Pheasant Numbers down !!

scuby

Hey,

just wondering what the pheasant numbers are like in your area so far this season. Very scarce round north cork. think maybe the heavy rain at the start of the summer may have drowned/washed away the nests.

at the end of the season last year, there were more birds around.
Do you think if this is the case they would close the season earlier ??

came across a few cocks at the weekend but did not fire at them as they were more like a big thrush !

tikkamark

scuby wrote: »

Hey,

just wondering what the pheasant numbers are like in your area so far this season. Very scarce round north cork. think maybe the heavy rain at the start of the summer may have drowned/washed away the nests.

at the end of the season last year, there were more birds around.
Do you think if this is the case they would close the season earlier ??

came across a few cocks at the weekend but did not fire at them as they were more like a big thrush !

Noticed that round me to scuby they aint to plentyful this year a lot of walking is required to find them i think the wet weather in june+july killed a lot of wild poults plus the explosion in hawk and buzzard numbers has a lot to do with it round my way it has anyway:mad:

John Griffin

tikkamark wrote: »

Noticed that round me to scuby they aint to plentyful this year a lot of walking is required to find them i think the wet weather in june+july killed a lot of wild poults plus the explosion in hawk and buzzard numbers has a lot to do with it round my way it has anyway:mad:

I assure you that buzzards and sparrowhawks or any other birds of prey are not the reason for the lack of pheasants. Pheasants don't breed well in the wild, they are poor parents, if they did we wouldn't need to release so many every year. The biggest problem facing pheasants in the last 20 years has been farming practice, its the same thing that has driven the grey partridge and the concrake to near extinction. Sillage harvesting being the biggest problem, tractors and mowers have been getting bigger and faster, they now cut throughout the night too. Birds have no chance. The amount of habitat that has been removed is enormous, we have lost so much hedgerow in the last 20 years, it is a vital source of food and cover and the ones that are left are cut back to nothing leaving little cover or food. Tillage is another problem, there are no longer any insects or wild weeds in it for the younger birds to feed on. A very wet summer will also kill alot of chicks born in the wild. The only way to increase pheasant numbers is to release birds and feed them throughout the year like the big shoots do. You could kill every single bird and mammal that could possibly prey on pheasants and it would make no difference, we just don't have the habitat for them that we used to have. Fair enough a female sparrow hawk can play havoc with a pen of birds if it gets in. But the buzzard does not kill healthy birds, gamekeepers that know what they are doing have no problem with them, the buzzard only takes the dead and dying pheasants. Killing birds of prey to protect pheasants is a waste of time, it is illegal and gives all us hunters very bad press and turns the public against us, look what happened when that idiot shot the Red Kite in Wicklow, it was in every paper in Ireland and the UK. Hunters need to be whiter than white and to be seen to understand and support conservation, otherwise we are just giving the Anti's another stick to beat us with.
Safe hunting this season.:)

scuby

agree with ya, would never ever shoot a birid of prey, they are far too nice to watch when they are hunting etc.. and would not have a major effect on the numbers. and again would only hunt/kill as necessary

the changes to the farm land is destroying alot of habitat alright and is having a knock on effect

marlyman

we were shooting in mullingar on the first - never seen birds as scarce. 2 shot from 5 guns with 2 dogs. eeeek.

stevoman

the poor summer played a big part too because the young pheasents rely on insects for the first few weeks and there was no insect life with all the rain. we got one on saturday and seen 2 cocks and a hen after that. seen a hen when i was out on sunday. not a lot around, if it wasnt for people rearing them we wouldnrt have any at all.

meathstevie

I'd second the crap summer as the main culprit allright and as was mentioned farming practices... Try to convince some farmers to start cutting silage from the middle of the field and work outwards, same with tillage. Maybe a long shot but maybe gunclubs could invest more in feeding through the year or even renting a couple of small plots of land to plant as suitable habitat "islands".

José Alaninho

I'm pretty sure i've killed every pheasant that lives within a two mile area of my house. Apologies to all but they tasted fine!;)

spideog7

Around me there's a lot of lazy hunters, they'll go to the area's where you can drive up, put the dogs into a small thumb or a bit of cover and then shoot the pheasant's that fly up. They are also unscrupulous and will shoot loads in one day, I know lads that shot over 90 in a one or two weekends :eek: And we're not in county where they are usually more plentiful.
I shot 3 over the entire season last year, and I let some go that I could have shot. And I was happy with that!
I avoid the areas that are easy to get to and instead head off into the hard to reach area's that I know about personally. This weekend I shot one cock and saw at least 6 more and as many as 15 hens. That's solely from walking over 3hrs Saturday and 4 and a half hrs Sunday, covering around a 3mile radius from my house. I thought that was the most plentiful I have ever seen them and wouldn't feel bad about shooting another good few locally this season.
I know usually how many are around the area from hearing them and seeing them so I don't like to leave too many cocks or they'll just fight each other and kill each other anyway.

