[Lynnappelman]

Here are the dates for the upcoming wild pheasant flushing surveys in January for the Central Susquehanna WPRA. Please PM me with your name and date or dates you plan to attend so we can put you in a group for that day. Check here for any updates in the schedule. If you have a dog, bring him, but you can help without a dog too. Thanks.

DATES AND TIMES:
Sunday, January 17, 2010 1:00 - 4:00 PM - Greenwood Valley Columbia county ---Meet at Deihl’s Vault and Pre-cast Company along Rt. 254 between Millville and Rohrsburg at 1:00 PM. <span style="color: #FF0000">Postponed due to weather</span>

Turbotville area

Sunday, January 24, 2010 1:00 - 4:00 PM -

Sunday, January 31, 2010 1:00 - 4:00 PM -
---Meet at the Turbotville Great Value Food Store along Rt. 54 at 1:00 PM. Park behind the Turbotville National Bank sign.

Thank You for your support of wild pheasant restoration!

 

[Lynnappelman]

Somerset WPRA Flushing Dates

SOMERSET FLUSHING SURVEY HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!

 

[muttleysback]

Thanks for the update, Lynn. I am planning to be out at our Somerset County camp next weekend, and my buddy and I were thinking about it. The snow is a bit deep out there, so I'm told. No need to stress the critters, I guess.

 

[Lynnappelman]

Flushing Survey for Greenwood Valley this Sunday has been cancelled dut to the weather. A date will be rescheduled in February.

 

[FLDBRED]

 

[Lynnappelman]

See you next Sunday Flbred

 

[Great LLewellin]

Hopefully the weather will be nice for next Sunday 1/24.
Down here in SE, 40 degrees all week.
Cannot wait.

 

[Lynnappelman]

Somerset Flushing dates reset=

Wednesday 27th and Sunday 31st 1 to 4 PM. Same meeting location.

Please Pre-Register

To help organize groups ahead of time and contact you in case of a weather cancellation,
Please call or email us with:
1. Dates you plan to attend
2. Name
3. Phone # and or email
4. Number of people in your group
5. Number of dogs
6. Type of dogs: flushers or pointers

Larry Crespo 724-331-5657 [email protected]

 

[Lynnappelman]

DUE TO RAIN, the Turbotville Pheasant Flushing for Sunday, Jan 24 is RESCHEDULED for Saturday, Jan 23. TOMORROW!



NEW DAY: Saturday Jan 23



NEW TIME: 9:00 AM



NEW MEETING LOCATION:

Bern He Farm and Garden Center

275 State Rt. 54

Turbotville, PA 17772



It’s the 3rd business west of the grocery store where we usually meet.



Please just come if you can – no pre-registration needed. We’ll survey as many farms as possible tomorrow. We will most likely add more flushing days later in the month to finish.

Stay tuned…

 

[Lynnappelman]

Had a blast today flushing wild pheasants. Our group put up 47 birds on one farm in a large switch grass field. This same farm had 29 last year. The best part is 30 of them were hens! Lots of nests in the spring! It is a great thing to be flushing wild pheasants in PA again after a 30 year break. I saw so much pheasant crap today it was unreal. I almost forgot I was in PA. I'll let you know how the numbers look when we're done.

 

[FLDBRED]

I also had a great day!It sure brings back memories flushing WILD PHEASANTS.Our hen to rooster ratio was similar to yours!It's fun seeing all the different type of dogs and meeting dedicated sportsman.I think we are well on our way!

 

[Tcaddis]

Nice job Lynn.

How big was the switch grass field?

I was at Pike Run on Saturday. It was fun. I'd like to compare notes. We flushed on the Farcus Farm. The patch of grass we had was 7 to 10 acres. We moved 19 birds, 14 were hens. We found one dead hen that someone had for dinner.

I was kind of surprised that no other cover related to the grass. The area around the grass was pretty barren. Isn't this consolidating a lot of targets in a small area for a predator? I will give it to the birds, with the limited cover, they are find a way to make it.

 

[Lynnappelman]

The field we were in was 40 to 50 acres and just perfect density. It had good heavy cover but was open enough for easy movement by the birds through trails and tunnels. Some people claim mono culture switch grass is not good wildlife cover. I believe that some areas need to be mono switch grass for the best wildlife production. I think 1/3 of the conservation planting should be heavy switch (5 to 7 lbs /acre).

 

[FLDBRED]

Lynn + Tcaddis,
Anys thoughts on why the hen -rooster ratio is what it is?With NO hunting,it should be closer to 1 to 1,or maybe cocks slightly higher.

 

[Tcaddis]

Weren't the stocking hen heavy. Males open themselves to predation. Standing in the middle of a field crowing for the ladies can't help them survive.

The grass was as you mentioned Lynn, but I would have liked to see a heck of a lot more. Any thoughts to old strip mines?

 

[FLDBRED]

The PF biologist said most of the birds we were flushing were the offspring from the original stocking.In a perfect world it should be a 1- 1 ratio,if habitat is marginal it's usually the hens to perish first.It will be interesting to see what the final count is.

 

[Lynnappelman]

We'll need to wait till a larger area is flushed to draw any conclusions. Greenwood so far is rooster heavy but only a couple farms have been flushed in Greenwood.

These are very early flushing survey results. We have many more farms to survey.


Stay tuned.










Greenwood Valley:


We surveyed 2 farms and a stream buffer in the Greenwood Valley last week.


We flushed 21 Roosters:15 Hens


Sex Ratio = 1:0.7










Turbotville:


On Saturday Jan 23 we held our first large group pheasant flushing survey and covered the first 6 farms in the Turbotville area.


We flushed 48 Roosters:73 Hens


Sex Ratio = 1:1.5

 

[Tcaddis]

Lynn,

In your area when was the last time you got western birds?

We talked to two other groups and they hadn't flushed any birds from their areas. I am not sure what the total survey numbers were. I will try to get numbers.

 

[Lynnappelman]

Last winter in January 09 we got birds but they were released in the PPL Preserve area. The areas we have been flushing in Turbotville last got birds in the winter of Jan/Feb 08 and Greenwood in Jan/Feb 07 and only a few in 08.

 

[bwire]

As of now, is everything the same for Sunday Jan. 31st? I am going to try and come up on that day since I couldn't make it up this past Saturday.