Put and take population

[Riverratpete]

With all the land that the state has bought up for WMA's etc I wonder if it wouldn't be such a bad idea to have a "Put and Take" population of Pheasants put out there. Heres my reasoning..we do it with trout, Wally's etc, Many other states also do it. ie Sdak. This would keep the money in our state, provide quality hunting on public land, hopefully would eliminate some of the friction with private land owners. I'm also aware of the argument against ie. easily killed, can't survive in the wild, etc. I do believe though that if you were to purchase "free range" birds rather than cage raised birds you would see some survival..maybe a good use of the legislative money were going to fight over...just a thought

[LABS4ME]

SoDak has a 'put and take' program? hmmmmm.... you sure?

I know a good portion of the PRIVATE shooting operations in SoDak. release birds and are required by the SDGFP to release a percentage more than they shoot (not sure of that reasoning) but I am pretty sure the State has no program to put birds on public land.

I believe WI still does on the State land in the Eastern part of the State and Pennsylvania has almost all released birds on public land. I know people whom have hunted those birds... it's iffy in regards to a hunting experience.

I guess I'd rather see the money go to further land aquisition or to supplement farmers to allow access to HUNTABLE land or to further habitat enhancement on private property or even getting rid of all the Brome grass in the WMAs and convert to Native Grasses.

I can assure you that a private club sets it's per bird cost at $15/bird... would equate to around $100/bird for the govt. (not kidding with all the agencies that need to be involved) and really in no way be beneficial on a long term basis to the sport and it will truley dilute the genes in the wild stock.

My vote would be 'no'.

Good Luck!

Ken

[Jmnhunter]

with alot of public land in the SW/W portions of MN its hard to believe that there are not many pheasants --If there were some "wild" raised pheasants released, they may start a new population but would be peanuts as a whole of a current population; I heard rumors of SD releasing birds, the state does not:

Quote:

Why doesn’t GFP release pheasants to increase wild populations?

Releasing pen-reared pheasants is a common request from hunters that have had little success in their hunt. It seems simple: Put more birds out there and there will be more to shoot. In the past GFP has sponsored pheasant release programs. More importantly, however, GFP has also conducted objective evaluations of pheasant release programs. All these research projects point to the same conclusion. Pheasants that have been raised in a pen do not know how to utilize habitat to avoid predators and consequently have very low rates of survival in the wild.

Pheasants are not native to S.D. so hasn’t pheasant stocking been effective at some point in history?

Pheasant release programs are not 100% failures. A few pen-reared pheasants probably survived from historical stockings, and some of these may have formed the foundation of our current populations.

However, it is also possible that initial stockings were of wild-trapped birds. Sketchy records are unclear as to the exact source of our original pheasant populations. Regardless of their origin, pheasants now populate a significant portion of S.D. wherever appropriate habitat exists. That habitat, along with annual weather variations, will dictate how many pheasants there are come the fall seasons. All available information indicates that releases of pen-reared pheasants will enhance pheasant populations only a few days to a few weeks after a release.

If pheasant stocking doesn’t work, then why do shooting preserves and other commercial pheasant operations release so many pheasants?

Raising and releasing pheasants can be an effective means of providing birds to shoot. The key here is that pen-reared pheasants can survive the relatively short period of time from when they are released until the shooters arrive. Fees charged by these businesses offset the cost of raising or purchasing pheasants, and consequently the practice now becomes cost-effective.

GFP could not operate under these same circumstances unless the agency charged a similar amount to the access fees received by these businesses. It is our belief that South Dakota hunters would be unwilling to purchase hunting licenses for the same price that commercial operations charge to access their property. The simple fact of the matter is that we don’t have to operate under this management scenario in South Dakota. In South Dakota, we have habitat and we have pheasants. There may not always be enough for everyone, but overall…it is as good as it gets.

[CaptainBly]

Oh I think that there are quite a few pheasants around yet. I was home a week ago in SW MN and there were alot running around. Sure the numbers may be down a bit. But the amount of CRP that has been taken out does't help either. The local sporrtsmans club back home had purchased some land a few years ago and made it a wildlife perserve, No Hunting in there. They got some flak over it because everyone wanted to hunt it. Well maybe we need some more land like that, I don't know.

[grab the net]

I have read about the put and take hunting out east and believe that is their only option as habitat does not exist to have a sustainable population. I would not be in favor and my reasons are mainly that it would dilute the experience. The birds I hunt on public land, where I do the majority of my hunting, are truly wild pheasants. That is the way I would like to see it stay.

[Jmnhunter]

I would not be in favor and my reasons are mainly that it would dilute the experience.

thats how i see it too, i had a bad taste in my mouth after the rumor i heard saying that SD releases millions of birds every year

[Riverratpete]

well like I said..it was a thought

[2thepointsetters]

There are plenty of wild birds in MN. The released birds would be pushed off the public land just like they are now and the numbers would seem the same.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Raising and releasing birds is not the answer for long term high population.

Habitat is where it's at. If you build it, they will come kind of thing.

[CRAZYEYES]

I think that any money put twoards pheasants should be in habitat and public land. I just dont see planting birds as being a cost effective deal. Pen raised birds are more likely to be killed by predators and after being pushed around a few times they would end up on private land just like other pheasants do which would negate the purpose of a put and take public land program. South Dakota does have lots of released birds but its not done by the state and its not on public lands. The ones that release birds out there the big pheasant ranches and thats how they are able to have higher bag limits on their lands.

[tybo]

I used to live in PA where they have been operating put and take for many, many years. The hunting is terrible, the survival rate is awful, and most people don't even bother to go out for them. Your dog will catch more than you'll shoot unless they are right off the truck. They are actually just starting to get some PF chapters and have a wild bird restoration plan because they have realized it's a waste to do the put and take. Probably would be better if they had better habitat but it'll be difficult to get large tracks of land with CRP throughout most of that state given the topography. Last summer they released some birds from Montana in areas where they've created the right habitat. Around 25-30 years ago PA was at or near the top in pheasant harvest. My nieces and nephews have gone hunting sevreal times on the lands where birds were to be released and have never seen or shot at a bird.

I don't think anyone here would like it if it is anything like what they have there. I also have a firend that hunts in Illinois where it;s the same. It's even worse there. They have so little public land there's a lottery system for hunts. I think everyone here should be thankful for what we have in MN. It may not be SD but it could be a whole lot worse.

[Basseyes]

There are plenty of wild birds in MN. The released birds would be pushed off the public land just like they are now and the numbers would seem the same.

X2.

The cost to do it would have little value of return and would be a waste of financial resources for the DNR.

[brittman]

MN has plenty of pheasants - many more than you ever will see. Pheasants become relatively smart or conditioned to hunting pressure even on private land. This December I watched birds running across a chisel plowed corn field as hunters were entering the creek by the road(on private land no less).

Mixing up your hunting tactics, a good dog, and access to unpressured birds on private land are your best options to increase your take on wild birds.

If you want to hunt put and take pheasants, take yourself to a MN pheasant preserve. Much, much more cost effective to both the individual and the state.