Originally Posted by
Topgun 3006
*** I have no idea why you brought up hogs on this pheasant thread other than to possibly show the difference in German and US ways and apparently talk down to me! However, to answer your question, yes, I am quite up on hogs and what the various states here are doing. Most want every hog killed because of their destructive ways and diseases they can spread, especially to domestic stock. I would offer that shooting any hog in a group of them smartens them up quickly and turns them nocturnal no matter what one you shoot. That is a big reason several states are now either outlawing hunting them completely so a bunch can be trapped at one time, others only allow shooting them when engaged in another big game hunting activity, and yet others like Texas are doing everything to get rid of them. That includes aerial gunning now in areas where it's safe to do so.
Not my intention to talk down to you. If it seems that way I apologize.
I brought up Hogs to illustrate there may be different ways to solve the same problem.
I've heard the arguments that Hogs aren't naturally nocturnal. But I don't buy it personally. Dark or black isn't a daytime color that you can hide very easily, they see awfully good in the dark to be a daytime animal. And to tell you the truth I've seen very few moving around in daylight. The exception being if they hadn't eaten their fill and were late for getting back to the bedding area. I've walked up on a few who were asleep in the brush during the day. I always wondered about that, thinking maybe they got separated from the group and decided to hide and sleep where they were until it got dark again. Hogs can get in a routine, which is good for the hunter. Who decides the routine is usually the lead Sow, Remove her and hopefully one of her elder daughters will take over, which can be iffy. When they scatter they get unpredictable and if you see any it is in ones or twos. There are few real rules, just tendencies.
Sorry I have a habit of wandering off topic.
Back to Pheasant. I believe predators are a large part of the decline in certain areas. Along with loss of habitat. Around here the farmers do a spring cut of the grass to feed their livestock, especially the Cows. When they mow they destroy a lot of nests.
Predators can decimate a Pheasant population, Pheasant and Ducks almost disappeared here around 15-20 years ago. Part of it was planting Corn for Bio fuel, Corn isn't the best crop for small game forage, but it pretty much made the Hog population explode. And most of the rest of the small game decline was a high point in Predator populations. normal or abnormal I have no idea. The Fox got many of the Pheasants. Weasels and Fox got most of the Ducks. Over a period of years we lowered the predator population, I typically shot 20 plus Foxes a year. Something else I noticed was a spike in the Jay population at just about the same time as the drastic decline in the Pheasant population, Jays are nest robbers. I don't know if it was connected or not, but it seems plausible. Pheasant are rebounding and on the increase, Ducks are still way down in numbers. Jays used to be protected here, they aren't anymore, they have a six month season.
Any Predator that eats mice will clean out a Pheasant nest jiffy quick.
I've raised and released around 350 Pheasants, best estimate is 10% survive the first year (winter). The high mortality rate is mostly due to predators.