Pheasant hunting is one of passions in my hunting life. The excitement and sounds of a rooster erupting in front of me has never got old. I still get thrilled at the moments and shots.
God must have been a pheasant hunter too. That’s why he made great bird dogs. Hunting without a bird dog is like trying to eat a steak without teeth. The trained dog is your advantage, retriever, companion, and friend.
Pheasant hunting has taken me to several states to chase these amazing critters. Iowa was once an incredible destination. Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware also were pheasant haunts. The Keystone State was an incredible place to chase birds. We would often hunt Pennsylvania and Maryland on the same day. We really wore out the dogs and our feet.
These states all have something in common today. The pheasant hunting has declined dramatically. Only a few wild birds and stockers are left. There is still cover but development has destroyed most of the once great habitat. Something else has changed.
My dog Jag and I went to a MT FWP hunting spot, along the Missouri River the other day. The cover is amazing. Wheat fields are next to heavy cover, and the harvester left a 20-yard edge of standing wheat. Sounds like a pheasant hunter’s dream. It looks perfect. In the past, I have almost always found birds.
After 4 hours of hunting, Jag and I never saw a feather. No feathers from a predator or hunter kill. No dusting areas, no tracks in the mud puddles. No bird sign at all. We heard one rooster cackling off the property, across the river. 3 more hunts resulted in the same outcome. I got to take my shotgun and dog for a walk.
Montana is becoming a shadow of what was once a great pheasant destination. I talked with several other hunters, and no one had seen a bird. One guy that hunted opening day said that a couple Outfitters, with trailers of dogs were hunting at first light. The good news was that every bird hunter I saw was wearing hunters’ orange, even though it is not required.
Eastern states once stocked millions of pheasants. That’s how pheasants came to America, In the 1800’s, pheasants from China were released into the Willamette Valley of Washington State. Other states transported these amazing birds into their areas and the pheasant populations exploded. There were lots of farming and open spaces for the birds to live, feed, survive winters, and nest. The special sauce for pheasant expansion was perfect.
In Pennsylvania, most farms were small and framed by hedge rows. They planted multiflora roses to sustain these hedgerows. These were also the highways for birds. As farm equipment got bigger, the hedgerows were torn down so they could turn machines around and farm faster. Grasslands were cut in the Spring to feed increasing cattle and horse farms. More homes and roads were built, fields were sprayed to kill the insects and bugs, and harsher fertilizers have been introduced. These grasslands are where the pheasants nested. It took a few decades, but the damage was done. Good luck finding or even seeing a pheasant in this once Pheasant Capital. The Special Sauce was gone.
I am concerned about Montana’s pheasant management plans. To some, pheasants don’t matter. They are not Native to North America. For a generation of hunters, they are the Kings of upland bird hunting. Recently Montana started stocking pheasants again. The original Pheasant hatchery was near Warm Springs. Now the State prison is raising and releasing ringnecks. The inmates manage and work on the hatchery. Jail Birds are released over the season onto public lands. Early releases are for Kid Only hunts and private landowners can request birds. The FWP needs to figure this out if they want jobs in the future.
If Montana wants to support a healthy wild bird population, things need to change.
Habitat Great habitat is certainly key, but it also needs to be accessible to the public. Other states have tried to bring back quality habitat and transport western wild birds onto this oasis of space. The results have been mixed.
Public Lands These lands are for the” Public”. Does that mean just residents? Perhaps nonresidents are “Public” too but without Outfitter support. Over half of Montana’s Public-School Trust Lands have NO public access. Corner crossing has been found legally acceptable by the Supreme Court in our neighboring states, but not in Montana. When outfitters lease farms, they get full access to these isolated public lands too. Hunting packages include waterfowl, upland birds and big game hunting. Politicians that make access choices are also the main landowners. This involves millions of acres.
Farmers and landowners are using their hunting as another crop or resource. There is no incentive not to. They lease hunting, fishing, shed hunting, and access rights to private entities for cash. State coop programs also reward generous landowners with money and security. These public access areas have become crowded as other once hunter friendly private lands disappear.
Stocking Eastern and Midwest states stocked millions of birds, trying to save their pheasant hunting. They even imported wild birds from the Dakotas, Korea, and China. More DNA can help but it can also hurt. Diseases and other unknowns enter the ecosystem. In the 1800’s there were less chemicals and more space. The spread of pheasants 100 years ago was in a different time and place. Stocked birds today only seem to help private game farms for “on demand hunting” or for the food markets. There is no current strong evidence that stocked birds survive and enhance modern bird populations. The Secret Sauce has dried up.
Chemicals Agricultural chemicals can be devastating to wildlife populations. Strong fertilizers and insecticides can wipe out populations of birds.
Development The best land ends up as private. Wealthy folks are buying vacation properties and homes in the Treasure State. They then block access to the treasure. Towns are growing, roads are expanding, and more public hunters are being confined to less land. Montana is a big place, but millions of acres have no access for hunters. Areas we can hunt are overhunted. I see more roadkill pheasants than I see when hunting.
Outfitters Skilled outfitters are selling off our wildlife. Should they be banned from our Public Lands? They make money by prostituting the wildlife managed by public resources and agencies. They pound public lands before accessing their leases. It just doesn’t seem fair.
Money Montana brags about the vast amounts of money they make from fishing, hunting, and tourism. That’s fine but at what cost? In Europe, many hunting and fishing places are reserved for citizens. Sadly, hunting and fishing are restricted to only the rich, wealthy, and Kings, in other countries! Maybe the No Kings idea needs to apply to our hunting and fishing. The “Rich” exploit our wildlife for their profits and recreation.
If we knew all the answers the eastern states would have put them in place. The western states are next. The tide has already turned. If things stay the same, we will see an end of pheasant, and all public hunting in the next few decades.
Only Shadow Hunters and their dogs will remain!
Montana Grant
