Where did they go?

[joycenjohnb]

When I was younger there were so many ring neck pheasants in the north east primarly Pennsylvania that you saw them every where you went. Now there is none. Does anyone know what happened to them. I am thinking of raising some but want to know why the wild ones disappeared first. I also noticed that the quail and feral pigeon population has dropped.

 

[thekid]

Well as a fellow PA'er I have to tell you the truth


Back before they stocked pheasants there used to be a wild one. That was red. Yes Red. Then we discovered their delicous meat and now we stock the chinese ringneck.

 

[mochicken]

I live in Northwest Missouri, I am only 29 years old but I remember when we had pheasant and quail all over even, overhunting and more predators ( bobcats, coyotes, feral dogs and cats ) etc etc have been a major problem for us. I was thinking of hatching out a couple hundred pheasants in the spring and letting them go lol

 

[aprophet]

folks not trapping and controlling pred populations quiet a few folks trap here where I am I see a coupla dozen covey of quail here and our turkey populations are so good we have a coupla flocks here in the city where I am

 

[chickened]

It is a combination of predators, feral housecats, and clean farming practices that removed fence/hedge rows. Oregon was the first area in the U.S. to import pheasants and we had plenty until grain crops were replaced by grass seed crops and with that came cleaner farming practices.

 

[birdboy15]

Everything chickened said is the same here in MI. Also, wild turkeys are not a native bird here, they destroy the undergrowth and destroy the nests of other birds.

 

[thekid]

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=1008740&mode=2

 

[SuperPeacockman]

Quote:
Are you saying their was a native pheasant?

 

[rittert3]

Wild pheasant and quail are easy populations to wipe out. Pheasant were never very thick in my area, but there used to be a fair amount of quail. The wild turkeys were hunted out then reintroduced in the late 70s and exploded, the turkeys love bob eggs and now they are few and far between.

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

They're all moving to Washington, lol. I have seen more pheasants this past year than ever before. Pheasants are not native to the US, every pheasant was introduced, even alot of the turkey populations are introduced to some areas. I know some of the states give pheasant chicks to people to raise then they collect them and turn them loose. I heard now they are charging people here in WA to raise pheasants for them, makes no sense to me. So maybe your state has slowed its production of pheasants due to budget issues?