- Joined
- Jan 6, 2021
- Messages
- 6,472
- Reaction score
- 2,944
That is a nice big bird. They make them like that in South Dakota. I had the pleasure of hunting pheasant on a cousin's farm near Canova. The sky was dark with pheasants. It was an amazing trip.
You should not generalise so sweepingly feltwad.Yes October 1st is the beginning of pheasant season but the back bone of pheasant shooting in the UK is the large estates when most start in November when the leaf is off the trees. These estates are mostly well managed and keepers are employed to keep vermin to a minimum yes game is reared but are well developed and on the wing when shooting starts , it is big money involve and they put back what is taken out
This is the opposite where no rearing takes place here they rely on the stray birds from the estates they do not put back what they take out and use all different un sporting methods to obtain a pheasant for the pot but that is their choice. Shooters in these forums from the States say they used to have pheasants but not now so ask the question why have they like other game birds been shot out with bad management . Yes I shot pheasant walking up over a brace of good dogs but those days for me are now a thing of past {old age} but I still enjoy a day on driven birds be it pheasants, partridge, or red grouse .
Feltwad
The pheasant we have where I live are raised and stocked. We used to get hold overs, but never enough to establish a wild population. They are not getting shot out, hunter numbers were diminishing for years. Used to be one could see large numbers of birds, hens and cocks on small pieces of private property closed to hunting that surround game clubs and stocked state land. Not anymore.Yes October 1st is the beginning of pheasant season but the back bone of pheasant shooting in the UK is the large estates when most start in November when the leaf is off the trees. These estates are mostly well managed and keepers are employed to keep vermin to a minimum yes game is reared but are well developed and on the wing when shooting starts , it is big money involve and they put back what is taken out
This is the opposite where no rearing takes place here they rely on the stray birds from the estates they do not put back what they take out and use all different un sporting methods to obtain a pheasant for the pot but that is their choice. Shooters in these forums from the States say they used to have pheasants but not now so ask the question why have they like other game birds been shot out with bad management . Yes I shot pheasant walking up over a brace of good dogs but those days for me are now a thing of past {old age} but I still enjoy a day on driven birds be it pheasants, partridge, or red grouse .
Feltwad
The pheasant population in South Dakota alone is estimated at 7.1 million birds. Most hunters I know love wildlife and especially game animals. I can only speak for myself, but my opportunity to hunt here does not leave me wishing that we had managed our pheasant population better.Yes October 1st is the beginning of pheasant season but the back bone of pheasant shooting in the UK is the large estates when most start in November when the leaf is off the trees. These estates are mostly well managed and keepers are employed to keep vermin to a minimum yes game is reared but are well developed and on the wing when shooting starts , it is big money involve and they put back what is taken out
This is the opposite where no rearing takes place here they rely on the stray birds from the estates they do not put back what they take out and use all different un sporting methods to obtain a pheasant for the pot but that is their choice. Shooters in these forums from the States say they used to have pheasants but not now so ask the question why have they like other game birds been shot out with bad management . Yes I shot pheasant walking up over a brace of good dogs but those days for me are now a thing of past {old age} but I still enjoy a day on driven birds be it pheasants, partridge, or red grouse .
Feltwad
Around? Yes, well, maybe.Hawks and owls been around before the demise of small game.
Like others have stated, I used to be able to scare up all kinds of upland game birds just by walking through a farmer's corn, barley, wheat, or grass/hay fields. This was in the 60's, 70's, & 80's. Also, there were still a great number of hedgerows left on the perimeters of most arable land.
The petrochemical companies, along with the pesticide, herbicide, fungicide, & nematicide companies, convinced 99% of American farmers to cut down every piece of forested, hedgerow grown land, and convert every possible square foot on their acreage into cropland.
All in the name of increased production for the 5 commodity crops traded on the world's stock exchanges.
The chemical companies did not care that by eliminating all that vegetation from the so-called unproductive land, they were creating more problems for the farmer than ever before.
