Released pheasants hunting

[shooter12]

Since there are not too many wild pheasants in our province and a lot of hunters relying on released birds I want to discuss if anything else could be done by hunters to improve the quality of pheasant hunting in Alberta?
I am asking this question because I 've been hunting those birds for 17 years in here and I feel that licence fee is very modest to say the least and if its the matter of extra financing to improve the quality of hunting then so be it.
I think that people who release the birds on released sites are doing a great job and its a big THANKS from me , but is there anything else that could be done to improve it?

S12

[timsesink]

No hunting or being on the property within 1hr of release truck would be a great start.

[freshtinov]

Originally Posted by timsesink

No hunting or being on the property within 1hr of release truck would be a great start.

X2 on that it would seem common sense to give the birds a chance to disperse but, some people just love easy targets

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by timsesink

No hunting or being on the property within 1hr of release truck would be a great start.

That won't work unless the releases are done at the same time each day, and with the truck driving so far each day in all kinds of weather the timing can't be good enough for that. The best that they could likely do , is to impose a 500m closed area around the truck. When the truck approaches the release area, he sounds his horn, and everyone has to leave the area, and remain 500m away until the driver sounds his truck twice, and leaves. It's not a perfect solution, but is would provide protection for the driver, and give the birds at least some time to disperse. Personally, if I see the truck, I leave the area, and wait for the shooting to subside before coming anywhere near the release site, but other people flock to the release area, when he hear the barrage of shooting break out.

[Big Grey Wolf]

What happened to no hunting rule after 2;00PM to allow the pheasants time to disperse and settle in before hunt next day. The truck driver would probably need to work a afternoon shift.

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by Big Grey Wolf

What happened to no hunting rule after 2;00PM to allow the pheasants time to disperse and settle in before hunt next day. The truck driver would probably need to work a afternoon shift.

A large percentage of pheasants were being lost to coyotes and owls overnight, before they were even hunted, and with one truck driving long distances to several release sites each day , the drivers would be driving into some sites in the dark, in wet or snow conditions, that can be tough enough in daylight.

[spoiledsaskhunter]

.............sounds like a special kind of sporting event to me. the truck leaves, 'hunters' and their dogs descend on farm raised birds released for the slaughter.

really?

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by spoiledsaskhunter

.............sounds like a special kind of sporting event to me. the truck leaves, 'hunters' and their dogs descend on farm raised birds released for the slaughter.

really?

It would be a stretch to call the people that used to wait in the parking area , to shoot birds as they flew from the crates, hunters, but within an hour or two, most birds have been driven into the trees or heavy cover, and the "truck hunters" leave. A day or two after a release, the birds are few and far between, and it actually does take some hunting.

[ghostguy6]

If you want to help out the wild pheasant population you can start by shooting every coyote you can. I wish I could add owls and birds of prey to this list as well but they are protected.

Personally I would like to see some sort of laws preventing shooting the birds as they leave the truck. Perhaps something like no shooting 2 hours after a release or something like that but I cant see that happening without lots of prior planning on the governments part.

[sdb8440]

Originally Posted by ghostguy6

If you want to help out the wild pheasant population you can start by shooting every coyote you can. I wish I could add owls and birds of prey to this list as well but they are protected.

Personally I would like to see some sort of laws preventing shooting the birds as they leave the truck. Perhaps something like no shooting 2 hours after a release or something like that but I cant see that happening without lots of prior planning on the governments part.

There are several Pheasants in my urban city neighborhood, they walk down the street every day.... after the moose clear their way. I was surprised they made it through the extra cold winter we had. I am no biologist, but, as with other wildlife, unregulated hunting may play a role, but in the city, blasting away is highly frowned apron.

