Pheasants Forever President and CEO Howard Vincent will be a guest on my show this weekend. If there is anything ya'll want me to ask him let me hear from ya.

-Cable

I would like to know what the average life expectancy for a wild pheasant is. I over heard some guys talking about this the other day.

Also, about the best way to buld a bird population back up. We used to have a place that we hunted that was loaded with birds 8-10 years ago. Now you are lucky to even see a few. Does reintroducing birds help?

What are they doing to help restore/raise bird numbers in TX? And how far South into Texas is suitable for pheasant? I quail hunted in Cottle County and it seemed like it had the habitat for birds.

And can they send someone over to Quail Forever to get that thing going?!? Just kidding......I think.....

They have a season in Cottle county, but I think the birds are in the far northen part. Never seen any in the southern part where I hunt.

I know these are questions for the Pheasants Forever. But as I see it there is enormous potential for the expansion of the wild pheasant range in the Texas panhandle as well as S. W. Oklahoma.

If you "Google Earth" an look down at Cottle, Hardeman, Wilbarger and other counties on both sides of the Red River and notice the number of center pivot irrigation systems, great wild pheasant potential.

We have to remember a little over 70 or 60 years ago most of the Texas panhandle did not have wild pheasants. And panhandle folks helped to get the wild pheasants started. See article below:

http://amarillo.com/stories/120201/whe_legionsofspo.shtml

I know most people will say that pheasants have already been stocked in these areas with little success. The first attemps to start pheasants in S. Dakota also failed.

If 1000 wild-trapped (not pen-raised pheasants, but truly wild pheasants that know how to escape predators) pheasants from the northern panhandle were released in those areas (counties named above) in the spring time followed by a wet spring and wet summer the wild pheasants would take hold and become established.

See successful articles on starting wild pheasants from wild-trapped birds below:

http://www.timesleader.com/sports/Rebirth_of_a_game_bird_07-18-2010.html

http://republicanherald.com/wpra-s-why-change-success-1.872457

If wild trapping cannot be worked out, there are wilder strains of pen raised pheasants that get away from predators pretty good, they are the Manchurian pheasant and the White-Winged pheasant also called the Afghan White winged.

I have a 250 acre crp field next to a pivot that would be a perfect place for them..............

I'm not the president of Pheasants Forever but I did sleep at a Super8 in Plainview over the weekend. All kidding aside, I've been hunting them in Hale County since 1974. The vast majority of birds I've seen harvested are same year hatched birds. A year old bird makes a nice mount and a two year old bird is a trophy. I've seen three, maybe four birds harvested that were older than two.

We killed 40 opening day and I saw only three that were last years hatch.

How can you tell for sure? Tail feathers or spurs?

He would be talking about spurs. Over the past 20ish years MrG has been educating me on Hale Co. pheasant. He does not have a degree in pheasant biology,but he has a life time of living/farming beside them. That is good enough for me.

Cable my question would be the break down of $$% to the different states for habitat expansion/preservation.

Deckhand's right. I should have been more clear. This summer's birds spurs will be about 1/4" long. Next year they'll be 1/2"-5/8". Longer than that is rare.

After reading the reports from PA I do have a question for the president. I live in Bell County now. East Bell County has more corn at this time than Hale County had back in the corn heyday of the late 70's early 80's. It also has lots of cover adjacent to the corn fields.

Question:What makes this area different from panhandle country and why can't it support a pheasant population?

Me too!!

Podcast has been added to the website. You can listen to it at www.lonestaroutdoorshow.com. It's at the top of the page- episode 48.

I tried to ask him as much as I could. I did have to omit a couple questions due to time constraint. He said the key for good healthy chicks though wasn't agriculture but obviously good cover and lots of small insects b/c that is what makes up the majority of the immature birds diet The protein/nourishment they provide is what helps them grow into healty adults.

Also, you might be suprised at the average age an adult bird reaches!

MrG, since you did not get an answer from Pheasants Forever, I will answer your question. You asked a very good question.

This will be a long answer because the answer is a little complicated. But the truth is that bell county can support a wild pheasant population but it will take a great deal of hard work and no pheasant hunting for 10 or 12 years needed to build up a well established reproducing wild population.

Let start out with the truth about how far south wild pheasant are already in Texas. Chamber and Jefferson counties along the Texas coast have a wild pheasant season, they are not as thick as the panhandle. I have a relative that lives in the little town of Winnie in Chambers county and he tells me that on private ranches in that area where only close relatives hunt pheasants, you can still find wild pheasants. They are still seeing wild pheasants near Blessing, Texas close to the Texas coast. Pockets of wild pheasants south of the panhandle are scatted all over Texas. If nesting cover and rain is right to produce vegetation and insects they will hatch.

Main point wild pheasants can live as far south as Mexico as long as the hens have abundant undisturbed nesting cover lots of it. Google Mexicali pheasants.
Corn don't provide nesting cover (in March, April & May) when hens are laying but wheat does (the hens need an ocean of green, green wheat or grass 12 to 16 inches high in spring when nesting so the predators can't find them, in addition, alfalfa is also good for nesting as long as it is not cut) if they can hatch before it is cut.
Key element to getting pheasants started in not corn. The mama pheasants (hens) need to find a place to hatch eggs undisturbed for 39 days (14 days of laying & 25 days of incubation).
Now another true story, when the people in the panhandle first started releasing pheasants south of Canadian river 50 years ago they were told that the south plains were too far south for pheasants, too hot, not enough mineral or calcium etc.

It is also hot in Liberal, Kansas in the summer.

In order to get wild pheasants started in Bell county you would need the same land owners and community involvement that the people in PA. had in the article above.
We have to remember we also have the Texas heat (that's not all bad insects like heat and moisture). Maybe ever third year will be a wet year, so some years you will have a good hatch and some years a poor hatch or no hatch in dry years like summer of 2009. Just like quail.

I forgot to mention you also need predator controls, both ground and aerial predators.

never hunted pheasant... most birds it states a daily bag limit. for pheasant it only says "bag limit". is the limit 3 roosters per day or 3 per hunt, to total the possession limit of 6?

3 per day and 2 day possenion limit.

as stated above, hens need undisturbed nesting areas, the next most critical need is rain at the right time for the chicks to feed on the insects that the rain brings. Kansas Fish & Game did a study a few yrs ago, their finding was that sunflowers attract the insects that chicks need, providing the rain comes at the right time. hen's like to nest in wheat, I remember when combining, running over late nesting or second hatch hens, couldn't see them untill to late.