# I always forget!



## gohabs1985 (Mar 20, 2010)

So the DNR website lists release dates as Nov 1, Nov 9, and Nov 28. Are those the dates they release and then hunting is the following day? Or do they release them that "day" at like 1am and then people hunt that same day? (so hunting 1, 9, 28?). I have messed this up before and I want to make sure i don't do it again (sitting in an empty field wondering "where is erybody??") LOl


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## TIN_KNOCKER (Nov 15, 2005)

Opening day is always the first Friday in November which is the 1st this year and Thanksgiving is the 28th so I would say those are the hunt days and they stock the birds the evening before.


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## Barcelona (Sep 17, 2006)

Tin is correct.


TIN_KNOCKER said:


> Opening day is always the first Friday in November which is the 1st this year and Thanksgiving is the 28th so I would say those are the hunt days and they stock the birds the evening before.


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## colonel594 (Aug 31, 2012)

Also don't forget most of the areas have already been stocked for youth hunts with generally very little pressure... If the slew of other predators didn't get them they will still be around.


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## TomC (Aug 14, 2007)

I know spring valley got hit by the predators. Opening day we found several that were just piles of feathers.


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

TomC said:


> I know spring valley got hit by the predators. Opening day we found several that were just piles of feathers.


Likely OWLS at night! 
Maybe coyotes(they're Everywhere)!?


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## colonel594 (Aug 31, 2012)

I see the same at Berlin every year.... Nice that the state stocks them. But they where raised in pens, they have no idea they are dinner when they are first released.


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

colonel594 said:


> I see the same at Berlin every year.... Nice that the state stocks them. But they where raised in pens, they have no idea they are dinner when they are first released.


True, but I've read some research that says pen raised birds are essentially "Wild birds"!-IF they can last two days/nights after stocking!(Take that info anyway you want, and yes, have hunted Wild birds back in the day.) I've hunted the Holidays on stocked lands and I can tell you it's NO barrel shoot! They've found the thickest, nastiest cover available in the whole area, and run like "rabbits in front of beagles"! Nearly impossible to get a point!! Two bird days are the Exception. On the other hand,"first" days after stocking, with my son, behind two good dogs, we've been "Done"(four birds) 15 minutes after shooting hour starts!(and all were kicked into flight).


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## Blackdawg (Dec 31, 2007)

*True, but I've read some research that says pen raised birds are essentially "Wild birds"!-* Uhm, no they're not. Not even close. Don't believe that for one moment. A wild hen sits on her nest vocalizing to her clutch of eggs up until they hatch. Upon hatching the chicks are immediately imprinted to mom, following her around and mimicking her every action, including feeding drinking and predator avoidance. Pen raised birds are hatched in incubators with no imprinting from a wild mom. End of discussion. Pen raised birds are just that- pen raised birds. As a side bar- our club stocks 1600 pheasants a year at our gun club. The propagator who provides us our birds routinely sends thousands of birds to South Dakota. People travel there and spend big money gunning some large pheasant hunting operations without realizing they may in fact be shooting Ohio pen reared birds!!!


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## Uglystix (Mar 3, 2006)

Not to sidetrack, just a tidbit.... when I was 16 years old in 1990 I saw two cock birds with a hen at westbranch dam mid summer. Thought that was cool. I also saw two grouse drumming on logs a couple years before that off of cableline rd.


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## $diesel$ (Aug 3, 2018)

Blackdawg said:


> *True, but I've read some research that says pen raised birds are essentially "Wild birds"!-* Uhm, no they're not. Not even close. Don't believe that for one moment. A wild hen sits on her nest vocalizing to her clutch of eggs up until they hatch. Upon hatching the chicks are immediately imprinted to mom, following her around and mimicking her every action, including feeding drinking and predator avoidance. Pen raised birds are hatched in incubators with no imprinting from a wild mom. End of discussion. Pen raised birds are just that- pen raised birds. As a side bar- our club stocks 1600 pheasants a year at our gun club. The propagator who provides us our birds routinely sends thousands of birds to South Dakota. People travel there and spend big money gunning some large pheasant hunting operations without realizing they may in fact be shooting Ohio pen reared birds!!!


I agree with you 100%, dawg. No comparison.
12 or 15 years ago, i got hooked up to hunt a farm with my son and his buddy. The buddy's family had two decent sized farms in Gavers, Oh. We killed enough rabbits there to fill up a semi and thats jump shoot'n em.
Little did i or my son know, one of the nearby neighbors, a doctor, had been bringing in wild pheasants from some where in the mid west and stocking them on his farm. Being wild, they spred out nicely and provided some great but difficult shooting. You could pound them big birds and crumple them in the air and never find them, much unlike pen raised birds.
AND, those wild birds can run a good dog ragged, completely different critter in my opinion.


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

Blackdawg said:


> *True, but I've read some research that says pen raised birds are essentially "Wild birds"!-* Uhm, no they're not. Not even close. Don't believe that for one moment. A wild hen sits on her nest vocalizing to her clutch of eggs up until they hatch. Upon hatching the chicks are immediately imprinted to mom, following her around and mimicking her every action, including feeding drinking and predator avoidance. Pen raised birds are hatched in incubators with no imprinting from a wild mom. End of discussion. Pen raised birds are just that- pen raised birds. As a side bar- our club stocks 1600 pheasants a year at our gun club. The propagator who provides us our birds routinely sends thousands of birds to South Dakota. People travel there and spend big money gunning some large pheasant hunting operations without realizing they may in fact be shooting Ohio pen reared birds!!!


