# Pheasant Hunting



## KansasBoy

Does anyone up here do any pheasant hunting? I grew up in (and still hunt in) Kansas, which is some of the primo ring-neck hunting in the country. I have lived here for 3 years and never even seen a pheasant, much less hunted them. It would be great to have a place I could hunt them that didn't require an airline ticket!


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## The Ojibwa

Check ODNR for release dates; Friday they are releasing some at various wildlife areas. It gets pretty crowded at times.


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## Buck36

*Link*

http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/News/NewsReleaseArchives/tabid/19075/EntryId/1915/Pheasants-To-Be-Released-At-28-Public-Hunting-Areas-Statewide.aspx



*This was the letter I received:*


NEWS RELEASE


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 27, 2010


Pheasants To Be Released At 28 Public Hunting Areas Statewide



COLUMBUS, OH - More than 15,000 ring-necked pheasants will be released on 28 public hunting areas across the state this fall, as part of a seasonal effort by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), Division of Wildlife to enhance hunting opportunities for this popular game bird.

Ring-necked pheasants will be released on the evenings (after shooting hours) of October 22 and 29 in anticipation of the weekends small-game season for youth hunters. Releases will also take place on the evenings of November 4 and 12. The final release of the fall is scheduled for the evening of Wednesday, November 24, to increase pheasant hunting opportunities during the Thanksgiving weekend.

Although not listed in the 2010-2011 hunting regulations, pheasants will be released for the youth hunts on October 22 and 29 on Ringneck Ridge and Tiffin River wildlife areas. Hunters interested in hunting the Ringneck Ridge Area in Sandusky County will require a free permit from the Sandusky County Park District. For more information regarding the issuance of these free hunting permits, contact the Sandusky County Park Office at (419) 334-4495 or the Sandusky County Park District Ranger Office at (419) 637-2900. 

Pheasant hunting season opens Friday, November 5 and remains open through January 9, 2011, with a daily bag limit of two rooster (male) birds. Statewide hunting hours are sunrise to sunset.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources ensures a balance between wise use and protection of our natural resources for the benefit of all. Visit the ODNR Web site at www.ohiodnr.com. 

Pheasant Release Dates

22-Oct 29-Oct 4-Nov 12-Nov 24-Nov
*Central Ohio*

Delaware 400 400 350 200 250

Pleasant Valley 0 0 140 140 120


*Northwest Ohio*

Killdeer 60 80 270 250 280

Wyandot 0 0 60 60 60

Ringneck Ridge 60 70 80 60 60

Resthaven 100 140 160 60 100

Willard 0 0 100 100 100

Tiffin River 60 70 80 60 60

Oxbow 60 70 120 60 70



*Northeast Ohio*

Beach City 0 0 180 100 70

Berlin 200 240 300 180 140

Grand River 200 230 300 220 140

Highlandtown 0 0 260 110 120

Shreve 0 0 120 60 80

Spencer 160 200 140 50 120

Wellington 100 100 100 40 90

West Branch 0 0 150 100 100

Zepernick 0 0 130 60 70

Charlemont 100 100 120 70 110

Camp Belden 50 70 100 50 70


*Southeast Ohio*

Dillon 200 220 140 80 100

Salt Fork 0 0 140 120 100


*Southwest Ohio*

Fallsville 130 140 220 100 120

Indian Creek 0 0 290 90 170

Spring Valley 0 0 190 100 100

Rush Run 100 50 210 90 100

Caesar Creek 210 260 210 100 100

Darke 50 40 100 50 80


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## skerr

I always wondered... Why only two roosters? Do they only release roosters? Isn't that unsustainable for the population if hunters kill all the males?


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## longhaulpointer

i wonder a lot of things, if you can figure out why they don't release hens please enlighten me. AND PLEASE don't tell me that released birds can't breed. ALL pheasants in this country originated from released birds. furthermore, ohio used to be a premier state for pheasants in the 50's. farming pratices have changed and i know i will never be the way it used to be, but thats not to say that ceasers or fallsville or any other numerous parks don't have enough land and habitat to support populations


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## vinnystatechamp

it seems like they dont want to repopulate they just want to give something to hunt. personally, they need to work on the pheasants in the spring along with trying to get the quail population back up. I'd love to be able to hunt quail again around my hometown


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## BuckeyeHunter

They claim that so few of the pen raised birds survive that it isn't worthwhile. I felt the same way about all the birds here being from overseas so why can't others survive, but the more I think about it I realize that the first birds released were probably wild caught, or at least only a generation or two removed. The pen raised birds are so far removed from their natural instincts that they don't know to look up for a hawk etc. It does seem like they could bring in wild born birds through from other states like they have with turkeys.

That said - did anyone shoot any birds today? We didn't do great on pheasants, shot one and had the dog chasing one's heels so close I couldn't shoot until it was over a river and gone, the bird wouldn't fly higher than 1 foot off the ground. The woodcock were thick though, shot 5 of them and flushed about 5 more.


