2020 Stocked pheasant hunt lottery drawing

mauser58 · Dec 10, 2020

Mack C-85 said:
I used to see Pheasants along MD295 just into the City from AACO!!! When Dad was driving it daily he said it was very common to see them.

Dad and I hunted some public lands in Carroll County in the late 60s - early 70s. Harvested a few wabbits and a pheasant or two. They weren't plentiful, but they were there.

Dad hunted small game in PA when we were growing up. Mom used to laugh, because there were times when she wasn't sure ends were going to meet, but we were eating Rabbit and Pheasant!!

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Years ago I was doing a job and up on a roof near there. It was a grave yard behind the building I was working on. I looked down and saw two Pheasant walking in the weeds below. This was in the City line near 648 and 295.

mauser58 · Dec 10, 2020

I used to hunt pheasants in Carroll County on a few farms in Taneytown. Used to see at least a dozen or more birds a morning I flushed. It dwindled to nothing by the late 90's. I was hoping the DNR would start stocking to bring them back. I remember we had very few turkey many years ago also and only in the far western counties of the state. The DNR trapped and transported them all over for years. Hell now there are Turkeys in every county. Need to release hatchery raised pheasant to restore them here.

tallen702 · Dec 10, 2020

mauser58 said:
I used to hunt pheasants in Carroll County on a few farms in Taneytown. Used to see at least a dozen or more birds a morning I flushed. It dwindled to nothing by the late 90's. I was hoping the DNR would start stocking to bring them back. I remember we had very few turkey many years ago also and only in the far western counties of the state. The DNR trapped and transported them all over for years. Hell now there are Turkeys in every county. Need to release hatchery raised pheasant to restore them here.

That seems like it might be their plan. The problem for them is cover for the brooding season. They start getting horny around late March and lay in April and May which are the prime brooding months in the area. Chicks hatch by June and then need 3 weeks until they can fly.

When people planted timothy for hay, the harvest was later than it is with Alfalfa since it didn't over-winter well (couldn't plant as a cover at harvest, so you had to plant once it warmed enough in the spring). That even though farm fields were being planted edge-to-edge and corn stalks were being cut to the ground for silage, pheasants still had a place to brood and raise their young. With the switch to alfalfa and other grasses that can be harvested earlier (and more often) the brooding hens, their nests and eggs, and any fledglings literally got mowed down.

The state has done a good job convincing farmers to plant annual ryegrass to prevent erosion and runoff, now they need to find some way to convince farmers to either leave edge habitat and cover for the birds (unlikely to happen as it affects yeilds) or delay their hay harvests. I'm actually quite surprised that they harvest the hay when they do at Little Bennett across the street from me. Being an certified Audobon sanctuary, you'd think they'd want to leave more cover for quail, pheasants, and other ground-nesting birds.

Mack C-85 · Dec 10, 2020

mauser58 said:
Years ago I was doing a job and up on a roof near there. It was a grave yard behind the building I was working on. I looked down and saw two Pheasant walking in the weeds below. This was in the City line near 648 and 295.

Yeap, right shoulder northbound, between W.Patapsco and Waterview.

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tallen702 · Dec 12, 2020

So, the hunt was fantastic as usual. I seriously cannot recommend Pheasant Valley Farm enough. I've been going there 1-2x per year for the past 6 years and have never had a bad experience.

Yesterday was gorgeous. 28*F when we arrived, but it warmed on up to around 50*F by noon. A big enough swing we had to shed some layers part-way through. The frost gave the dogs a bit of a tough time at the start, but once things warmed up and the air started moving a bit more, things got very exciting very quickly.

All in all, we bagged 13 of 16 Pheasants (2 hens and a rooster got away and moved out of bounds) and 4 of 6 chukars (missed one we never saw again, and the other we never found). We each wound up with 3 Pheasants and 1 Chukar to take home. Pheasant #13 turned broadside to my buddy just as the shot connected. It looked like a cartoon the way the feathers exploded and drifted to the ground like falling snow. He was a bit close, unfortunately, and I don't think the shot had even left the cup when it impacted. Too little there to even make it worth cleaning.

I've got two tails fanned out and pinned to a cork board downstairs cleaned of the guard feathers and with as much meat and fat as I could scrape off. They're sitting in borax for the next 3 weeks in a cool, dry area of the workshop and will look great when mounted on plaques. I'm keep ing one for myself and the other is going to my buddy whose first pheasant hunt this was.

We were having so much fun we didn't stop to take many pictures, but some of the ones my buddy Shawn took before we got started turned out beautiful. Like I said, it was a fantastic day for it.

2020 Stocked pheasant hunt lottery drawing

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