Not arguing, just mentioning the point of that statement was "what followed"(maybe you didn't read the whole post)?? The point was that "IF" those stocked birds can survive the first couple days/NIGHTS, they acclimate to their surroundings and take on many(if not most) of the traits of "wild" birds. In other words, they hide in heavy cover, run first instead of flying from disturbances, have had occasion to use their wings(well) if pushed hard by a predator be it human or canine, forage for food, basically developing a strong sense of survival. The "left-overs" that I mentioned I've hunted on Public land late in the season(having survived for Several weeks after stocking, "some how") are as hardened as any wild birds I hunted(back in the 70's, 80's) and are Not Easy to bag. Not many people hunt birds that late in/on our putntake areas but I think any of them that do would have the same opinion. Additionally, this info is from published articles I have read. I was just repeating for general info. And again, "Take that info anyway you want"-but don't take comments out of context to make a point!


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## Blackdawg (Dec 31, 2007)

What comment out of context? Your statement "I've read some research that pen raised birds are essentially "wild birds" was followed by an exclamation point, you know, as exclaiming that claim to be true. I guarantee you that statement never was, nor never will be attributed to any professional upland game biologist or researcher. All of your other statements, whether true or not i.e. late season wariness etc. seeking shelter etc. can as easily be refuted by research that clearly demonstrates stocked birds die in disproportionate numbers, as compared to true wild F1 generation birds, of starvation, predation or freezing to death while standing in the wide open during a blizzard. Survival skills are not a product of the incubator. These are just facts about pheasants. Nothing more nothing less.


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## gohabs1985 (Mar 20, 2010)

Nothing beats asking a simple question on OGF and then watching 3-4 people bicker and argue over a totally different and stupid topic! 

"Anyone know if Alum creek is no wake above 36/37 bridge?"
"IM TELLING YOU, THE SAUGEYE IN THAT LAKE ARE NOT HATCHED IN OHIO!!!"


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## c. j. stone (Sep 24, 2006)

Ok, this will be my last contribution to this thread but a couple things need to be mentioned. First, gohabs, you asked a question and someone answered it promptly and then the conversation moved on to other, related, "observations" of pheasant hunting and "stocking"-that's a natural evolution of typical threads on this site-and not a Bad thing)! Everyone got a chance to add their knowledge/experiences-pro and con, also a good thing! I've hunted(and fished) for 67 years, since I was six years old. I added my comments abt "stocked birds" just to pass along general information I've read in the past(I Read alot, esp if a topic that interests me!) Repeating it doesn't mean I "totally agree" with it, or that anyone else needs to agree, and I "Tried" to qualify my statements to that objective. To me, hunting stocked pheasants is a way of keeping my "old, (fond) memories" of "truly wild" pheasant hunting back in the day" alive! I'll have a Brittany Spaniel, and will pursue them as long as the DNR wants to continue putting them out there-and as long as these old bones can still get me out into the fields and briar patches!!
Final comment, Chinese ringed neck pheasants are not Native to the US. They were brought in crates, by ships in the 1800's!(likely propogated/reared in Oriental Pens, I ASSUME?) for the "wealthy" to enjoy owning/seeing/hunting! Were not ALL pheasants decendents of those "pen raised, stocked" birds??


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## Muddy (May 7, 2017)

Every wild animal survives using learned and innate behavior. Wild birds survive using innate and learned behavior. Pen raised birds survive based on innate behavior only.


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## buckeyebowman (Feb 24, 2012)

c. j. stone said:


> True, but I've read some research that says pen raised birds are essentially "Wild birds"!-IF they can last two days/nights after stocking!(Take that info anyway you want, and yes, have hunted Wild birds back in the day.) I've hunted the Holidays on stocked lands and I can tell you it's NO barrel shoot! They've found the thickest, nastiest cover available in the whole area, and run like "rabbits in front of beagles"! Nearly impossible to get a point!! Two bird days are the Exception. On the other hand,"first" days after stocking, with my son, behind two good dogs, we've been "Done"(four birds) 15 minutes after shooting hour starts!(and all were kicked into flight).


At my hunting club, we buy pheasant from a private breeder. They come off the truck as dumb as you can imagine. But, it doesn't take them long to figure out what their legs are for! 



Muddy said:


> Every wild animal survives using learned and innate behavior. Wild birds survive using innate and learned behavior. Pen raised birds survive based on innate behavior only.


I disagree! The birds we buy are raised in wide open flight pens, and they are strong flyers! It doesn't take them long to figure out how to hide from predators! Yes, we'll find piles of feathers from the dumb ones, but so many make it past that.


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## Muddy (May 7, 2017)

You disagree with a biological fact?


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## buckeyebowman (Feb 24, 2012)

Who says that is biological fact? I know what I've observed. I've seen truly wild pheasant flush when anybody got anywhere near them, and pen raised "stockers" run like crazy to get away! There is NO behavioral standard here!


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## BaddFish (Jun 20, 2009)

YAAA! YAAAA!! WELLL,

Pen raised & wild Pheasants both taste GOOOOD!! LOL

So there's that...


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