any way to tell?
11-18-2005, 11:33 PM
#1
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: PA
Posts: 9,085
any way to tell?
i was wondering if there were any ways to tell wild pheasants from stocked birds?? hens and cocks? any sure way to tell if they are stocked or wild?? dad said something about a hooked beak if they are wild...but i dont know.....just wondering...i found a spot that is supposed to hold wild birds....and is also stocked..and i got a hen there the other day...BIG body..as big or bigger then any stocked rooster ive taken id have to say....and a purple irodecent head..that ive never seen before....pretty bird.....just wondering if it was wild or stocked....and ways to tell in the future....thanx....
11-21-2005, 05:44 AM
#2
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 172
RE: any way to tell?
You will probably hear a great deal of opinions on this. I personally think that even pen raised birds get wise real quick. Pheasants only have a life span of a couple of years. One last thing, even what we think are wild birds are sometimes more often than not, pen raised birds. I know for a fact that some of those "wild" birds in South Dakota are pen raised birds. South Dakota imports about 1/2 million birds every year to supplement their numbers.
11-21-2005, 12:29 PM
#3
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: PA
Posts: 9,085
RE: any way to tell?
man.....wish there was a tall tell way to tell! lol.....im just curious as to wether or not my area holds wild birds or not.....and the way these birds acted and the one i bagged looked id call them wild..or last years holdovers atleast..i cant say ive ever had a pheasant around here fly that high.......and to wildly flush in tall grass like that.....most of our stockers need kicked before they fly....THAT is being smart....if you dont have a pointer you just might not get birds up alot of times here...or they will run..for days and days.....just wondering...wish there was a way to tell?
11-21-2005, 10:56 PM
#4
Typical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location:
Posts: 860
RE: any way to tell?
With the way they raise birds, there really is no way to tell. Here they imported birds for the first time from MI. They are flight conditioned, used to cold weather, and will flush like a wild pheasant. It will be interesting to see how many survive for next year. The wild ones we do have tend to be big, run more, and flush way ahead.
11-22-2005, 11:17 AM
#5
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: parker, colorado
Posts: 68
RE: any way to tell?
I don't know how you would tell before hand but the way you can tell after the bird is shot is look at the nostril. Pen raised birds have blinders on them while in the pen. Wild birds have nostril holes that are almost pin needle sized and a pen raised bird has a hole big enough to see daylight through. It is very easy to tell this way and I haven't heard of any reputable bird suppliers that do not use these blinders, there used to be another blinder on the market but they cost a lot more and when you are rasing thousands of birds, pennys count and they have become the norm. I was in South Dakota 2 years ago and with the amount of guys we had, 18 birds was the limit. Out of 18 birds, only six were wild. Nobody was none the wiser to it until I showed the guys the nostrils and the difference was very easy to tell.
12-03-2005, 03:56 AM
#8
Spike
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Elizabeth West Virginia USA
Posts: 43
RE: any way to tell?
TYLEETESS
I don't know how you would tell before hand but the way you can tell after the bird is shot is look at the nostril. Pen raised birds have blinders on them while in the pen. Wild birds have nostril holes that are almost pin needle sized and a pen-raised bird has a hole big enough to see daylight through. It is very easy to tell this way and I haven't heard of any reputable bird suppliers that do not use these blinders, there used to be another blinder on the market but they cost a lot more and when you are razing thousands of birds, pennys count and they have become the norm. I was in South Dakota 2 years ago and with the amount of guys we had, 18 birds was the limit. Out of 18 birds, only six were wild. Nobody was none the wiser to it until I showed the guys the nostrils and the difference was very easy to tell.
I don't know how you would tell before hand but the way you can tell after the bird is shot is look at the nostril. Pen raised birds have blinders on them while in the pen. Wild birds have nostril holes that are almost pin needle sized and a pen-raised bird has a hole big enough to see daylight through. It is very easy to tell this way and I haven't heard of any reputable bird suppliers that do not use these blinders, there used to be another blinder on the market but they cost a lot more and when you are razing thousands of birds, pennys count and they have become the norm. I was in South Dakota 2 years ago and with the amount of guys we had, 18 birds was the limit. Out of 18 birds, only six were wild. Nobody was none the wiser to it until I showed the guys the nostrils and the difference was very easy to tell.
mackfromnj
you can also tell by the spurs...wild birds have more of a longer, sharper, hook shaped spur than pen raised birds...
you can also tell by the spurs...wild birds have more of a longer, sharper, hook shaped spur than pen raised birds...
TYLEETESS is right on the mark. When the peeper is applied to young pheasants, 5 weeks of age (one of many anti pecking devices on the market) the pin is pushed thru the nostril, which breaks the membrane. As the bird matures the nostril hole will also enlarge. When pen raised birds are ready to be released, the pins are cut and the peeper is then removed. This leaves a complete opening thru the nostril.
Mackfromnj,
Your statement is not correct. The spur length, size and shapes on pen-raised pheasant or wild pheasants are the indication of age. I raise Ring-necked Pheasants and the spur shapes and sharpness are all different depending on the genes. A Ring-necked Pheasant is fully mature at 20 weeks, by this I mean fully feathered with adult colored feathers. There is no way to tell the difference between a 20-week-old bird and a (1) one-year-old bird except by the measurement of their spurs.
Steve
Pheasant Hollow Farm
