Ring necked pheasants are popular game for many North American hunters, especially through the Midwest and Great Plains state. Hunting for pheasants has been a pastime for hundred of years. However, pheasants are not native to the United States. They were brought over to North America for the first time in the late 1800s from China and East Asia. They flourished in the United States up until the 1940s, when the population declined mostly due to limited habitat. While there are still self-sustaining pheasant populations in the Great Plains, almost all of the pheasant in Wisconsin are farm-raised birds. Today I'm talking about my experience working with pheasants.
I arrived at the loading site, ready to see the pheasants ready to go. However, the truck was not there yet. This was the second attempt to release these pheasants. The first, a few days ago, didn't go as planned. It had been snowing and sleeting, and as the crates are open, the pheasants were not able to be moved. If moved, their tails would freeze together, which would be a whole mess to try and unstick. Finally, a long truck pulls up, carting crates and crates of pheasants. Many DNR biologists were there from different counties, ready to take their share of birds and head to state natural areas. We were headed to Sand Creek Natural Area in Monroe County.
Once we got there, we had to park our cars in the parking lot, and jump on the tailgate of the biologist's truck, as it was rough terrain and didn't resemble much of a road. We stopped on the side, in the middle of a large prairie area. The pheasants were in a wooden crate with different compartments. A sliding door let the pheasants out. I got to slide it open and watched as multiple pheasants flew out. We drove to a few different spots and let a few out at each location. Unfortunately, these birds were raised on a farm, and didn't have many wild instincts. Immediately after they were released, some would just walk around next to us, they weren't really scared of people.
They release these pheasants almost all over the southern part of the state, but they stay away from an area in the middle northeast part of the state. There is a self-sustained population of wild pheasants, and they don't want the farmed pheasants to interfere with that population. The DNR has tried to reintroduce wild pheasants back to Wisconsin in the past, but were unsuccessful. The main problem is the limited habitat, as pheasants like long grasses and lots of cover, which can be hard to find especially in winter due to agricultural practices. It does not seem likely for a large pheasant population to be sustained in Wisconsin, and the DNR will keep releasing these birds for hunters every year.
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