[birdbeast]

Last July I moved to Olds from B.C. I have read this thread with interest and would like to tell all of you how good you have it. If you want to hunt pheasants in B.C. you have to know someone that has birds on his property in one of the few locations they exist and secure permission. Hunt a couple of times until they move and call it a season.
Alternatively, you can hunt at a release operation, such as the one on the Douglas Lake Ranch. A friend of mine and his wife do this once a year. I think once a year is all he can afford because 2018 their 3 nights/ 2 days trip for released birds cost them $4,200 for 38 pheasants harvested.
Or you can belong to a club like Associated Wildlife Preserves, which I did for 10 years. For a membership of $700/ year you can access 12,000 leased acres to hunt waterfowl and the 1,500 pheasants they release each year. These birds are released 300/ week for the 120 members to hunt. The birds, at a cost of $22/ bird ($33,000) are released Friday night and you hunt Saturday morning. All the release sites are farm fields. Mostly bordered with blackberry jungles. Finding a bird and getting it to flush is a major tactical campaign that involves at least 2 and better 3 hunters. The last couple of years I belonged we did a survey and found out we were recovering about 1/3 of the birds. So the members paid $22,000 to feed coyotes.
Here I can go to a release site any time, early, late or the next day and hunt and it costs me NOTHING.
I fill out my survey every time I hunt and I "Thank" the ACA for this opportunity. I have not had birds that fly this good or grounds that are this great to hunt in a lot of years.
Just my thoughts, could it be improved? Probably. Could it be a hell of a lot worse? You better believe it!

[Tony Perdaniente]

Habitat, pheasants will thrive with adequate cover - particularly nesting cover. Unfortunately over the years much cover has been removed for a variety of reasons, I know this in areas that have been untouched, there are a ton of pheasants. Not sure what the solution is but Habitat is number 1

[Big Grey Wolf]

Birdbreast, excellent reality check for us complaining Alberta hunters. Yes we have it very good, but was much better when we had the Brooks hatchery producing over 120,000 birds per year and releasing them all over Alberta. That was before Klieken gave the hatchery away and it went broke. However ACA is doing an excellent job of re-establishing pheasants in Alberta.

[PFKGSP]

The release areas are what they are. Put and take. The idea is they put the birds out there and you shoot them all. Leaving the birds for a few hours they will disperse off the area or the predators will have a field day.
If you want a quality experience you have to find access to wild birds. They are around just hard to get access a lot of times.
Like Tony said, the habitat is gone for the most part up here. Farmers are encouraged to farm the most marginal land now because technology has improved so much.
If you look at any of the states bordering AB and SK they have multitudes of birds and far greater hunting pressure than we will ever be able to apply. But they have habitat and habitat programs that encourage hunting.

[Sooner]

I don't Pheasant hunt, do people actually stand just far enough from the release truck and fire away as the birds fly from the crates?


If so, that's brutal.

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by Sooner

I don't Pheasant hunt, do people actually stand just far enough from the release truck and fire away as the birds fly from the crates?


If so, that's brutal.

I have witnessed this first hand at Buffalo Lake. A certain group of people would sit in there vehicles or on lawn chairs by their vehicles, and then when the truck arrived, they rushed over to the release area and opened fire, as the birds were being released from the crates. It was usually the same group of people , and I never saw them hunting anywhere, except in the immediate release area, when the truck was present. I spoke with the biologist, and he mentioned that they had received multiple complaints, and were going to random release days and times. Once the releases were no longer predictable, those people soon stopped showing up.

[aulrich]

I have been on a site during a release a couple of times, The worst I have seen is folks moving in after the truck has moved to another spot. But what is more telling is once the word gets out that the truck has stopped by there are way more hunters on the site(less than an hour) and on some sites like hopewell the cover is so bad and the hunter count is so high the birds are gone in hours.

Oddly though over the years I have ran into few coyote/owl leftovers

[shooter12]

Thanks guys !
I read your comments and they were a good ones!
Do you think that releasing the birds around sunrise ,or even couple of hours before would eliminate cayotes birds kills and those truck "hunters" activity and will provide the opportunity for the birds to settle down and will improve the quality of the hunting as well as random release days ?
Just a thought.

