Pheasant stocking

[2boys1man]

Does anyone plant farm raised pheasants on their land, and if they do does it pay. i don't want to just feed the coyotes. I was thinking of letting some of the females go as I haven't seen any around for awhile. Let me know your thoughts please.

[densa44]

I do plant them and no it doesn't "pay". I just like to see them and I shoot every coyote that I see. I've got some hens I bought from Dirt Willy before the man died and I'm thinking that I'll try to winter them and release them in the spring when the hawks and coyotes are eating gophers.

I don't expect to make any money, but I'm going to do it anyway.

[Springerman]

Originally Posted by densa44

I do plant them and no it doesn't "pay". I just like to see them and I shoot every coyote that I see. I've got some hens I bought from Dirt Willy before the man died and I'm thinking that I'll try to winter them and release them in the spring when the hawks and coyotes are eating gophers.

I don't expect to make any money, but I'm going to do it anyway.

I agree with Densa, It is a lost cause I tried to establish Pheasants around my place for 15 years and released over 200 , only one Rooster lasted for 3 years before disappearing.
All the rest diappeared within a
month or so. Too many hawks , owls , foxes and coyotes. I was always chasing hawks away.

I have read in Pheasants Forever literature that they need need a minimum of 40 acres of heavey cover avaiable to exist.
d

[Kim473]

My father set them free, St.Paul area for 5 years in a row. About 50 - 100 every year. None would survive the fall/winter. Too many preditors around. And he hunted coyotes at that time too, just too many of them.

[waterninja]

OP has not mentioned what part of AB he is thinking about realeasing the pheasants. Apparantly they have a better chance in southern AB.
Might want to contact 4-H club in his area. They have pheasant stocking programs on the go. Perhaps his property might be used as one of the release sites.

[Bushmaster]

I used to raise pheasants back in the early 90's.....from Dirt Willy, too, may he RIP...and just because you release them in your yard or on your land , doesn't mean they are going to stay there. They are basically a "wild" bird and they will find the habitat, terrain, area that they want. The only reason that some hung around was that there were still more in the pens that attracted them. The released ones mostly ended up over at the neighbors.....he said when he rolled out a round bale for the cows, the pheasants came racing out of the willows. And as has been said, they are very susceptible to many different predators, and it depends on how much snow cover you get. Winters with lots of snow are very hard on their populations.