Pheasant - Invasive Species or Valuable Game Bird?

[Mike Rossi]

Article is long with a lot of info and links, but all of it is important:

http://thebirdhuntingsociety.weebly.com ... ebird.html

[BassBoysLLP]

Valuable game bird. Not all invasive species are bad IMHO.

[dan]

The thing I don't like about pheasants in Wisconsin is that they basically cannot survive in Wisconsin and almost all the birds are tame farm birds. Then, because its a money machine for the WDNR they take great public deer habitat and mow it down and burn it to make pheasant habitat, for a bird that don't belong in the USA.

[BassBoysLLP]

The thing I don't like about pheasants in Wisconsin is that they basically cannot survive in Wisconsin and almost all the birds are tame farm birds. Then, because its a money machine for the WDNR they take great public deer habitat and mow it down and burn it to make pheasant habitat, for a bird that don't belong in the USA.

I'd rather have early successional habitat meant for pheasants than a lot of the mature habitat in WI. That pheasant habitat is better than you might think for whitetails. Good amount of browse per acre. The thermal protection strips are utilized heavily for bedding.

[ Post made via Android ]

[john1984]

The thing I don't like about pheasants in Wisconsin is that they basically cannot survive in Wisconsin and almost all the birds are tame farm birds. Then, because its a money machine for the WDNR they take great public deer habitat and mow it down and burn it to make pheasant habitat, for a bird that don't belong in the USA.

Does the deer hunting in the eastern Dakotas suck?????? because they have harsh winters and the best population of wild pheasants in the world. great pheasant habitat helps alot of animals imo

[ Post made via Android ]

[dan]

The thing I don't like about pheasants in Wisconsin is that they basically cannot survive in Wisconsin and almost all the birds are tame farm birds. Then, because its a money machine for the WDNR they take great public deer habitat and mow it down and burn it to make pheasant habitat, for a bird that don't belong in the USA.

I'd rather have early successional habitat meant for pheasants than a lot of the mature habitat in WI. That pheasant habitat is better than you might think for whitetails. Good amount of browse per acre. The thermal protection strips are utilized heavily for bedding.

[ Post made via Android ]

Well. in S.E. Wisconsin they mow down bedding thickets, dogwood and thick areas loaded with browse to create phesant habitat... A lot of great spots I once shot big bucks at are now knee high canary grass.

[dan]

The thing I don't like about pheasants in Wisconsin is that they basically cannot survive in Wisconsin and almost all the birds are tame farm birds. Then, because its a money machine for the WDNR they take great public deer habitat and mow it down and burn it to make pheasant habitat, for a bird that don't belong in the USA.

Does the deer hunting in the eastern Dakotas suck?????? because they have harsh winters and the best population of wild pheasants in the world. great pheasant habitat helps alot of animals imo

[ Post made via Android ]

It would be a lot better if they had more deer cover.

[Dewey]

The thing I don't like about pheasants in Wisconsin is that they basically cannot survive in Wisconsin and almost all the birds are tame farm birds. Then, because its a money machine for the WDNR they take great public deer habitat and mow it down and burn it to make pheasant habitat, for a bird that don't belong in the USA.

I'd rather have early successional habitat meant for pheasants than a lot of the mature habitat in WI. That pheasant habitat is better than you might think for whitetails. Good amount of browse per acre. The thermal protection strips are utilized heavily for bedding.

[ Post made via Android ]

Well. in S.E. Wisconsin they mow down bedding thickets, dogwood and thick areas loaded with browse to create phesant habitat... A lot of great spots I once shot big bucks at are now knee high canary grass.

Yup. State land has been cleared at an alarming rate in many areas I hunted over the years. Complete tree lines have been taken down eliminating a lot of edge habitat. They claimed it was to increase nesting habitat and remove areas predators could hide and prey on the birds.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[john1984]

grass grows. how is a sea of tall 8ft crp grass not good cover for deer. And if they really wanted good pheasant habitat they would promote cattails standing corn and conifers for winter survival. i dont know much about what they do on state land anyway, but i hate to hear stories of tilling up CRP and planting corn , when that area has very little duck and pheasant nesting areas to begin with
[ Post made via Android ]

[Dewey]

grass grows. how is a sea of tall 8ft crp grass not good cover for deer. And if they really wanted good pheasant habitat they would promote cattails standing corn and conifers for winter survival. i dont know much about what they do on state land anyway, but i hate to hear stories of tilling up CRP and planting corn , when that area has very little duck and pheasant nesting areas to begin with
[ Post made via Android ]

Problem is they burn the grass just about every year so it rarely gets tall or thick enough to hold many bedded deer.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[john1984]

oh i didnt know they burn it that often. most of the CRP ive walked in was tall. but you guys explore more therefore know more

[ Post made via Android ]

[goldtip5575]

grass grows. how is a sea of tall 8ft crp grass not good cover for deer. And if they really wanted good pheasant habitat they would promote cattails standing corn and conifers for winter survival. i dont know much about what they do on state land anyway, but i hate to hear stories of tilling up CRP and planting corn , when that area has very little duck and pheasant nesting areas to begin with
[ Post made via Android ]

Problem is they burn the grass just about every year so it rarely gets tall or thick enough to hold many bedded deer.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

I thought burning makes it thicker and taller that's why they burn it to kill off the standing dead grass from the year before and stimulate new growth.

[kurt]

grass grows. how is a sea of tall 8ft crp grass not good cover for deer. And if they really wanted good pheasant habitat they would promote cattails standing corn and conifers for winter survival. i dont know much about what they do on state land anyway, but i hate to hear stories of tilling up CRP and planting corn , when that area has very little duck and pheasant nesting areas to begin with
[ Post made via Android ]

Problem is they burn the grass just about every year so it rarely gets tall or thick enough to hold many bedded deer.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

I thought burning makes it thicker and taller that's why they burn it to kill off the standing dead grass from the year before and stimulate new growth.

X2 burning dead standing grass is going to be way better for it... stimulate it

Brush mowing red brush and other things similar sucks for deer habitat. But brush and grass need to be handled different.

[ Post made via Android ]

[dan]

Most of what they are burning by me is to stop the dogwood and brush... They are trying to make dogwood low bedding areas into prairies.

[BassBoysLLP]

Most of what they are burning by me is to stop the dogwood and brush... They are trying to make dogwood low bedding areas into prairies.

Sounds like a lot of marsh type ground you are referring too. Burning also has a tremendous benefit when it comes to waterfowl habitat.

Unfortunately, due to limited upland prairie in WI, the WDNR tries to treat marshes as ideal pheasant habitat. As much as I'd like to see more dogwood and brush in the marshes for the whitetails, I'm sure the WDNR sees a surplus of whitetail habitat statewide and limited pheasant/waterfowl habitat. Pheasant and waterfowl will win every time.