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Pheasants in trees

2K views 13 replies 13 participants last post by  Dave in Maine 
#1 ·
Curious if any of you guys are seeing pheasants in trees this year. I’ve only been out twice but have seen it both times.

On the first day a buddy and I headed out a little bit after sunrise (not first light) and had two hens fly out of the tree tops along a field about 20 mins into our walk. We were the first guys in this field, so I’m guessing they roosted there. I didn’t realize what they were at first, because I was more focused on the field and my dog.

Today I decided to skip a morning archery hunt and take my dog for what was supposed to be a hunt. Unfortunately after the 30 minute drive to the GLs I realized I left my shotgun at home. Nevertheless I decided to just take my dog for a walk. She pointed the first bird in about 20 minutes. I was not real ambitious to get off the trail with no gun and after a bit she broke and crept in. The rooster flushed and flew up into a big tree. I got to watch him sit there for a good 10 minutes as she feverishly looked for him. I eventually walked in to see how close I could get for a picture, flushing him when I was about 20yards away.

Nice to see, as this will certainly help protect them from ground predators.
 
#4 ·
Our wild pheasants roosted in trees. When I was in elementary school I lived on a small farm. We had a big orchard. Every evening the pheasants would fly into our orchard just before dark to roost. It is not unusual for them to roost in trees.
 
#6 ·
My dad used to talk about wild pheasant roosting in trees back in the the 50s and 60s here in Erie county.

I’ve seen stocked birds in trees only a handful of times in my 33 years hunting. Possibly it has something to do with the strain being bred? Who knows, but it was nice to see.
 
#7 ·
Yes I've also seen the stocked birds for the first time this year roosting in trees. Opening day of youth we watched 3 roosters fly down and opening day of regular we watched 3 roosters and hen fly down. Nice to see where state is getting birds they still have a tiny bit of wild instinct in them.
 
#11 ·
Seen this afew times with pheasants in trees, My one setter use to get all out of sorts when she seen them in trees. She would jump up at the base of the tree & bark & bark & bark at the bird. This was coming from a dog that never barked at home for anything, including to eat. But a pheasant in a tree that is something she could not figure out, Guess she figured they are supposd to be on the ground. We had to get the bird to fly out before she would stop barking & leave the tree.
 
#14 ·
They do it all the time here in Maine. They especially seem to love pine trees. More protection from avian predators in among all those branches, I suppose.
Our pheasant stocking program relies on gun club members to do the actual stocking. The state buys birds from a commercial breeder and they arrive by truck packed 5 to the wire-bound box. We went to this model a few years back after some mink got into the flight pens where we (gun clubs, funded by the pheasant stamp money) raised them, and then there was the one year where the year's birds had to be destroyed after testing positive for some mosquito-borne illness that made them unfit for human consumption.
Anyway, I help with the stocking and routinely see them fly out of the boxes and try to land in trees, which does make for some comedy.

As to dogs pointing treed birds, a few years back I was walking my setter in a city park where there are a number of small ponds. A drake wood duck jumped out of the one pond when he saw me and my dog coming and landed on a low branch nearby. All my dog could do was shake her head in a way that said "that ain't right. It's against the laws of nature for a duck to do that." and stare at the Woodie staring back at her.
 
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