[Nes]

Check this out. Richard stoped by the mall and visited with me yesterday. He was with me on my first Phesant hunt. Good Guy.

http://www.wingsovernorthfork.com/

[Antlurz]

Sounds like a really interesting option for those that don't have a friendly farmer in their pocket.

Some of the best times of my life were tromping through a field kicking up ringnecks, but for me, quail hunting is the ultimate bird hunting trip. Quail have the tendency to educate you about your shotgunning skills. :D :D :D

Ron

[Popeye]

You can use a softball bat to hunt the farm raised pheasant around here. Fat, lazy, no flying birds.

[Nes]

This fellow was only 18 years old when he helped introduce me to pheasant hunting. Heck I was in my 20"s. Been awhile.

[Antlurz]

You can use a softball bat to hunt the farm raised pheasant around here. Fat, lazy, no flying birds.

Yup. They definitely need a few days/weeks to get hardened to the ways of the world. A well thought out operation doesn't mean releasing the birds fifteen minutes before the guns come through.

On the other hand, pen raised birds that are raised in controlled conditions to eliminate the infant mortality ensures a good population if they are released in time to acclimate. Another good thing is the genetics of the birds can be controlled to produce nice big critters. I used to raise the "Jumbo" Bobwhite quail. They are almost twice the weight of a native quail, and are just as big a challenge as the others once acclimated.

Ron

[Popeye]

You can use a softball bat to hunt the farm raised pheasant around here. Fat, lazy, no flying birds.
They also have no fear of people. They expect hunters to feed them.

[Nes]

I don't know if Richard raises and releases them or not. When I was going up in that area they were thick. This was in the Satana Ks. area.

[shoey]

Sounds like a great time....would love to get to one of these hunts, but it costs....ah well....havent hunted quail, but doves are good at embarassing you with the scattergun, too....and I dont grouse hunt, but from kicking em up, they would too....not enough time in fall...maybe this next fall I'll have more time for grouse, who knows....

[Nes]

Bird hunting is fun and with a dog just makes it more fun. My favorites are Quail, Dove and Pheasant.

Nes

[LeiraHoward]

They also have no fear of people. They expect hunters to feed them. Unfortunately, this can be the case if pen-raised birds are not raised right...

On the other hand, with automatic feeders and waterers, in large enough pens with good cover and natural feed, not to mention hand-picking the breeder flock for optimum flying weight, many birds can be raised in pens and still provide a great hunt.

A good preserve hunt is one where you can't tell whether the bird was raised in a pen or in the wild.

Another thing that is often different: many pen-raised birds have a more yellow/bleached plumage on their backs, rather than the brilliant scarlet/blue of the wild birds. You can tell the difference between pen-raised strains by their coloration as well. The best ones have the weight and flying characteristics of the wild birds, as well as the correct coloration.

[shoey]

Just as a note, yellowed coloration would not necessarily make it a 'bad' bird....everything else could be done correctly, but if its fed a lot of corn, and a majority of corn, it can color the feathers, give em a yellow tinge...see this a lot with chickens that are white or have white in them....if you have chickens and want real dark egg yolks for your breakfast, real ornage yellow ones, feed your birds a lot of corn....it will darken them up considerably....just a note.....

[LeiraHoward]

Just as a note, yellowed coloration would not necessarily make it a 'bad' bird....everything else could be done correctly, but if its fed a lot of corn, and a majority of corn, it can color the feathers, give em a yellow tinge...see this a lot with chickens that are white or have white in them....if you have chickens and want real dark egg yolks for your breakfast, real ornage yellow ones, feed your birds a lot of corn....it will darken them up considerably....just a note..... While feed may make a difference with chickens, it is not an issue with pheasants, or if it does, it is so slight as to be unnoticable. Chickens (I am assuming you mean the white type normally raised for food) are very close to albino and the food that they eat does have a noticable effect, because there is no predominant coloration otherwise. (Not being familiar with chicken raising, I cannot debate this with much accuracy.)

However, pheasant coloration is certainly (at least primarily) genetic, as birds from two different genetic strains are fed the same feed and have a very noticeable difference in coloration. And birds from the same genetic strain are fed different feed and are still very noticeably similar(identical) in coloration.

(FYI, I have almost 20 years of experience with gamebird propagation.)

[Mike Weber]

I have several large gambird operations in my area, I was speaking with one of the owners of a gamebird ranch a couple months ago. He has three huge gamebird ranches in Washington, Idaho and Montana. He was telling me that in order not to make the birds habituated to the presence of humans. Retaining their wild behaviors. They work the bird pens at night. Our state offers Pheasant breeding stock to landowners on a raise and release project. I'm thinking of taking on a hundred birds thios year for raise and release.

[Mike Weber]

Liera:
I am very interested in gamebird production, I'll probably have many questions for you.

[LeiraHoward]

http://www.naga.org is the site of the North American Gamebird Association. They are the best people to be involved with if you are interested in raising gamebirds.

Their magazine, Wildlife Harvest (http://www.wildlifeharvest.com/) gives some good tips as well. And THE book to have is John Mullin's "Game Bird Propagation: Wildlife Harvest System" (available from the Wildlife Harvest website, and probably elsewhere as well.

[Mike Weber]

Thank you for the links.

[LeiraHoward]

Thank you for the links.
No problem. :-)
Good luck in your bird-raising endeavor!

[shoey]

makes sense. I'm just talking about chickens in general, its more noticable on a white bird, though...entensive direct sun can also discolor a birds feather, much the same as it can fade anything...

[SBF]

When I was im Middle School I used to raise Bobwhite Quail for my Science teacher to release on his farm. He would pay for the costs of the eggs and feed. I had an incubator and all the other necessary things at my place. It was a really neat project. I remember being amazed when the first brood hatched (about 30 birds) they were about the size of big bumblebees!
I also raised a couple of Mallards from eggs that I found in a near by park. They were bulldozing a marshy area and we were playing around the construction equipment one afternoon after the workers left. I found a destroyed nest right in front of a bulldozer blade. I remember carrying the two eggs home tucked in my armpits to keep them warm :D. I put them in the incubator and had almost given up hope on them when I heard a noise one morning checking on them before church. My parents let me stay home to watch them hatch, it was really amazing. I soon realized what "imprinting" was reagrding baby ducklings :eek:
They followed me everywhere all spring and summer. I eventually took them to my science teachers farm where he eventually released them into his farm ponds. It was a really neat experience.

[shoey]

hahaha, imprinting is very interesting, indeed....birds are absolutly fascinating creatures, more so than any other group, in my opinion...

[Mike Weber]

Thats a neat story SBF. My wife raised thousands of bobwhite quail while she worked at the EPA wildlife research facility in Corvallis Oregon.