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Releasing Pheasants in Iowa??!?

Sligh1

Sligh1

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Few ?'s for you pheasant experts....
Is it currently illegal to release pheasants on your land?
2nd in importance right after that... Will ANY survive!?!? I have hawks, coons, bobcats, yotes, fox, etc, etc on my land and if they are captive raised birds- I would imagine most would get scarfed up in no time BUT I could be wrong. What's the truth there?

Some side notes- South Dakota does not have laws against release of pheasants- in SOME areas it's highly successful. Successful for simply more birds to shoot BUT some do survive BUT they don't have the woods & predators like my land does though. So, not apples to apples.

I am putting in about 100 acres of native grasses and adding about 15 more acres of tree plantings. Plenty of food left over for birds as well. If it were ever LEGAL and I thought ANY would survive, it's crossed my mind. Even if 5 of 100 survived, a lot better than what's there now. And yes, with my improvements, I likely will attract natural birds as well. Maybe some folks think none will survive if released though??? I have a low-level understanding on this topic, have heard a few opinions BUT What you think?
 
Our neighbor released some two years ago. I am not sure how many. I guess my ole man saw about a half dozen different roosters around his farm this year. Seen them a long the road quite often. Not sure if it was coincidence or not. We really have not had any birds around that I can remember.

It has been so long since there has been birds around maybe the new generation of coyotes, bobcat and fox don't even know to hunt for them lol. I know I've forgot what they taste like. ;)
 
Not sure about Pheasants, but I know a lot of guys release quail on their farms. The one's I talked to said, the younger you release them, the better off they have to survive, meaning they have to be old enough to fly and get away from predators, but young enough to learn everything on their own, and don't become dependent on someone feeding them.
 
it is recently legal to release birds from a certified producer. However, MANY studies have shown that 1% of those birds survive. They are like a cheeseburger for yotes and other predators... or at least that's how I've heard it put. (kinda makes me hungry) :grin:

To each his own, Skip, but I think you could find a much better way to spend money.... like taking me fishing :D

We just need a few dry springs and we'll be back into better numbers, but stocking birds won't do it

:way:
 
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A neighbor by some property my stepdad farms in north central Iowa releases them and he has tons of birds in about 80 acres of CRP. Probably not as many predators up there though. I'm not sure if the guy raises them himself or what though. It is really neat hearing all the birds cackling. We have maybe 10 acres in buffer strips next to this guy and have had some pretty amazing flushes.
 
Good question Cooter! Seems that there was a heavy snow storm many years ago that knocked down the pheasant pens on a game farm which allowed them to escape; The rest is history. I guess the habitat was much better back then. :D
My theory is that since there were farms on almost every 80 acres and there wasn't much cover and there was zero tolerance for predators they were able to get a foothold.
 
What if you release hens before their breeding season and the hens laid eggs and then the young were raised in the wild. Would they make it.
 
http://coolice.legis.state.ia.us/Co...tegory=billinfo&Service=Billbook&hbill=SF2253

http://coolice.legis.state.ia.us/Co...tegory=billinfo&Service=Billbook&hbill=HF2343

I believe both made it out off committee and are eligible for floor debate. Looks to me there isn’t any hard and fast data yet on the impact or survival of pen raised birds. I know there are pheasant hunting clubs that release or plant pheasants for members to shoot.

But ya got remember pheasants are not native to Iowa. They got here either from released or escaped nides and thrived. So I’m guessing, and I emphasize GUESSIN, the State wants the DNR to weigh the cost to taxpayers and/or private groups (I wonder what group they are referring to?) for raising X number of birds when only X% survive to be hunted.

looks like strietl answered your question while I was putting mine together.
 
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I met a guy from Wisconsin a few months ago and we got chatting about pheasants. He said he released over 600 birds 2 years in a row on his farm. This was 4 or 5 years ago. There is no birds on his farm now. He claimed they were supposed to be bred half wild or something. Figured their instincts would be better. Once in awhile he'd have one escape early and hawks were getting them before they left they yard.

He basically said they're just to stupid to survive. We did have some nasty winters right around the time he was doing this so I'm sure a big part of them not surviving was the winters.
 
Cooter said:
If stocking doesn't work how did they first get introduced?

Not stirring just askin.
Click to expand...

Exactly! They were all introduced at one time in the states that have them. They seemed to do ok back then and there was more predators. IE cougars, wolf, etc.

OK, I'll eat crow when needed.:eek: Stocking is different than introducing or transplanting birds. The original populations were just that. Here's an interesting link.....
http://www.pheasantsforever.org/page/1/stocking.jsp
 
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maybe if there was a way to get rid of the hawks around your place. I guess if you had the right habitat why not they aren't that expensive it would be a fun experiment. If you have ever hunted pen raised birds you can see why it doesn't work
 
After following Shovel’s link it appears that this issue has been studied ad nauseum. So I really don’t know why Iowa has to restudy the issue. I don’t see how the bill, as written, will change anything, unless the State comes up with more money to fund habitat. Perhaps that is the unseen push behind the bill, to create/restore suitable habit. No wait, some legislators want to sell off state owned hunting land that could be the only habitat left. Kinda like cutting off your nose to spite your face.
 
Pheasant population would be a lot better off if all the thousands and thousands of acres of CRP hadn't come out over the past 10 years. That along with the removal of brushy fence lines, straightening of creeks, planting ditch to ditch, planting right to creek banks....

No habitat no birds.

I about crapped myself shed hunting a few days ago when I busted a rooster out of some CRP. Literally the first one I've seen since 2010 but I don't get out much.
 
On a side note, saw two dead roosters around Washington on 27 today, about 20 miles apart. Haven't seen one in two years but bitter sweet to see them today, just not the way I'd like.
 
muddy said:
Pheasant population would be a lot better off if all the thousands and thousands of acres of CRP hadn't come out over the past 10 years. No habitat no birds.
Click to expand...

period.

Since 1998 Iowa has lost an amount of CRP equivalent to a strip of land 12 miles wide stretching from Davenport to Omaha.... and that continues to grow.

Believe what you want, but we have WAY more coyotes and feral cats today than we ever have... and stocking pen raised birds will not affect the population, just as NOT hunting them for a year or two will not affect the population....

We need more habitat and warm and dry nesting conditions, or we won't see better populations.
 
My good friends stepdad ran a pheasant hunting outfit in South Dakota. He would raise the birds until they were flying good and then turn them loose. He had pretty good luck with survival this way. They had to tag the released birds and track the numbers they harvested. He was close to 50-50 wild/released harvesting around 500 birds a year.
 
Maybe work on habitat improvement (you're already doing) and predator control through trapping Skip? Might be time/$ better spent eliminating predators rather than trying to fight against them?
 
Releasing pheasants

I have never been a big supporter of releasing pheasants, but quite a few locals in my area release birds and they say about 10% survive here in MN (tough winters..except this year).

So if you have no pheasants and you release 500, you should have a few survivors. With that cover it would not take long to establish some birds.
 
Anyone can release pheasants in SD, but Pheasant "preserves" release rooster pheasants as the season progresses, they are required to release something like 120% of their harvest. Some preserves and landowners release hens right before breeding season - these are the places I see the most wild birds during hunting season. Several factors help or discourage the survival rate; habitat cover, food and water being the most important.

We have lots of predators here, millions of hawks, owls and eagles... and the coons and coyotes dont help

Basically I think it all comes back to habitat like Muddy said... if you have great habitat with lots of grass a higher percentage of birds will survive. We are loosing millions of CRP up here every year, lots of habitat being removed for crop and lots of wetlands being drained... and we can see the decline in birds already.
 
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