Pheasant Regs
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Years ago wild pheasants were in great abundance in parts of PA and reproduced in high numbers. The areas where pheasants reproduced you could only kill cocks, hens were protected so they could reproduce. In the other areas where reproduction rates were not as good you could shoot both, as some were unsure if birds were even able to survive in some areas. Some areas may have been areas with only stocked birds. Then in 72 the hawks and owls got protected, and they slowly grew in numbers. As the raptors numbers grew large, the wild pheasant was pretty much wiped out. Today I am not sure why the regulations still protect the hens, I guess that stocked birds and other released birds could survive if the predators did not get them. and this is why you can't shoot hens in some areas. Some people that release pheasants, have some that survive for awhile, not sure if the young can survive the predators or not.
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WPRAs
WPRA's you aren't allowed to hunt at all. I'm referring to certain WMU's where you are allowed to shoot cocks only and other WMU's you're allowed cocks and hens.
Thanks this is sort of what I was thinking, although I was more so looking for an answer as to why this system still exists. I heard PGC had "mistakenly" stocked a bunch of hens in cock only units.
The real answer doesn’t really have anything to do with predation beyond it being a normal and natural morality effect.
The real answer is completely related to the probability of whether the hens that survive might be available and able to reproduce a brood of chicks the next summer. In the more northern and mountainous regions of the state history has shown that very few of the pheasants survive the winters and are then available to reproduce the following spring. In the more temperate regions of the state though there has been a chance of some of the hens surviving the winter and reproducing.
This decision to protect hens in some areas was also prefaced with the belief that some of the milder winter areas, with more agriculture, might still have some wild reproducing pheasants and they didn’t want hunters harvesting any wild hens that were still out there. That is also why those areas where there might still be some reproduction didn’t get more that a very limited number of hens in their pheasant stocking schedule.
Those thoughts about the protection of hens in some of those areas does seem to be changing though as it is becoming less likely to see natural pheasant reproduction in even the more temperate areas of the state. But, that might well be mostly a moot point since it appears that starting next year almost all of the birds stocked anywhere in the state will be males. I don’t know how or if that factor might change the areas where hens are legal to bag in the future. I suspect the answer to that question might be more evident once they have a year or two of the new propagation and stocking program behind them to evaluate the effects and results.
Dick Bodenhorn
The real answer is completely related to the probability of whether the hens that survive might be available and able to reproduce a brood of chicks the next summer. In the more northern and mountainous regions of the state history has shown that very few of the pheasants survive the winters and are then available to reproduce the following spring. In the more temperate regions of the state though there has been a chance of some of the hens surviving the winter and reproducing.
This decision to protect hens in some areas was also prefaced with the belief that some of the milder winter areas, with more agriculture, might still have some wild reproducing pheasants and they didn’t want hunters harvesting any wild hens that were still out there. That is also why those areas where there might still be some reproduction didn’t get more that a very limited number of hens in their pheasant stocking schedule.
Those thoughts about the protection of hens in some of those areas does seem to be changing though as it is becoming less likely to see natural pheasant reproduction in even the more temperate areas of the state. But, that might well be mostly a moot point since it appears that starting next year almost all of the birds stocked anywhere in the state will be males. I don’t know how or if that factor might change the areas where hens are legal to bag in the future. I suspect the answer to that question might be more evident once they have a year or two of the new propagation and stocking program behind them to evaluate the effects and results.
Dick Bodenhorn
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the WMUs with a WPRA in them are restricted to rooster only
both wild and feral pheasants don't understand WPRA border lines, WMU boundaries or the difference of public and private land.
the only way to ensure run off wild hens from WPRAs don't get shot is to eliminate shooting them in in the surrounding areas as well
The no hens restriction within certain WMUs pre-dates the WPRAs and in fact some are/were in areas where there is no WPRA. Also I don't think the restrictions in public hunting areas immediately adjacent to WPRAs is necessarily WMU wide.
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There are no wild birds. If there were any why did we need wpra's. They could have studied the wild birds we already had. Saving millions of dollars.
Knowing the cost of each pen raised bird, it is unacceptable to stock even one hen in these wmu's. They did cut back last year, but i still saw some get stocked. What a waste!
Theres alot of meat on pgc bones.... easy saving on this issue!
Knowing the cost of each pen raised bird, it is unacceptable to stock even one hen in these wmu's. They did cut back last year, but i still saw some get stocked. What a waste!
Theres alot of meat on pgc bones.... easy saving on this issue!
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They spend money on pheasants because 80,000 pheasant hunters like to hunt them. Try to understand that there is value in things that you personally don't benefit from. It's not always about you.
