Scarcity Of Pheasants

[harrier 46]

Hearing a lot of shooters say pheasants are scarce this year ? Just wondering if this is the case and why ?

[MIK 4,754]

Very much depends on weather,how many you put down ,how good you are at keeping them in about ...plenty of cover decent feed ,dogging in etc ....even the type of pheasant as some types wander more than others ....but you can't say generally there is a lack of pheasants

[micky 3,325]

their not very scarce in Melton Market , you can catch all you need at a pound a brace.

[pjmc 90]

Ye have to agree with you and hearing a lot say the same even lads that reared bird's are getting bad returns.it's very poor

[neil cooney 10,415]

If lads are noticing a scarcity of Pheasants two weeks into the season then they're in trouble.

One thing I have noticed is hoppers being emptied quiet quickly and this might mean wild food is scarce and that will cause Pheasants to move on.

Also the last few years I've noticed that the Buzzards follow the Pheasants.

I put a new feeder on a ditch last week and within 2 days there was a Buzzard sitting in the branches above it. I hadn't seen a Buzzard around there in months.

If your club has released Pheasants and provided them with feeders and cover and you're not finding dead Pheasants then you have to ask yourself where have they strayed too ?

If you have a vermin problem you WILL find evidence and again, you have to ask yourself what do you do about it ?

Complaining about a lack of birds wont fix the problem and IMO a lot of the time it's the Gun Clubs fault.

Edited November 16, 2016 by neil cooney

[MIK 4,754]

First hard weather and they will be back

[micky 3,325]

60 pence a brace at Melton on Tuesday, i think on top of that there is a 50 pence Per lot and a 17.5 % fee then the public pay 10%

per bird on every winning bid .......................no wonder they get threw on the muck heap .

[del1234 4]

On our little shoot seeing plenty only put 300 down but already shot 33% we have plenty of feeders on top of the vermin we dog in have plenty of cover or maybe we are having beginners luck but at the moment we are still seeing birds coming back and around the pen at night

[neil cooney 10,415]

I've a funny feeling the original poster is from the South of Ireland where most clubs still buy a few hundred birds and turn them out into the Irish countryside to fend for themselves.

IMO those days should be over because most of the birds we buy are coming from game farms or are surplus birds from larger driven shoots.

If your not putting out hoppers but your neighbouring club is then that will rob some of your birds. Same if your neighbours have less vermin and so on.

Ye British boys have been studying how to hold birds for donkey years but here in Ireland we now have more Buzzards, Pine Martens and Foxes than ever to deal with.

One thing I'm always pushing for our club to do is to release as many hens after the season as we can afford. Wild birds IMO are very important.

[Lab 10,979]

On our little shoot seeing plenty only put 300 down but already shot 33% we have plenty of feeders on top of the vermin we dog in have plenty of cover or maybe we are having beginners luck but at the moment we are still seeing birds coming back and around the pen at night

I'll take a stab at it........You got any shoots surrounding you?

[harrier 46]

99% of gun clubs are a waste of time. A few lads at the top are more interested in keeping people away from joining the club's even if they can shoot the permission anyway. They wouldn't do any vermin control or feed birds and generally shoot very little anyway. You hear them blaming foxes for lack of birds the whole time and the buzzards magpies and grewcrows swarming around them.BRAINLESS.

[VOON 1,313]

Seen 13 buzzards on Sunday, nearly every field we seen, sown with winter barley had one on the ground feeding.

[del1234 4]

Nearest shoot is at least 5 miles away and they release 200 more than us

[pjmc 90]

99% of gun clubs are a waste of time. A few lads at the top are more interested in keeping people away from joining the club's even if they can shoot the permission anyway. They wouldn't do any vermin control or feed birds and generally shoot very little anyway. You hear them blaming foxes for lack of birds the whole time and the buzzards magpies and grewcrows swarming around them.BRAINLESS.

u couldn't have put it any beter our club the very same here crying about vermin so there was a fox shoot aranged last Sunday,how many guns turned up from club,2 myself and another lad and we met meaby 7 or 8 other members that day woodcock and phesant hunting.it's laughable

[Lab 10,979]

Nearest shoot is at least 5 miles away and they release 200 more than us

Must be some stock of wild stuff about. What date did you get your poults in??