Pheasant hunting

[fisherrw]

Did some pheasant hunting this morning and dropped 5 birds between me and my sister I shot 4... 

[Ratherbfishing]

Very nice.  If that were Illinois, I'd say you'd have depleted the entire county.  I miss the days when pheasant were more common.  Beautiful birds! 

[fisherrw]

On February 9, 2016 at 1:58 PM, Ratherbfishing said:

Very nice.  If that were Illinois, I'd say you'd have depleted the entire county.  I miss the days when pheasant were more common.  Beautiful birds! 

Yea I'm in California hunting on a private ranch and there are a lot of birds out there!

[Ratherbfishing]

We used to have tons of birds around here but with the MUCH larger farms and much less habitat, one is lucky to see one or two birds a year.  That and the coyotes (which HAVE made a comeback) have made pheasants around here pretty much a thing of the past (which I greatly mourn).  I'm glad some places still have them.  I wonder if there is any difference between our "once" pheasants and yours.

[gim]

Two words: Modern Agriculture.  Its about removing marginal land (bird habitat) and turning it into crop production.  Predation and local weather (winter, heavy spring rain) can also play a role but the biggest factor right now is loss of habitat.

[Ratherbfishing]

Yep, mostly loss of habitat.  All (most) of the farmers around here mow all the roadsides-and not just near the intersections.  Like it's going to kill them to leave a little habitat standing.  

[gim]

I went out this afternoon.  It was about 10 degrees here today but there's fresh snow on the ground and there was no wind.  I got my limit of 3 roosters in about 2.5 hours.  I probably saw 50 pheasants total.  I left the house at 11 drove an hour north, hunted for 2.5 hours, and was back home by 4 with my limit.  Beats going into work!