Probably....let's ask Hudsonfur

MacFarlane pheasants:

https://www.pheasant.com

Has dozens of videos and FAQs on pheasants from all aspects of rearing, to improving habitat and predator control. They have several seminars, you can attend, on pheasants a year.

I have bought many thousands of pheasant chicks from MacFarlane since 1998 and have never had any problems with them. If you subscribe to their email list, they will offer you high hen mixes, great for restocking for as little as 5 cents each, plus shipping. They sell overhatch, straight run pheasant chicks for as low as 50 cents each. They always have high hen mixes for 20 cents each for 500 to 1000 and 15 cents each over 1000.

Keith

That'll fix it.....

Sounds like a pretty good deal, pretty cheap. I would suspect that the PGC would never bite. They would probably pas on that to spend $20 on a bird that had half a tail and won't fly let alone breed. ….. Just say'in.

Ohio releases cocks only in many of our hunting areas, which if anything, hurts breeding pheasants in the area, by giving wild hens competition for food and cover. Most studies I have read say that released birds have about a 95% mortality rate within 1 year of release. 5% is still some pheasants to start recruitment. People I have sold pheasants and quail too, who have released them, almost always tell me they see some birds the next year, so the 95% loss on released pheasants is probably not accurate on well managed properties.

100 pounds of feed will grow 50 pheasants to 6 weeks of age. It takes 16 pounds of feed to grow a pheasant to full maturity at 20 weeks of age.

Keith

Farmers don't spray for bugs? Hmmm, maybe amish farmers.

i cut all the red brush,ironwood,timber and firewood off about 12 acres of riverbottom only leaving a lot of thornapple trees and marshy areas.amazed at the fruit that comes on them now,along with all the critters especially grouse.the big factor that made me know what i did was right was 3 groups of baby grouse last spring.i love the pheasant hunting especially if i'd be smart enough to go with Lugnut and his dogs.is a turn off i must admit though to pull in and see 20 guys standing around waiting for the stock truck.

You are more than welcome to hunt with me anytime pcr.

I love pheasant hunting too. A yes, I understand all the arguments about them being a non-native and how many wish the PGC put the money we spend on stocking them and trying to build a breeding population into native species and/or habitat. I love hunting grouse and woodcock too, used to enjoy hunting quail but haven't seen one of those in the wild for ages. But pheasants will always hold a special place.

I started tagging along with my dad and his neighbor around 1963-64 and started hunting them in 1969. Back then you couldn't start hunting until 9:00 on opening day of small game. Anybody remember that? We lived a few miles from a County Prison and they would sound the escape alarm every year on that day at 9:00. Other places the local church would ring it's bells or the local fire station would sound it's sirens.

Back then it was nothing for my dad and the neighbor to limit out on birds and bunnies (two cocks and four cottontails) by lunchtime. Me also when I graduated from brush-kicker and game retriever to full-fledged hunter.

There is nothing to compare to the anticipation and excitement of slowly approaching a pair of pointers locked up and twitching as we slowly move into the area. Having a giant, brilliant, cackling rooster with a three-foot tail explode into the air, sometimes literally from under your feet, is something I'll never forget and always look forward to.

Today I chase them with flushers. And they are stocked birds not wild ones. But I still love it.

I agree with you about waiting on the stocking truck. Having grown up on a farm in the 60's I could walk out the door and being hunting wild birds in less than 5 minutes At that time we still had wild quail also However if you like pheasant hunting waiting on the stocking truck is about the only option left . The pheasant has not adapted to the conditions that are there in the current landscape. In my part of PA we did not have very many deer to hunt. At that time they where a big woods animal .The only time we would see geese was during the migration in spring and fall .A few months ago you posted a picture of some geese you had taken . I do not remember if that was on your property or somewhere nearby . As hunters to do what we enjoy we sometimes need to adapt . I went with a few friends to Iowa to hunt wild pheasants in 1997 .It was great .Just like the 1960's here in PA. As for your efforts to produce some better conditions for native birds in your area keep up the good work. We don't fail as long as we keep trying

Glad to hear of the grouse. Sectional rotate clear cut is the habitat they USED to thrive in here.

