Releasing pheasants.

For all these years I have concentrated on improving habitat for deer. Now that I have about 25 acres of switch grass that is 3 years old I want to buy and release some pheasants. I do have water on my farm and many food plots, does anybody have any suggestions or reccomendtions as to how to help keep them alive or how many I should buy?

I have seen and heard good results on the Pheasant Surragator!

Click here for more info I think you just buy chicks put them in the Surragator and release when ready!

Good Luck, it sounds like you should have a “Hunting Mecca” in a few years!

thanks for the info.I am a little late for this year so will be releasing grown birds from the orlando game farm in miesville. when I burnt my switch grass this spring I Burnt several hens. I’m guessing they were nesting. I still feel bad about that. I will be more carefull as to what time of year i burn in the future.

I often wonder how or why they do that???? They did the same hting on the piece I call the honey hole. They Burnt it in Early Summer and I watched a ton of birds die because of the smoke and heat. I knew they were nesting at the time too.

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The Surragator seems like a lot of cash up front, but after the long run I think it would pay for itself as chicks are pretty cheap compared to Adult Birds. Also those chicks have a better chance of making it in the real world compared to “Pen Raised” Birds.

Good luck, I hope you will have birds roaming that place in no time!

An older fellow I know has been raising and releasing pheasants for years with really good success. Last fall I was over and checked out his setup. Sure sounded like he has been through the trial and error. What he has is a homemade brooder house that is probably 8′ by 8′ made from 2x4s and steel siding (machine shed steel) that is insulated. Im not positive if he has a false floor in there or not?? Would assume so due to soil temps when they are young?? Any ways, he runs extension cords through a small hole in the roof for heat lamps. The brooder house is inside of a pen that is probably 25ft by about 75ft. The pen has steel siding along the bottom that is dug in and back filled 6-8 inches he said. The steel is laid lengths wise so it is not real tall. He then has netting (similar to what you would see at a batting cage) above that which carries over the top of the pen and down to the other side. If I remember right the top of the cage is about 8-10ft tall. This is all attached to 4x4s.

I just remember him saying that it was really important to have the steel siding ( or some barrier ) dug down into the ground a little ways because the predators will dig under, or dig and squeeze, under materials if they are just placed at the top of the soil.

I want to say that he said he had gotten 200 or 250 released last year. You might want to check out your local FFA chapter. I know when I was in highschool we could get a very good deal on pheasant chicks.

Hope this helps some. If really interested, I could probably make it over again and get you some pictures.

P.S. Im not sure what is more impressive, the black pheasants at the Orlando Game Farm, or the menu of burgers at that place in Miesville