All in all I think there's loads around me, more than I've ever seen, here's looking forward to some more shootin this season, and a lovely dinner this evening

Trojan911

Been out around my area, West Cork, twice since the season opened & have'nt seen any.. Very shoddy....

kerryman12

the bad summer must have had a part to play. The father in law raise about 100 each year to release and shoot. By october they had only approx 25 left to release. They all die as poults due to the bad weather.

Its sad to say but I think in the future if you want birds to shoot it looks like they will have to be raised the be shoot.

What are the feelings on Phesant breads native or otherwise?

pm.

marlyman wrote: »

we were shooting in mullingar on the first - never seen birds as scarce. 2 shot from 5 guns with 2 dogs. eeeek.

same here in mullingar myself, really bad.

Double Barrel

Excellent post John,

The best way to produce more pheasants is to improve habitat and improving habitat is also the most cost effective and in the long run by far the most productive.

Pheasants thrive where farming is intensive if two major habitat requirements are met: adequate undisturbed cover for nesting, and sufficient food and cover for the critical winter period.

Difficult to achieve with modern intensive farming practices but it can be done. "where there's a will there's a way".

cavan shooter

I agree, very slack on the pheasants around cavan and north dublin

sounder

but lads alots of wild birds here this year the same as last year .bad weather has abit to do with it,but its down to vermin to place is full of mink foxs keep them well down u have birds on the ground cheers sounder

bogteal

your dead right sounder if you dont keep on top of the fox you will not have birds but in west clare 95% of hunters shoot fox and do not like to see lamping at all, the more foxes that are around the better they like it and thats ok to.

sounder

these are the most wanted but boys have no time to set traps and keep them baited.i got 5 mink in a week here i the same spot.cheers sounder

macnab

Pheasants are scarse enough in my part of meath too. I have been out twice since the 1st and shot 1 pheasant on each day, I dont have a dog though. BTW myself and me dad ate the 2 pheasants this evening and they were fantastic.

ShowAndGo

Last March or April, when we had a that spell of great weather, I use to hear plenty of cocks about the place…but I haven’t heard too many since then.

It probably doesn’t help that my neighbour has 6 or 7 cats, some have the habit of leaving their catches at my back door.

spideog7

I had my first pheasant of the season for dinner last night too... delicious
Quick question a bit OT, I tried trapping mink a while back with a club trap I borrowed but had no luck. Unfortunately I'm not around enough too bait them and watch them, is there anyway to shoot mink with a rifle or anything? I don't know of any place where they are very common or often seen though.

sounder

no the traps are the best and only way to got the ............,time to bait them is
always the problem cheers sounder

bunny shooter

few lads I know use rabbit in distress calls/ers and 22 rifles with subsonic ammo to kill mink. apparently the little blighters come to the call as good as any fox

Banjax

The habitat, while playing the greater part in keeping pheasant numbers up, was not the issue this year, at least not in my neck of the woods.

There was more cereal and other cover crops put down than has been in the last 10 years. Without doubt, the high rainfall at the start of the summer was a disaster for pheasant poults. Any taken by hawks etc would number so small as not to be worth considering.
Nest raiders are a different issue, the usual suspects such as mag-pies and other corvids being bolstered by the growing population of badgers, hedgehogs and foxes.

On a more positive note, there are more duck (where wet enough) than last year, and I'm glad to see the snipe numbers are back up as well. To my pleasure, I have seen at least 3 more hare than I saw this time last year.
I'll have to wait and see if the woodcock get here in any numbers before the season ends, last year February was the month I saw most of them.

meathstevie

Good few snipe on the bogs around my neck of the woods as well... pheasants is a different story... still a good few maize fields as well though and flushing them out of that takes at least 10 lads..

Double Barrel

Bandax and Stevie,

Agree regarding the very wet Spring as generally speaking, high nesting success occurs in years when spring weather is warm and dry. Hens do everything in their power to nest successfully, and will make multiple nesting attempts. IMHO the majority of nesting failures year to year can be attributed to three factors - farming operations, predation, and nest abandonment.
All in all should be a good year for migratory fowl, especially if we get a cold snap.

Banjax

I might put down a few birds next year, something I haven't done in something like 20 years.

Mellor

Excuse my ignorance, but what do you do with them once trapped?


The only thing we seam to have here in any numbers are larks. Quite annoying when the dog sets on long grass only to have a lark pop out.

scuby

Banjax wrote: »

I might put down a few birds next year, something I haven't done in something like 20 years.

lots of people going to be the same.....

Mellor wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance, but what do you do with them once trapped?

all humane of course !!!!

sounder

of course never give them to a young terrier that would be wrong

Paddy Diver

Hi All,

I dont shoot Pheasant so Im no expert or anything but alot of people I know who do shoot Pheasant say there's never been as many, and I have seen loads of them while out shooting (even before the season started). But as I said I dont know much about that kinda shooting so it's just what I hear. In Cork by the way.


Ian