Maybe it's those pesky protected pit vipers eating all the ringneck eggs.

got those geese to land in a small food plot 50 yds from the house.

No doubt there are guys that wait on the stocking truck. Some of them slob/idiots are the reason for the new rules about not shooting released pheasants within 150 yards of the trucks. They were actually creating dangerous situations for the drivers/stockers. I don't see the sense, or the fun, in that at all.

I admit, I am fully dependent on the stocking truck. If not for the efforts of the PGC, tthere would have been no pheasants for me and my dogs to hunt for the last thirty-plus years. And that would suck as far as I'm concerned.

Thankfully, most pheasant hunters, me included, like actually hunting them and giving the dogs dome good fun and experience. I never hunt them opening day anymore, I leave that day for truck-chasers an occasional hunters/weekend warriors. I hunt them later in the week and throughout the season when they've had some time to acclimate and learn to fear men and dogs. It's a lot more like hunting and less like shooting.

Tons of those flying manure spreaders here. My last dog was trained to siss em away, good pup lol.
At least one farm feeds whole corn to cows then turns them out a day before him and his buds hunt. Quite effective.

its funny that the gamelands we usually see eachother at has very few truck chasers compared to the spot by the hatchery.i think the big game co. building at the start of the road makes them nervous.

Once I ask the guys from the PGC if I could ride along when they where releasing birds. I was told if I did I must wear orange . Now here the Game Warden follow the stocking truck and makes sure people are not shooting at them as they leave the crates .One PGC employee told me he once told a guy with a gun (would not call him a hunter) that if we wanted one that bad he would kill one for him and hand it to him . But I agree with Lug hunting pheasants is as much fun now as it was when I first started hunting . And if you are using dogs that you have spent time training it is as exciting as any thing else you could do . Those that are the diehards still left nothing would make us happier than the return of the ringneck pheasant

Yeah and there is usually at least one vehicle at the Food and Cover building with the PGC logo on it. Keeps them honest!

and don't forget a fella did get shot around Smethport last fall during the release or just after.

Keith, I have never seen pheasants that cheap on their website??

I remember you telling me about that.

Stocked birds on hunting lands are just that put and take. They either get taken by hunters, predators or just plain starve from no winter food. if they make it and do nest the coon, skunk and snakes get the eggs. I just do not believe there is enough birds, the 5 % is enough to restart the population. I grew up hunting phez and quail. and we always had wild quail and both wild and stocked birds around me. I grew up across the road from a Wildlife Management area . and close to 600 acres around me of wild fields hedge rows and woods swamps. As a kid I learned how to catch the young quail chicks. phez chicks was harder for me to catch. I have not seen a wild quail in 10 to 15 years and wild phez in close to that also. The grouse was very plentiful in the wma across the road. again up till 15 years ago. What ever the cause and this is not farming ground, the 3 disappeared with the same habitat as was then other than maturing timber about the same time. I truly believe that fox, coon and skunk and house cats have always been there. Then add the turkey populations increased from nothing to great numbers in the past 20 years. Coyotes coming in strong 15 years ago and now an ever growing number of birds of prey. On any pheasant stock day in that wma across from where I grew up, and I still hunt to this day. it is not uncommon to find 10 dead pheasants heads off, or breast out or just legs and wings. Also the dogs will find dead birds buried under leaf matter. sometimes 2 or 3 in an area. I also just heard of a research that was done in PA on grouse that stated above a certain elevation the grouse are still found but below the grouse have disappeared. something to do with the mosquito and a disease from them. maybe phez and quail are getting the same disease? I just do not think that the birds can get over that higher recruitment vs mortality rates. with stocking in the fall and winter. spring stocking to me sounds like it would be better but again a raised bird will not have the street smarts that a adult wild bird would have.