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You are 100% wrong on the fact there are no wild bird because the farm we rabbit hunt out in mcconnellsburg is like a step back in time. Lots of fence rows briars dump piles strips of trees with briars and crep grass. It isn't stocked with birds and we have shot wild pheasants over the years and passed on hens. The fact though is that's it's a 600 acre farm and the wild population isn't anything like out in Kansas.
I think what he was trying to say is that it is kind of a waste to stock hens in areas where you're only allowed cocks. I heard this issue brought up by a commissioner at the most recent meeting and the explanation was that they were stocked by mistake.
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80,000 hunters want birds to hunt! Not a few off limits areas that have a few wild birds. No value in that.
If these protected areas of the best habitat showed that wild birds were possible on a large scale area why in heck would we allow any of the birds to be shot! It is foolish to shoot the limiting factor ( wild birds to stock). By not expanding the areas or creating new ones and then harvesting even a few birds it is clear the project has failed. As a nice bonus to those who helped bring your kids down to shoot a few birds.....thats who will sign up for these hunts.
Shootem till there gone.....hopefully they last three years so my kid can drop a few. Maybe he will be the next jim jacobs
If these protected areas of the best habitat showed that wild birds were possible on a large scale area why in heck would we allow any of the birds to be shot! It is foolish to shoot the limiting factor ( wild birds to stock). By not expanding the areas or creating new ones and then harvesting even a few birds it is clear the project has failed. As a nice bonus to those who helped bring your kids down to shoot a few birds.....thats who will sign up for these hunts.
Shootem till there gone.....hopefully they last three years so my kid can drop a few. Maybe he will be the next jim jacobs
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They did stock hens for years in rooster only areas. I personally think it was to keep the fur huggers off their backs by making them believe that may breed and raise young. It does actually happen but not on a scale to make a difference. I'm trying to figure out why we still have a 30 day quail season when they said there are no wild quail in the state. Quail should be like chuckers and open all year long other than a WMU that may have a release of wild birds planned. With grouse being restricted it would be another option for hunters to release quail to hunt.
I believe that quail stocking was brought up at the recent PGC meeting and the response was that quail farming would require the purchase of additional equipment at a considerable cost. At a time when PGC is already cutting the pheasant program it's not going to happen. The other thing mentioned was that while quail are generally cheaper to raise, they're also smaller than pheasant and would therefore require more quail to be raised. They used the analogy that while a pheasant or two would make a nice meal, it would take 6-8 quail to make the same size meal. Although I have heard talk of trying to reintroduce quail in the future.
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there is some quail on some private land up near middle creek where my dads buddy lives, they established only because the property owner was training dogs or whatever and left ALOT of bobwhites loose, that's pretty much how that's getting to be and if I could get a surrogator id have a pens of hens with some males and would try bringing back quail populations near me
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Read the section on Pennsylvania;THE NATIONAL WILD PHEASANT CONSERVATION PLAN
https://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/MPSG_NWPCP_437305_7.pdf
There apparently are some wild birds scattered around in parts of PA. and that would include some of the wildlife management units that are cock birds only;
https://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/MPSG_NWPCP_437305_7.pdf
There apparently are some wild birds scattered around in parts of PA. and that would include some of the wildlife management units that are cock birds only;
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that number seems high for an estimate
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I was not suggesting the PGC raise and release quail. I was suggesting they open the state up to an open quail season so people could buy or raise their own quail to release from Sept 1 to March 31 as there are no wild quail. If they release any wild quail, they could close that WMU to protect them.
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Lynn, why do you suggest closing a WHOLE WMU when they are only using a very small percentage of the total acreage to introduce the quail?
The CS WPRA only closed 100,000 acres instead of the whole WMU. Why the inconsistency in the agency's thought process?
Closing a whole WMU is similar to the flawed thinking for closing a whole game land to dog training/conditioning for the weeks for the youth pheasant hunt.
For example, the mentored youth hunt on game lands 226, in Columbia county, uses no more than 400 acres for the hunt but all 4,335 acres of this game land is closed for over a week to dog training/conditioning.
This type of thinking doesn't make any sense to me. However, I think the birds need some protection.
Dean Conklin
"The Struggle Continues"
The CS WPRA only closed 100,000 acres instead of the whole WMU. Why the inconsistency in the agency's thought process?
Closing a whole WMU is similar to the flawed thinking for closing a whole game land to dog training/conditioning for the weeks for the youth pheasant hunt.
For example, the mentored youth hunt on game lands 226, in Columbia county, uses no more than 400 acres for the hunt but all 4,335 acres of this game land is closed for over a week to dog training/conditioning.
This type of thinking doesn't make any sense to me. However, I think the birds need some protection.
Dean Conklin
"The Struggle Continues"
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