|
07-29-2013, 11:53 AM
|
|
|
|
Location: God's Country
5,182 posts, read 4,750,004 times
Reputation: 8689
|
|
|
They were ubiquitous, strutting along eating a ton of bugs. The males made a truncated rooster call, starting off like a rooster's but ending after just two notes. At least that's the way my ears perceived it. Then they were gone, must be 30 years now, and it wasn't gradual. Just poof. Haven't noticed any increase in hunting in this valley, in fact seems less than back in the day. Fox population doesn't seem to have increased. Just can't figure it.
|
|
07-30-2013, 07:54 PM
|
|
|
|
101 posts, read 290,396 times
Reputation: 93
|
|
|
Coyotes.........lot more of them now I believe than back in the 70's & early 80's
|
|
07-30-2013, 08:40 PM
|
|
|
|
15,429 posts, read 20,151,506 times
Reputation: 28599
|
|
|
If you are talking about Maryland, I can't say but I have at least one or two pheasants around my house just about every morning here on the Texas South Plains. Our drought seems to have knocked back the population for the past two years but with the recent rains, I am guessing they will be back as thick as in previous years.
BTW, we also have lots of coyotes and a few foxes.
|
|
07-31-2013, 09:25 AM
|
|
|
|
1,174 posts, read 2,413,552 times
Reputation: 1413
|
|
|
Apparently the biggest determining factor for pheasant populations is habitat. If you don't have good habitat, you will not have pheasants. They can't deal with close cropped, monoculture grazing land; they need a variety of botanical species and they need tall grass.
|
|
07-31-2013, 10:02 AM
|
|
|
|
Location: Swiftwater, PA
18,711 posts, read 16,479,599 times
Reputation: 14635
|
|
|
Here in PA we blamed their disappearance on the no till farming. But; it could just be a combination of events. We no longer have the trappers like we did many years ago - so more fox. We also have the Eastern Coyote - not to mention that all birds of prey are highly protected (at one distant time there was even a bounty on some).
When I drove truck, years ago; I always looked for wildlife and pheasants. I drove for years and never saw a pheasant - I was driving 100,000 miles a year. Then, as I entered PA on I-81 from MD, I spotted one on the side of the road. It promptly took off and flew right into my rear trailer! It laid there, or at least the grease stain, for the next year. So, I guess, I should include our busy roads in one of the reasons for their disappearance!
|
|
07-31-2013, 10:08 AM
|
|
|
|
Location: Lower east side of Toronto
10,568 posts, read 12,305,592 times
Reputation: 9389
|
|
|
When I was a kid in the 60s - There was a farm across the way - with a huge wood lot and lake...it was about 400 acres. The old guy that owned the place was referred to as the Colonel. He would raise Pheasant - and set them loose on his property. If you took a walk down a cow path through the woods - you would flush these beautiful birds into the air....There were hundreds of them wandering about. The problem is - pheasants are such a beautiful and exotic foul that hunters looked at them as a trophy kill. Myself I did sneak on to the Colonel's property and did hunt then for short time. I still have the chipped tooth from biting down on a shot gun pellet.
|
|
07-31-2013, 10:58 AM
|
|
|
|
Location: God's Country
5,182 posts, read 4,750,004 times
Reputation: 8689
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by fisheye
When I drove truck, years ago; I always looked for wildlife and pheasants. I drove for years and never saw a pheasant - I was driving 100,000 miles a year. Then, as I entered PA on I-81 from MD, I spotted one on the side of the road. It promptly took off and flew right into my rear trailer! It laid there, or at least the grease stain, for the next year. So, I guess, I should include our busy roads in one of the reasons for their disappearance!
|
Funny you should say that. The very last one I saw was hit by a car coming the other way (from the direction I was driving) on Rt. 97 in Md., just south of the Pa. border. Early 1980s. |
|
07-31-2013, 12:29 PM
|
|
|
|
Location: Swiftwater, PA
18,711 posts, read 16,479,599 times
Reputation: 14635
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Calvert Hall '62
Funny you should say that. The very last one I saw was hit by a car coming the other way (from the direction I was driving) on Rt. 97 in Md., just south of the Pa. border. Early 1980s.
|
What amazed me driving truck is how many birds I hit. It wasn't that I was going super fast - most trucks I drove had governors. I think that many birds focus so much on their prey; that they do not see the approaching vehicles. Possibly the extra height of our big trucks throws them a curveball?
The last time I heard anything about pheasants in PA was that they were holding their in PA's central Juniata County. However I never trucked through that territory - perhaps that is why they were supposedly thriving?  |
|
07-31-2013, 02:29 PM
|
|
|
|
Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan
2,232 posts, read 4,396,765 times
Reputation: 2328
|
|
|
I used to hear stories about, in the area I used to live, that they would shut down the school and have a breakfast on the opening day of pheasant season, now it seems you would be lucky to see a pheasant anymore.
|
|
07-31-2013, 02:41 PM
|
|
|
|
Location: Wheaton, Illinois
10,257 posts, read 20,821,501 times
Reputation: 10392
|
|
|
Too bad other invasive species aren't becoming less common as well.
|
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
|
|
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