S12

[Soab]

Originally Posted by Tony Perdaniente

Habitat, pheasants will thrive with adequate cover - particularly nesting cover. Unfortunately over the years much cover has been removed for a variety of reasons, I know this in areas that have been untouched, there are a ton of pheasants. Not sure what the solution is but Habitat is number 1

Bang on !! The areas that are too hard to plow up still have wild birds, it's getting worse every year

[bitterrootfly]

Encourage farmers to leave some native grass and cover and the pheasant numbers will rise, my parents bought a quarter near Calgary that was mostly pliers except for some native cover around and abandoned farmstead and the fence lines, guess where all the birds were... habitat is key and even something as simple as leaving five feet of cover along fence, lines or around potholes/ marshes is amazing for birds!

[sns2]

Originally Posted by birdbeast

Last July I moved to Olds from B.C. I have read this thread with interest and would like to tell all of you how good you have it. If you want to hunt pheasants in B.C. you have to know someone that has birds on his property in one of the few locations they exist and secure permission. Hunt a couple of times until they move and call it a season.
Alternatively, you can hunt at a release operation, such as the one on the Douglas Lake Ranch. A friend of mine and his wife do this once a year. I think once a year is all he can afford because 2018 their 3 nights/ 2 days trip for released birds cost them $4,200 for 38 pheasants harvested.
Or you can belong to a club like Associated Wildlife Preserves, which I did for 10 years. For a membership of $700/ year you can access 12,000 leased acres to hunt waterfowl and the 1,500 pheasants they release each year. These birds are released 300/ week for the 120 members to hunt. The birds, at a cost of $22/ bird ($33,000) are released Friday night and you hunt Saturday morning. All the release sites are farm fields. Mostly bordered with blackberry jungles. Finding a bird and getting it to flush is a major tactical campaign that involves at least 2 and better 3 hunters. The last couple of years I belonged we did a survey and found out we were recovering about 1/3 of the birds. So the members paid $22,000 to feed coyotes.
Here I can go to a release site any time, early, late or the next day and hunt and it costs me NOTHING.
I fill out my survey every time I hunt and I "Thank" the ACA for this opportunity. I have not had birds that fly this good or grounds that are this great to hunt in a lot of years.
Just my thoughts, could it be improved? Probably. Could it be a hell of a lot worse? You better believe it!

Thank you for the great post. Our system is not perfect, but at least we have one that the average joe can take part in. Are there things that can be improved? Undoubtedly. But I sure am looking forward to this fall!!! For me it is not the killing of birds per se, instead it is seeing the dogs work. When it comes together it is an absolute joy.

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by sns2

Thank you for the great post. Our system is not perfect, but at least we have one that the average joe can take part in. Are there things that can be improved? Undoubtedly. But I sure am looking forward to this fall!!! For me it is not the killing of birds per se, instead it is seeing the dogs work. When it comes together it is an absolute joy.

You and I don't want to kill our birds in a minute or two, as the truck driver releases them, because that is not our purpose for going to the release sites. We want to spend time watching the dogs work, and if it takes an hour or two to get some birds, that is the outcome that we desire. So for us, the release sites provide an opportunity that we wouldn't otherwise have, and I for one, really do appreciate that opportunity.

[Captainkip]

The original question was how to improve pheasant hunting in Alberta. How did this turn into a how to release and how to or not to shoot birds on release sites?

We need more wild areas for habitat. Strips lefts standing for cover for birds instead of farming right to the edges. How about some incentive for farmers to leave whole quarters go back to native veg like they do in the states with the CRP programs. They did a dis-service to the birds when they piped in some of the irrigation down south and eliminated the ditches with cover and water.

This is maybe a good question for Pheasants Forever to answer and to help explain what programs they are working on to address this.

[sns2]

Originally Posted by Captainkip

The original question was how to improve pheasant hunting in Alberta. How did this turn into a how to release and how to or not to shoot birds on release sites?

We need more wild areas for habitat. Strips lefts standing for cover for birds instead of farming right to the edges. How about some incentive for farmers to leave whole quarters go back to native veg like they do in the states with the CRP programs. They did a dis-service to the birds when they piped in some of the irrigation down south and eliminated the ditches with cover and water.

This is maybe a good question for Pheasants Forever to answer and to help explain what programs they are working on to address this.

Undoubtedly, you are right.

There are many challenges, not the least of which are new technology allowing a higher percentage of land to be used, the loss of the family farm to conglomerates and/or Hutterites who seem to have evil dreams related to trees, and the fact that southern Alberta is the northernmost region where the birds can thrive.

All adds up to a challenge.

[Captainkip]

Originally Posted by sns2

Undoubtedly, you are right.

There are many challenges, not the least of which are new technology allowing a higher percentage of land to be used, the loss of the family farm to conglomerates and/or Hutterites who seem to have evil dreams related to trees, and the fact that southern Alberta is the northernmost region where the birds can thrive.

All adds up to a challenge.

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by Captainkip

The original question was how to improve pheasant hunting in Alberta. How did this turn into a how to release and how to or not to shoot birds on release sites?

We need more wild areas for habitat. Strips lefts standing for cover for birds instead of farming right to the edges. How about some incentive for farmers to leave whole quarters go back to native veg like they do in the states with the CRP programs. They did a dis-service to the birds when they piped in some of the irrigation down south and eliminated the ditches with cover and water.

This is maybe a good question for Pheasants Forever to answer and to help explain what programs they are working on to address this.

The title itself is "released pheasant hunting" so released pheasant hunting was discussed. As to improving wild pheasant hunting, the key is habitat, and only the landowners can make a difference in that regard. With the sloughs and fencerows all being worked, there simply isn't as much habitat left to support our upland game bird populations. There is no financial incentive for a landowner to leave the cover on his/her land, so every bit of land that can be cropped, is being cropped. Perhaps the solution is a CRP type program, like the programs used in the USA, but that costs money, and I don't see where that money would come from, especially with our economy is the situation, that it is now.

[Bigwoodsman]

Originally Posted by elkhunter11

The title itself is "released pheasant hunting" so released pheasant hunting was discussed. As to improving wild pheasant hunting, the key is habitat, and only the landowners can make a difference in that regard. With the sloughs and fencerows all being worked, there simply isn't as much habitat left to support our upland game bird populations. There is no financial incentive for a landowner to leave the cover on his/her land, so every bit of land that can be cropped, is being cropped. Perhaps the solution is a CRP type program, like the programs used in the USA, but that costs money, and I don't see where that money would come from, especially with our economy is the situation, that it is now.

That is why they should double the cost of the Pheasant/upland permit. Take the extra revenue and use it to increase upland habitat. It wouldn't happen overnight, but within a decade there should be a noticeable improvement in habitat for pheasants and other upland birds. Funnel the money to the ACA with a directive to be used for upland habitat regeneration!

I use the release sites to hunt with a camera now, and I buy a permit to support pheasant hunting in Alberta.

BW

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by Bigwoodsman

That is why they should double the cost of the Pheasant/upland permit. Take the extra revenue and use it to increase upland habitat. It wouldn't happen overnight, but within a decade there should be a noticeable improvement in habitat for pheasants and other upland birds. Funnel the money to the ACA with a directive to be used for upland habitat regeneration!

I use the release sites to hunt with a camera now, and I buy a permit to support pheasant hunting in Alberta.

BW

The first problem is that the habitat in many areas is already gone, it would cost a small fortune to replant what is gone. Saving what is left would be much more affordable, so that is where we would need to concentrate our efforts. The other problem, would be ensuring that the extra money actually goes to habitat, and not to general revenue. I would gladly pay double for my gamebird and pheasant licenses, if the money actually went into habitat.

[Versatile]

If the province would realize how much money Pheasant hunters spend to hunt pheasants and the money that could be made it would be a different story. We are so far down the rabbit hole now it won’t take years to build it back but generations. I’m would guess when my kids are my age pheasant hunting will be done on release sites and wild birds will be few and far between.

[AndrewM]

What the point of hunting at a release site? Why not release them and let them establish cover and hiding places prior to hunting the area. Seems counter intuitive to want to establish a population yet shooting them at the same time. Wouldn't it be better and more fun to give them a fighting chance?