeing, it looks like they had a good hatch. Saw some about a week ago about a mile form the house and saw some yesterday as I was going the other direction about 1/2 mile form my house. Seeing them in several fields around now that hay is being cut. Hope they all make it thru til next year.
Posted By: RIO7 Re: Hens and their new family's - 06/24/22
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My yard is full of these little critters. Rio7
My boy Max would gladly help exterminate them varmints :

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Posted By: RIO7 Re: Hens and their new family's - 06/24/22
Good Boy MAX. Rio7
I've only seen one hen with poults, so far. But, to be fair.............. I haven't looked too hard.

LOVE seeing those bobwhites !!!!!!!
I've not seen any turkey poults or quail this year.
Posted By: RIO7 Re: Hens and their new family's - 06/25/22
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Did you say Turkey's?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^

AWESOME shot !!!!!!!
Posted By: pullit Re: Hens and their new family's - 06/25/22
when I was driving, I was not quick enough with my phone to take pictures but the ones I saw were not that big yet
I've seen a bunch of hens, but none with poults. Should have been good nesting weather here, and I've trapped a bunch of coons, but I believe there is more to it than that for the decline in numbers.
Posted By: RIO7 Re: Hens and their new family's - 06/26/22
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We are covered up with Turkey's Rio7
She's got her eye on you RIO7! Lol!
Dang, that's a cool pic !!!
Posted By: RIO7 Re: Hens and their new family's - 06/26/22
Yoder, here's another. Rio7

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You kill those on nuisance permits ??? LOL !!!!

You're slap covered UP in those vermin !!!! Fun thing about Rios is they are almost ALWAYS willing participants in assisted suicide. Lots of fun to hunt. Especially hearing 30 or so toms all gobbling from the same pecan stand in the dark of the morning.
Both turkey nests by my house hatched though I haven't seen any broods nearby. That isn't surprising as the hen's seem to prefer the woods further back.

Pheasants were 50/50 for nest success. Three nests were raided with what looked like one hen caught. I'm hoping the other two renested but the neighbor cut hay early which may have hurt other nests. I've caught 21 raccoons so far and have shot two coyotes and a gray fox. An orange tabby from across the road shows up regularly but he seems to concentrate on the rabbits to my wife's joy. I've watched him walk right through the chickens with nary a glance at them.

The other three nests hatched and I've seen those broods a few times. At least I've seen three different broods. One hangs out just behind the house with another by my food plot and the third on the property line a couple hundred yards away. I've counted 23 chicks from the three groups which is a little small but it's more broods than I've seen nearby in quite a while.

I have two rooster pheasants that visit every evening. They get along quite well. Two other roosters venture into the yard and that often ends in a fight. They aren't as violent nor as long lasting as earlier but feathers generally fly.

Depending on how much the early haying adversely affected nesting, it looks like a much better than normal fall for my backyard pheasants.
Not sure where you're at..................but I'd give my left nut for naturally reproducing pheasants (or bobwhite). Around here...........you can have the best habitat possible and STILL have no pheasants or bobwhites.
I'm in Minnesota, north of the Twin Cities metro area. From home I'll shoot 20 - 30 roosters in a season with neighbor's adding another dozen or so. its not difficult to run up those numbers as cover starts 20 yards from the back door and I can do multiple 20 minute to hour long sweeps per day if I wish. I don't bag a bird every time but the opportunity to do so occurs more often than not.

There is also a small remnant ruffed grouse population in the woods outback but I stopped managing for them more than 15 years ago. They are on the way out due to being isolated and lack of genetic diversity and I'm surprised they have lasted this long. I've switched to managing for oaks instead, something the deer and turkey appreciate. Squirrels too, especially fox squirrels as they have increased from occasional sightings to common occurances. I had one raiding the bird feeder in the front yard but one day he followed the chicken across the road and didn't make it.

The only quail seen around here are those that escape from my dog training and they don't last much past first significant snow. At one time they were found around here but that was better than 80 years ago before corn and soybeans became the dominate crops.
Posted By: RIO7 Re: Hens and their new family's - 06/27/22
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Quail traffic jam. Rio7
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Love this !!!!!
Posted By: pullit Re: Hens and their new family's - 06/27/22
Just like a lot of people, you have a couple that are camped out in the left lane.
Sure wish we had some wild quail to hunt around here. There use to be some in the field across from my house but have not heard or seen them in a few years.
Seems like the only game bird that can survive here (for now) are the turkeys.

Quail were gone from here before my time. Pheasants have been put & take for decades. And even the grouse.......which 30 years ago were EVERYWHERE........are now all but extinct.
Brother just texted me that he saw 3 poults on our place. I asked him how big. He said about the size of blackbirds............... Late hatch, there.
Not poults, but youngins are out and about everywhere.

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Mamabruins with cubs really make me nervous! Be careful out there! I ended up having to defend myself against a mamabruin with cubs on a moose hunt up in NW Saskatchewan one time!
I'm expecting to see the resident mama bear and her cubs sometime in the next week. Her last two litters have been triplets so I am thinking this year's will be trips too. She is pretty shy and it is very warm so odds are it will be night pictures off the game cameras rather than actual sightings.

We brought the chickens up with us so I am really hoping to not have visitors in the yard. My biggest fear is weasels as they are hard to keep out. 4 dogs, a cat, 7 chickens, and 27 homing pigeons make me feel like the Clampetts.
Hopefully, all is not lost. I finally saw 2 hens with about a dozen poults today. They were about the size of a grouse. First ones I've seen this year.
Posted By: pullit Re: Hens and their new family's - 07/08/22
I hope this dang heatwave we are having doesn't screw them up
Originally Posted by pullit
I hope this dang heatwave we are having doesn't screw them up

It's screwing everything else up.
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