His losses due to predation from insects increased exponentially, causing him to need a greater & greater number of synthetic chemicals in order to obtain the same yields per acre as he was able to obtain before all of the forested land, and hedgerows were converted over to growing crops.
At the same time, the farmer's soil life became almost non-existent. Along with a lack of soil life, the land's humus content was lowered to less than 1.5%, in some extreme cases, to less than 1%. Both of these factors, along with the loss of virtually all beneficial bird life from the farmer's land, meant that harmful insects could prey at will upon a man's crops.
Modern farming practices have led to the loss of the protective borders that used to surround just about every farmer's crop fields. With those losses came the elimination of song birds, & game birds, which were primarily responsible for the eating of harmful insects.
Like others here I believe that the massive drenching of a modern day farmer's crop fields with synthetic fertilizers, and literally dozens of toxic chemicals whose only purpose was to kill something has led to a huge imbalance. An insect species that was perceived to be harmful to commodity crops, or a disease that attacked a particular crop, or a mold//fungus that afflicted certain crops, or weed that competed with the commodity crop, all these things exist, and proliferate because the soil is out of balance, and the crops grown on that soil are weakened as a result of that imbalance. Weakened crops attract diseases, and insect pests.
All of those toxic chemicals have had a profound effect on the thousands of different species of animal life that live in the soil. The effectiveness of all those chemicals has diminished over time, becoming less & less effective with each passing year/decade. Causing the farmer to increase the dosage applications to try and achieve the same results as in the past.
It is my belief that the over usage of toxic chemicals has had a profound effect on what remaining song birds, and upland game birds, that have managed to eek out an existence on what most would consider very inhospitable land.
Couple the drastic reduction, nationwide, of protective borders surrounding crop fields where game birds could find a safe home, with an exponential increase in avian & land-based predators, and you have the perfect storm that has seen the dramatic decline in game birds like pheasant, grouse, quail, and woodcock. There's just no place left for most of the species that we like to hunt to safely live.
Well managed border lands should contain over 150 species of different plants/grasses/broad leafs/molds/fungi/shrubs/bushes/trees/ & wildflowers. Along with dozens & dozens of different insects, animals, and birds.
A teaspoon of truly heathy soil, with a humus/carbon content of over 5%, should contain a greater number of life forms than there are human beings existing on the entire planet.
Without healthy soil there can be no healthy insect, bird, or animal life in, or around that soil.
Simple, commercial shoots intensively breed and release 10's of thousands of birds a year for profit.Well it seems that many in this forum have a lot of pheasants and game birds so can you explain why many shooters from the States and Europe and the Middle East come too the UK for game shooting season the answer is it is the one of the best game shooting countries in the world due to good management
I am afraid your reply is a load of mostly untruths or should it be sign of gilt. why not enter your exploits in the many UK forums I would be interested in their responses. Ok you have had your say and I mine so lets call it a day enjoy your pheasantSimple, commercial shoots intensively breed and release 10's of thousands of birds a year for profit.
A wealthy team of guns can shoot hundreds of birds a day and not touch one of them or take some home to cook.
Some commercial shoots bury the days kill.
Due to the intensity disease flourishes and thus vast amounts of antibiotics have been released into the environment.
The uk is the only place in Europe that this practice is conducted.
I'm afraid Feltwad that apart from a small family shoot the romantic view of old is dead.
Commercial shooting has tainted all shooting in the eyes of the public today.
Also, not all pot hunters are poachers as you are implying.
Some of us do it legitimately and responsibly. Bringing benefits not only to the landowner but also to the broader spectrum of wildlife on the whole.
Having shot on this piece of land for over thirty years and successfully seen generations of wild bred young pheasants year in year out and curlew, lark and pipet, hedgehogs too, I guess I may just be actually putting something back.
Your friend and pot hunter, oh and my little lurcher could not catch a cold and I don't have nets. Oh and I don't go the pub talking nonsense and selling poached game.
Just remind me again, what was your point or contribution about again? I've confused myself again
Enter your email address to join: