Rooster down at dawn.

[Ponderosaman]

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.

 

[Sparkitoff]

Your recount is inspiring!

 

[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

 

[ord sgt]

I've not seen a pheasant in many years now. I used to hear them calling, I do miss the sound.

 

[Winchester97]

Great read right there! Thanks. We used to have them in pretty thick in Ohio when my Dad was young. Not so much now, a combination of high coon population, and protected Red Tail Hawks sitting in every dead tree. Two things that were in low numbers when Dad was a kid.

 

[Britsmoothy]

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

You should not generalise so sweepingly feltwad.
I put in hours and hours on my patches. In fact I am answering your post at gone 11pm from within my car after looking for fox's. Remember too, I was out before light today looking for fox's.
All summer I have shot crows.
Some of the pheasants on my patch have lived here for years. They find peace here.
Ironically my local shoots you seem to extoll put little to nothing back. They simply flood the area with poults and hope for the best. Often they carry the roto virus and black head amongst other diseases into the area.
I'm afraid your romantic view is sadly out of date. The proper way of rearing pheasants is dead. It is ethically wrong and unsustainable how most shoots produce, reproduce, procure birds today, hence why I left that scene.
I am glad you still have access to a shoot that ticks all your high standards. Long may it last!

 

[Woody Morgan]

Has anyone else noticed how the British tell you to go to h*** in such a way that you're looking forward to the trip?

wm

 

[TCMonts]

I think most of the loss of game birds of all types in the US is due more to habitat loss than poor hunting practices. There are many places where you can hunt released birds, but it is put and take hunting. The birds are not truly wild and may or may not be "flight conditioned". If the habitat was good they would reproduce and be sustainable or even over populate. Poor management yes, not of the game but the habitat.

 

[Brokennock]

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.
We used to have a decent population of partridge, not anymore.
What changed?
Protection.
Once a species is "protected" it stays that way, even when their numbers start to become a problem in other areas.
When we had hold over pheasants, and partridge, seeing a hawk of almost any type was a rare treat. Now, they are everywhere. Drive down a highway, every third light pole has one on it. I have 5 different owls hooting up a storm near one of my treestands every evening. Coyotes abound. Even the secretive bobcats are numerous enough that seeing more than one throughout the hunting seasons isn't surprising.
Couple this with some loss of habitat and that is where your pheasants and partridge went.
The man with no bird dog and no woodsmanship skills would be hard pressed to even find a pheasant to shoot, even on the ground. I know the 1st one I shot with no dog to work with as a kid had held so tight and pressed so flat to the ground that I almost stepped on it. And had to lift it with my toe to get it to jump up, run away, then fly.

 

[appalichian hunter]

As stated, loss of habitat, predators being protected, As a kid hunting I had free range over many farms always jumped phesants and quail, those days of overgrown fence rows, rock breaks and picked corn fields are long gone, you look at a harvested corn field in my neck of the woods now all that is left is about four inches of bare stalk, there is not enough cover for a field mouse too hid in. I also question the fertilizers and chemicals the farmers now use as too the decline. Now when hunting up land game if a phasant or a rise of quail happens I just watch and whish them good luck. Back then just about everyone trapped fox,skunks,racoons, they also now play havoc with whats left of the truly wild birds along with the incroaching coyotes, which are also hard on the wild turkeys.

 

[.36Rooster]

Man you are really knocking them down lately... as for me, tomorrow is saturday and my clothes and shooting bag are already laid out by the door. Alarm is set for 3:30am.

 

[Ponderosaman]

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.

 

[R.J.Bruce]

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.

 

[COTNTOP]

A lot of commercials about roundup causing cancer in humans. What is it doing to small quail when being sprayed. Watched when I was a kid the wheat fields being burned and afterwards the smoldering quail nests. Hawks and owls been around before the demise of small game.

 

[Brokennock]

Hawks and owls been around before the demise of small game.

Around? Yes, well, maybe.
Yes, in balanced numbers.
Like I said, hawk sightings were a rare treat when I was a kid and there were partridge around. Now they are as common as any other bird here,,,,, and more common than some.
I don't disagree that land management is a big part of the problem, but I think many animals could deal with one problem, predator increases or habitat issues, but not both.

 

[Feltwad]

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
Has for the pot hunters most not saying all take out and put nothing back for these there is no close season . Their tactics are to use cross breed greyhound known has lurches which is some areas the hare population is now extinct , for what modest numbers of English grey partridges that are you will find are most on keeper estates and now do not shoot them only the French partridge. On un keeper shoots the pot hunters used long nets which they drag across fields at roosting time also they watch the local spinney at night time for pheasants going up to roost and shoot them with a air rifle . The day when working families poached to put meat on the table is long gone but most end has beer money at the local which they class has sport . There is no doubt that if the big estates ended which can easily happen in this age the un keeper shoots will also suffer
Feltwad

 

[French Colonial]

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.

Drivel and nonsense, Farmers in America are the best stewards of the soil that the world has ever seen. Do they farm as much land as possible to receive the best return on investment possible...Yes.

But the hawks, coyotes and even eagles have returned to the heartland and made it difficult for an introduced bird (pheasant) to survive along with loss of habitat. (They seem to be unaffected by the chemicals, why is that?)

It has NOTHING to do with petrochemical companies or chemicals. Do you really believe growers who are smart enough to be early adopters of drone technology, and auto-steer tractors before the auto industry used it in cars are so dumb that they spray products that might harm their children and grandchildren on their fields.

Soil fertility is better than it has ever been and Roundup (which another poster brought up) has NEVER been found to cause any harm in any SCIENTIFIC study. If you don't believe it quote the study that says otherwise.

Pheasants thrive in the Dakotas that grow tremendous amounts of wheat and use chemicals...WHY? Its all about habitat.

Off the soapbox now.

 

[Britsmoothy]

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

Simple, 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

 

[Feltwad]

Simple, 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

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 pheasant
Feltwad

 

[rmann]

Genuine question for French Colonial: Why is it now rare in my neighborhood to see a single honeybee, when certain trees used to be literally humming with them? My guess is the chemicals that so many of my neighbors use to control weeds and insects. And in the mostly barren farmlands I hunt, honey bees and song birds are few and far between. I I don't know how else to explain it, and assume the same chemical practices by typical large farms does the same thing up the food chain. And as a side note, I have a relative that shoots every hawk he can, just to keep a few chickens for eggs. It is a continual battle... But how can you fight against the flood of chemicals?