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## c. j. stone

We took our three Brits out today. The old dog, with the softball sized leg tumor, found us one and was good for an hour before she slowed way down. The other two younger, robo-dogs didn't find anything. There was considerably less shooting at Berlin than a normal opening day. Thought with some youth hunt carryover and the Thursday evening stocking, it would have much better than it was. Still it was good to get out there. Rain and sleet may have kept some people out of the fields today.


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## c. j. stone

skerr said:


> I always wondered... Why only two roosters? Do they only release roosters? Isn't that unsustainable for the population if hunters kill all the males?


I've wondered what they do with the hens that hatch at the hatcheries also. Why not drop them off with a rooster or two in farming areas and see what happens. Pheasants Forever organization preaches, "if you have habitat, you will have pheasants". Do they come down out of the sky with the rain?? I assume THEY(ODNR) just don't want them to propagate for reasons I can't fathom. There are a few pockets of low, swampland in NE Ohio where I have seen and heard pheasants so I know they can make it ok. I read somewhere, if a stocked pheasant can make it thru a couple days, it will become wild-and wily. Maybe this is something we should push the DNR to try to repopulate them at the hearings.


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## scallop

Does anyone know what area they release them in at Delaware? Never hunted that area and thinking about taking my son up for a Thanksgiving day hunt. I have the map from the ODNR but it does not give any info as to the release area.


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## shooter43

Is there a place in northeastern Ohio where you can buy mature pheasants for release. We're thinking of putting together a family hunt & purchasing 25 to 50 birds to release for the hunt. Or for that matter any leads on where to buy mature birds would be appreciated. 
The blizzards of the 70's & 80's absolutely decimated our wild population. Thanks for any information.


shooter


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## longhaulpointer

i worked at a pheasant preserve where we let go hens and roosters. saw broods of young chicks in the fields, in the spring that came directly from yr old released birds that were layed, incubated, and hatched on our farm. these were birds that were released and didn't get shot, then reproduced. not wild caught birds.
i work with a lady whose property buts up against ceasers creek, she would see the same rooster every day walking along the road on her way to work, even took a pic of it to show me. that was just in the summer so he obiviously survived the winter.


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## I Fish

longhaulpointer said:


> i worked at a pheasant preserve where we let go hens and roosters. saw broods of young chicks in the fields, in the spring that came directly from yr old released birds that were layed, incubated, and hatched on our farm. these were birds that were released and didn't get shot, then reproduced. not wild caught birds.


Me too. I kinda studied the situation, and tried to keep a count. Every time, as the days wore on, the young got fewer and fewer. I never really figured out what, but something was eating them. By the time fall rolled around, it was a rarity any young birds were killed in the field. I came to the conclusion that, with nobody trapping much anymore, and the fact that we have more hawks and owls, we will never again see a sustained wild population. I always thought we would get quail re-established, but IMO, they fall into the same catagory. 

I know everybody thinks there are tons of wild birds out west, but the truth is, many of those are pen raised as well. The landowners just charge "trespass fees" instead of charging by the bird.


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## fishintechnician

I have several properties in central ohio area with good wild populations of pheasants only me an da couple of good friends hunt these for birds and we try and limit the number we harvest to try and get a better pop. last year on the last day of season we tracked over 30 birds in a 30 acre stuble feild, now this farm is not like most he and neighboring farmers leave buffer srtips and stuble for these birds not to mention fence rows that are 20 to 40 yds wide and 1/2 to 1 mile in length. there is also another stuble feild inside of the that is probobly 10 to 15 acres in size as well as many thickets inside of the woods that is 100 acres plus. this spring my wife, myself and fellow ogfer bonecrusher saw several quail on this farm as well. Not sure if these were raised and released or if they are decendants from wild birds. i have alos seen flocks of quails at delaware sp the last to years not huge numbers but they are there. We hunt a couple other public lands that don't have releases and have PLENTY of wild birds, not uncomon to hear them cackilng while sitting in the deer stand. I belive if we could get more farmers to leave cover for them then we would see much more birds, but in the last 5 years seems that they have been on the incline and I am very happy about this.


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## cnmrosko

When you drive around most agricultural and livestock producing areas of Ohio during the winter it's pretty obvious why there aren't any more pheasants or quail and 30% less songbirds than there used to be. With the massive amounts of poisoning, cutting, draining, plowing and paving that goes on there the winter landscapes have become more lifeless than most deserts. In modern day Ohio good land stewardship and conservation practices have been replaced by the ever increasing desire for squeezing maximum money producing profits from the earth at unwitting costs to us all.

The ODNR and Ohio's public are in bad need of a refresher course on quality of life and intelligent land conservation practices.


*


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## hillbilly gourmet

I went out with two of our labs for there second time that they put out pheasant at Darke County. They put out 50 birds on Fri. nite and a 100 for the opening day plus 50 twice for youth hunting and are going to do 80 for Thanksgiving Day. A friend and i went with in 25 min. we had 4 birds so i went back to the truck. Then i went to take out another guy as a guide and he got one. This was all with in a hour of hunting time. Can't wait to go again on Thanksgiving Day. We do some training at the same place and have seen pheasant from the year before but they say that it takes three gen. of birds to get wild bird. Pheasant Forever of DARKE has a youth hunt ever year and the first three years they put out 50 hens and 250 cocks birds. The second time they started to band birds and killed birds that did't have bands this was six years ago they have wild birds there now. They still put out 200 to 250 for the youth hunt and kill about 150 of the birds thats a good thing.


