Hart ,Texas Pheasant Hunt

Is it worth the drive to Hart from Houston for their annual pheasant hunt? Thanks

The answer is yes. Anytime you get to go pheasant hunting go. If you are wanting to kill birds you might do what I do go 18 to 22 hours north to SD
Great times there
Good luck

Thanks, we're going to SD for opening week this year. Used to go to Dumas every year for pheasant but the drought killed that annual trip three years ago. Curious to know if Hart uses pen raised birds?

No pen raised birds in Hart. Like all other areas in the Panhandle, the weather has taken a toll on the pheasants in Hart. We hunted there the past couple years, 2 guys and 1 dog 2 days hunting produced maybe a couple birds combined.

Wild pheasants are still scattered all over the panhandle both north of the Canadian river near places like Dumas and south of that river and south of I-40, wild pheasants are seen all over that area even a few south of Lubbock.

This summer is producing the best pheasant hatching weather I have seen in six or seven years, the rain is producing green vegetation (cover shade and cover from predator) and tons of fat juicy insects. The problem we have is that the seed population now (2014) is low because of the combined droughts of 2011, 2012 and 2013, many areas were hit with a 75% reduction in the wild pheasant population. The panhandle pheasants will bounce back but it may take a few years.

I know a lot of people disagree with the theory that wild pheasants have a second hatch, but I was told by a person that spend a great deal of time watching the wild panhandle pheasants, and he says that he is positive that in wet summer when more insects and nesting cover is available, wild pheasants have a second hatch just like quail.

So let hope this is the the year we get the wild seed population built up.

Not sure what difference it makes. Pen raised birds become wild the minute they get out of the pen.

Please! You don't really believe that do you?

If not shot shortly after release they usually become some predator's meal that night.

We once hunted pen raised birds which had been released three days before the hunt. Most of them the dogs found clinging to a bush and had to be kicked to get them to move or fly. I swore I would never do that again.

Some of the places north of Dumas it was higher then 75%.

They should close the season for two years

Depends on how well they where flight conditioned.

I've hunted some penned that ran 10x more then any wild pheasants I've hunted. You could not get them to hold.

With the TX and Okla drought I'd go north to northern KS and the dakotas

I think we had 95% loss in the Oklahoma Panhandle. Over our section of grass last year you would be lucky to see two birds. Same grass in 2008 it took 14 hunters 45 minutes to limit out. We did this all season. There were plenty of birds left over for 09 season. Hail and drought got them

More I think about it, more I think it might be even higher. some damn good dogs hunted my place last year and never flushed a bird or found a track

On the subject of pen raised pheasants, we have two sides to that story. We have on one hand, the tame non alert non wary ( 70 or more generations of easy going pen life) pen raised pheasants. And on the other hand we have F1 (only a few generations removed from the wild state) wilder predator alert and predator wary pen raised pheasants.

Remember all of our wild pheasants originated at one time from pen raised birds but after 60 or 70 generation of living in the real wild world all of the dumb ones are long gone and only wary and alert pheasants live long enough to reproduce in the wild.

The link below gives a good history of the Texas panhandle pheasants, notice the gene pool is made up of wilder strains (predator wary and predator alert) of pen raised pheasant like the Manchurian Ringneck pheasants the White-Winged pheasant the wilder regular ringnecks:

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

Now days commercially available pen raised pheasant can easily be over 50 generations of pen life. The pen raised pheasants released 100 years ago were probably closed to f1 wilder birds.

We need to get some new authentic wilder pheasants to give to the commercial breeders to use as brood stock. Look at this link at authentic wild pheasants overseas. Notice the light iris.
http://www.ultimatepheasanthunting.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12967&page=7

I like watch newbies hunt ditch chickens and think they can step out of truck talking, slamming doors, and getting prepped. Then wonder why they can't find the birds? They started their feathered track meet the moment the truck came to complete stop! Easy pheasant hunts are over after opening day for wild birds, dumb ones are dead the veterans are still running and flushing wild. Use to have some great hunts out of Spearman and Gruver but that was before the drought.

Neat article. My dad purchase a few pair and put them in our farm in Parmer Co in 1963. We've since sold the farm, but the birds live on. I haven't gone up in the last two years due to the drought. I still have family that farms there, but the numbers are way down. They've had a lot of rain, but I haven't asked if they are seeing many chicks.