ORIGINAL: 4evrhtn
R.S.B.,
Arethere any efforts being put forth to restore a wild pheasant population in Schuylkill county? If there is, I am willing to offer my time to help by whatever means beneficial to the program.(You can send me a PM and I will give you my contact info.)I want to be objective and see these efforts first hand, more importantly this "promising" result such as in Elk county. I will say I have seen some pheasants (stocked) survive the season but come spring- no trace of a pheasant anywhere.
I agree with Sproul on the predators killing them off, at least in my area. This leads me to the following.
Can you explain to me why I am only allowed to trap coyote with a cable restraint from Jan 1 to Feb 22, yet I can hunt them 365 days a year? Do you feel this will ever be ammended? I understand their fur ismore valuedthis time of year but this season runs exactly during their breeding season when hunting opportunities are the greatest. Then when they are no longer searching to breed and are doing more searching for food I cannot set cable restraintswith food bait at a time whenwe would be most effective at controlling the population by trapping means.
The three areas presently getting wild pheasants from the Midwest are centered around Montour, Somerset and Washington Counties where the pheasants Forever Chapters have had the most success with establishing large tracts of contiguous grasslands habitats capable of supporting pheasants. If you are seriously interested send me a PM and I will get you some contact information for the Montour Chapter.
The results look promising though it is still too early to cal it a success. If wild populations can be established and nature production results in increasing populations those areas might one day provide the opportunity for instate trap and transfer as occurred with turkeys.
I can’t give you an answer to the reason you can’t use cable restraints before January other then the desire to prevent the capture of no target species earlier in the year when hunting dogs are a field. Most years trappers can still affectively use foothold traps up to about January when things start freezing up. The intent of the cable restraint was to provide a tool that trappers could affectively use toward more effectively controlling fox and coyote populations after normal winter freeze up and snow conditions set in.
You might well see the period for cable restraints extended at some point in the future. Bring it before the Trappers Association and the Board of Commissioners to see how they feel about it.
R.S. Bodenhorn