# Raising Pheasants



## Wingmaster55

I just wanted to know your guys two cents on raising and releasing pheasants into the wild to reproduce. I heard it cant be done!


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## Field Hunter

It must have been done somewhere....Pheasants aren't native to the US.


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## Sasha and Abby

Bwwaaaaa.......  :beer:


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## Centerfire

I am no expert by any means on this subject - but I will pass on what I was told by someone very knowledgable on the subject. Transplanting pheasants is best done using wild pheasants and relocating. The next thing is to release phesants that are closely reared from wild stock. I was told that wild pheasants can become domesticated in as little a 8 generations of pen raising (losing natural instincts for survival in the wild).

Many people will say that pen reared and released pheasants will not make it throught the winter because of lack of survival instinct - I know a SD game farm that said they did have some survival throught the winter (on tagged birds), but how many survived and whether there is any success on reproduction?

I think it is one of those things where you will need to plan on re-releasing new birds each year


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## WingedShooter7

Pheasant orignated from over in China.

I dont think they could handle from going to free food to work for the food.


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## oatsboy

in my opinion it;s a tame birds lak of ability to stay dry,as anyone who has had the disspleasure of hunting presearve grown birds in the rain knows a gun isn't needed because your dog will just pick them up or anything else that feels like an easy meal will eventualy eat them.


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## Scraper

Spend your money on habitat.

Pen raising pheasants has had little long-term success. Trapping wild birds and releasing them has had lots of success, that is how we have pheasants today.

If you are in an area that will support pheasants, try habitat first. Last resort look into trapping and transplanting.


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## Hollywood

We raised birds when I was a kid. One nice spring day a wild rooster was pacing outside the pen- my brother & I netted him with a fishing net(thats how intent he was on the hens!) & thinking he would be great for breeding , we put him in. My ol' man was a little peeved to come home & find all our roosters dead except for the wild one. We had a great hatch that year though! ( and the wild bird was released, a little tired, but satisfied and otherwise unharmed) I know some of the birds we released made it, not alot, but some. (Most got shot)


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## NDTerminator

I keep & raise birds for personal gundog training. I can advise that pheasants are a complete pain in the butt to work with. They are aggressive and spend a good bit of their time trying to maim & kill each other.

To prevent this, the answer is to keep the end of their beak clipped off or attach peepers to their beak so they can't see straight ahead. This doesn't even address the damage they do with their spurs. As I said it's a pain in the butt, particularly if you are talking any numbers.

For training birds that are easy to raise & keep, chukar win hands down...

The wildlife club periodically realeases bunches of pen raised pheasants up here, and they never take. A couple years ago, they released a couple hundred in a PLOTS down the road from my place. They were decimated by coyotes, vehicles, and weather in short order. To my knowledge none were killed by hunters.

Of that several hundred, I've seen exactly two roosters (it could easily have been the same bird seen twice) in that area since deer season.

If I'm not mistaken, even with wild birds, the ratio of survival to maturity (1 year old) is something outlandlish, along the lines of 1:100!...


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## always_outdoors

Terminator is correct. 1% chance of survival on pen raised pheasants.


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## Dick Monson

In 1986 BCWF raised and released 500, about 60% roosters. We banded them and let them go in good habitat in early August. We got *ZERO* bands back from hunters.


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## g/o

This is like arguing religion. Scraper is right when he says invest in habitat, You will get the most bang for your buck there. Does it work to release birds yes it does. They didn't fly here from China, now did they? Is it economically feasible? NO. Unless you are in a pay hunting situation such as myself.

Dick I release birds every year and many of the banded birds are harvested. Some even showed up on Nodak Outdoors. But then Dick You guys from Valley City never were as good as hunters as those south of you.

:beer:


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## Dick Monson

Are you sure you don't raise weasels?  Yep, stocking can help where there aren't any, maybe ours went out too early. Hows the snow coming off ? Did yours survive the last one or are they released?

A tale of the traveling banded rooster. In the early 80's the state used to stock banded birds. A fellow ran over one in Sept north of Litchville. It had been banded and released at Seth Gordon WMA 2 months previous. That's almost 30 miles of hoofing it in 2 months. True scoop.


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## g/o

There are many things come into play when releasing. One is to release in good habitat and preferably where there are some birds already. Weather is very important especially if a bird is not properly seasoned.How they are raised makes a big difference.

We shot 27 birds last year that were banded the year before so yes they do survive. The snow is gone and the roundup is complete. Things are in good shape. A few straglers left, but we can always use a little more seed.


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## Bobm

> Are you sure you don't raise weasels?


 :lol:

No No Dick you heard it wrong he was raised "by" weasels.

:wink:

Just kidding G/O


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## g/o

No No Dick you heard it wrong he was raised "by" weasels.

How can you say that Bobm? :evil: You have never met my parents and if you did you would say the same thing everyone else says.

They must have found me on the back porch :beer:


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## Bobm

No doubt your parents were/are saints...

I think it was under the back porch :wink:


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## Papahonker

About 20 years ago I raised pheasants for sale and for eating. I had a huge old barn with 250 pheasants up stairs and another 250 down stairs. I did this two years, a total of 1,000 birds.
With that many birds in a confined space they tend to cannibalize. I solved that problem by keeping them busy pecking something other than there buddy. I planted over 2,500 feet of carrots to feed the pheasants. I had heard a lack of vitamin A caused them to cannibalize. I also planted a lot of corn. I would pull it up and feed it to them stock, roots, dirt and all.
When they are young the problem is keeping them warm and dry. They are so small they will fall into a regular chicken water-er, get wet, and die. I solved this problem by putting rocks in the drinking area to keep the baby pheasants out yet allowing them to drink. 
As the pheasants start to get bigger (and at that time of the year I had no carrots or corn) they would start to cannibalize. As soon as I would see signs of pecking I would catch the bird with a fish net and dab some pine tar on the wound.
After two years I decided that I had enjoyed that about as much as I could stand. I was unable to make a profit because they need to be cared for at least four months. I would have made more money selling the carrots.
If you are going to raise pheasants for release, I would suggest that you start out small 25 to 50 birds
From what I understand if you want a pheasant to survive you need to release them at a very young age. I would say as soon as they are fully feathered and can fly, but I'm just guessing on that one. Good luck!


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## carterolsson

Im from the UK, where around 30,000,000 pheasants and a massive number of Partridges are reared and released each year for shooting. So id say yes.... its very viable as a prospect to rear and release pheasants for hunting. Its a matter of hard work, a good understanding of your birds + land and a real passion for gamekeeping, and a good shoot is at hand. More than Happy to tell you anything else you want to know.....


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## bobert

following on from the last comment. i look after around 4,000 pheasants that we raised from day old chicks. there now in the woods and are feathering up nicely. on info on breeding them or pens or just basic care info dont hesitate to drop me a message.
happy hunting.


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