A Very Pleasant Pheasant

[DanG]

A few years ago, I bought Linda one of those "Bigfoot" little red wagons to transport stuff around the place.  Well, time and weather have taken their toll, and the body has rusted out, so I started making a new wooden body for it.  This afternoon, I was at the workbench assembling the parts, when a movement caught my eye.  I blinked and looked away, then blinked again and looked out toward the movement I had seen.  Yep, sure enough there was this pheasant out there, just strolling around among the junk.  When he saw I had noticed him, he just came right into the shop, like if he was a customer come to pick up some spalted sycamore or something.  He walked right up to where I was working, but when I approached him he scurried away.  I followed him back outside, hoping I could catch him before the dogs did, but he was having nothing of it.  I finally decided it best to just keep an eye out in hopes he would just wander back home, but when I went back to the shop, he followed me.  I worked a bit more, while he plundered through the pile of shavings in front of the planer, and when I sat down for a little break, he hunkered down right behind my green plastic chair.  A couple of buddies dropped by for a visit, and we watched him explore the area for a bit, until he just wandered off into the bushes.  I hope he found his way home ok.  He obviously has an injured wing, so he would be easy prey for a dog.  Pheasant are not native to this area, so I'm sure he was someone's pet.

[Paul_H]

Funny how something like that will grab you.I had a bird hang around the mill with me a few years ago and I missed him when he stopped coming by.
Maybe you'll see him again.

[logwalker]

I had a wild turkey show up this year and stuck around for a week. After that I never saw him again. I really miss "ol' Tom". I got a real kick out of watching him. Joe

[isawlogs]

Dan , that could be part of a food group if it was to come around here 

[SwampDonkey]

Lots of ring-necked pheasants around the Woodstock area. They are sometimes a nuisance in the gardens. I see one up river here once in a great while. A lot of pheasant farms were started in the past, don't know if there are any still operating in my area. Can't hunt them unless on special reserves and I think Wildlife Management Zone 25 had a fall hunt off reserves in 2004. The province doesn't really manage them because they are exotic species.

They are fun to watch with their little chicks all following along behind the hen. And when the males go courting there is a lot of running, intimidation, vocals, and strutting about. 

[deutz4]

We don't have a population in N. Mich. anymore. Turkeys have made a huge comeback in the last 25 years or so but the only pheasants we see are escapees from local bird farms. Saw a male about 3 days ago. What a gorgeous bird!

[oakiemac]

I love pheasants-eating them that is. I like to hunt all sorts of critters but ditch chickens are among my favorites.
I had one fly over my head this summer while I was saw milling. We dont see them too often so it was a nice surprise, kind of like the one DanG had.

BTW pheasants are not native to any part of the US or Canada. They were imported from China (some of the first imported goods?) back in the early 1900's.

[jackpine]

Oakiemac

That explains why you have to check a pheasant for lead before you eat it. :D

Bill

[Burlkraft]

Oakiemac

That explains why you have to check a pheasant for lead before you eat it. :D

Bill

That was a good 'un  :D  :D  :D

[LeeB]

I may be wrong, but I believe pheasants are in the same family as peacocks. Peacocks are a very  curious and social bird, so mayhaps pheasants have some of the same traits.

[sawguy21]

The ring necks were very common in the north Okanagan valley where I grew up here in B.C. Lots of small fields with fence rows seemed to suit them but the subdivisions have destroyed their habitat. Our acreage property line formed part of the city boundary and I think the birds knew it, at the sound of the first shotgun on opening day, our pasture was full of them.

[scsmith42]

DanG - your pheasant story reminds me of my peafowl - the are very curious birds.  Whenever I'm working in the woodshop they will wander in and look at this and that, jump up on the benches, etc.

I still get a chuckle whever I remember the day one of the peacocks tried to perch on a roller conveyor in the shop!  The darn thing stayed up there almost a minute - I was busting a gut before he finally gave up!

Scott

[Don_Papenburg]

They are smart lazy deceptive birds.  They have caused the devistation of the Greater Prairie Chichen population .  The phesant hen would lay her eggs in a GPC nest and walk away , The GPC would then sit on the nest till the phesant eggs would hatch then she would raise the phesant chicks as her eggs would not hatch for another week if she would have set on them .  I think that there is only one county in Illinois that has Greater Prairie Chichens now.

[CHARLIE]

There are about 5 cock pheasants and some hens that stay in the little patch of woods behind my house.  I have an automatic feeder that throws out corn twice a day for them, some deer that sleep in my woods and the DanG rabbits. It's fun watching them use their heads and breasts to waller the snow away down to the corn.  I won't shoot these but I do enjoy a good pheasant dinner. My son still hunts them.

[LeeB]

What color peafowl you got Scott?

[SwampDonkey]

Look at all the salmon fly material.  ;)

[LeeB]

They molt in the fall and you can pick up all the feathers you could ever use for flies. The little ones make nice jewelry too.

[isawlogs]

I wonder how they would fair out in a cold climat . ???

[LeeB]

That one don't care for it too much. He was raised in central Texas and when we moved to Arkansas where it gets a little colder and snows once in a while he was pretty miserable. He seems to be handling it a little better this year. They originally came from the Indian Hymilayas, so they should be able to tolerate it pretty well.

[isawlogs]

 All is needed is for him to move a little bit more north every year and soon would be at my door step .

   I am gonna look into getting a few of them ... there prety ...  Had some pheasants , there good to eat , these are nice to look at . Dey good eating ??? ;D

[LeeB]

I've heard they are. I think I would rather eat a hand gernade than eat Lindy's bird though.

[Furby]

I think you'd be eating a hand gernade if you tried to to eat her bird!  :D

[DanG]

Well bleeve me, I thought about whacking that bird in the head and putting his carcass under glass.  Upon further observation though, he appeared to be a really old bird, plus he didn't look all that healthy.  I got to thinkin' about the Bird Flu and all sorts of stuff like that.  After thinkin' about that, I couldn'a et him if he was on my plate.

[SwampDonkey]

I think they pen those peacocks in the winter months up here. There used to be a small zoo at McGraw brook and that is a remote area of the province away from towns. They had a few walking around the yard during the summer months. There was a camp ground across the highway and salmon fishing nearby. There was also a Ranger station there. Now that is all gone.

[jrokusek]

Here in South Dakota you can't walk a mile in most parts without running into them.  Commercial huntil has become a major industry lately, however.  Still tons of birds around for the rest of us to hunt.   Actually, today is the last day of the hunting season!  Love those birds!!!