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## hillbilly gourmet

Fun day!% [email protected]


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## longhaulpointer

I Fish said:


> Me too. I kinda studied the situation, and tried to keep a count. Every time, as the days wore on, the young got fewer and fewer. I never really figured out what, but something was eating them. By the time fall rolled around, it was a rarity any young birds were killed in the field. I came to the conclusion that, with nobody trapping much anymore, and the fact that we have more hawks and owls, we will never again see a sustained wild population. I always thought we would get quail re-established, but IMO, they fall into the same catagory.
> 
> I know everybody thinks there are tons of wild birds out west, but the truth is, many of those are pen raised as well. The landowners just charge "trespass fees" instead of charging by the bird.


its hawks, at our farm we had more redtails and coopers than you could believe, they used to get stuck in our flight pens when they would dive through the nets.

also i think that out west like sd the state pays farmers to release "wild birds"

and lastly, i'm not a farmer but can someone tell me why central ohio looks like a barren wasteland in the winter? aren't these the same farming tactics that led to the dust bowl era? i don't know anything about farming, just asking why they plow the fields under in the winter?


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## hillbilly gourmet

shooter43 said:


> Is there a place in northeastern Ohio where you can buy mature pheasants for release. We're thinking of putting together a family hunt & purchasing 25 to 50 birds to release for the hunt. Or for that matter any leads on where to buy mature birds would be appreciated.
> The blizzards of the 70's & 80's absolutely decimated our wild population. Thanks for any information.
> 
> 
> shooter


I have a some places that i can get birds for $10 give me a PM if you would like to know were?


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## C J Hughes

I was headed down to the river to fish for 4 days on rt 68 just before the Cowan Lake exit . There they were 6 cock birds watching the traffic going by . I haven't seen that in years .


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## little guy

I have hunted SD twice. It is crazy. Save your $ and your gas and go West. You can DIY, hunt wild birds, and have the best trip of your life.


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## c. j. stone

shooter43 said:


> Is there a place in northeastern Ohio where you can buy mature pheasants for release. We're thinking of putting together a family hunt & purchasing 25 to 50 birds to release for the hunt. Or for that matter any leads on where to buy mature birds would be appreciated.
> The blizzards of the 70's & 80's absolutely decimated our wild population. Thanks for any information.
> 
> 
> shooter


There's a place in Edinburg, West Branch area(near Rt 14 exit of I-76), I think it's called Lakeview Pheasant(or Game Bird) Farm that raises and sells pheasants. You should be able to get a phone number from Information or ODNR Div. 3 Hqs in the Portage Lakes-Akron.


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## birdhunt

well kansas boy, i got home from your home state on the 22nd after the best year i have ever had in the past 25 years or so.............a couple of the older fellows say it is the best year for pheasants they have seen since the 50's! i saw more birds than i have ever seen in ohio and i'm 68 years old.......it never was and never will be as good here as out there--they do release birds in south dakota, but as far as i know, they've never done it in kansas in modern time............there has been a lot of discussion about getting birds started in ohio on this site and many others--i firmly believe it could be done, but there just wouldn't be any 'dollars' in it for the state so it will never happen. you'd better head home and get in on the harvest........i hope to get back out in january.............


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## fishintechnician

I made it out this past saturday and we did fairly well we managed to get up 13 birds, 10 hens and 3 cock birds. i went home at the end of the day with one rooster nad two bunnies. My buddy went back yesterday and got up 5 more hens. This is all on private land and no birds have been released in this area.


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## robertj298

Ohio doesn't really have pheasant hunting any more. You may call going out and shooting released birds pheasant hunting but I don't. Just as I don't consider going out to Antrim lake here in Columbus fishing for released trout trout fishing. It sure isn't like the good ole days


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## LilSiman/Medina

Go to Spencer Lake Wildlife Area. I live right down the road and there is great pheasent hunting there. My bneighbors have bagged out 4 times this year and theres still plentyu of birds flyin. But there smart so be sneaky.


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## coydog1254

I agree with the crop take off in our state being an issue. We have done moore than our share of killing our wild birds. I think the new programs for Quail cover will help all our native birds though. No-til and other crop practices still don't help. Farming is hardly a big dollar industry for the common farmer. (I'm not a farmer) I understand trying to squeez that nickel to a dime, I know all of us are trying to do the same. I don't understand why the State has not boosted it's habitat restoration projects. I pay for my license just the same as anyone else. Maybe an Upland Stamp of $10 would help boost the build. It worked on deer and turkey. Maybe this is something we should all consider. I would like to hunt wild birds, but with the option to hunt released birds or not at all. Well I think any of us would drop the hammer for a release.


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