As a young hunter in the 1960’s, I was privileged to hunt both stocked and wild pheasants. I would have a tough time choosing whether I enjoyed hunting pheasants or rabbits the best. Unfortunately, currently we have very few wild pheasants in most areas of Pennsylvania.
Scott Klinger, Pennsylvania Game Commission pheasant biologist, recently detailed the history of pheasant hunting in PA and what caused the almost total collapse of the native birds. Actually no pheasants are actually native to North America; they were stocked by settlers hundreds of years ago. Most pheasants originated in China and some areas in Europe.
Mr. Klinger writes that in 1971, nearly 700,000 pheasant hunters harvested more then 1,000,000 male pheasants in Pennsylvania. It was estimated that 90 to 95% of the birds were wild. Furthermore, the southeastern portion of Pennsylvania claimed one of the highest populations of wild pheasants in the United States; even greater than many mid-western states and on par with wild birds in North Dakota.
I was on active duty in the United States Navy in the 1960’s and used to try to get home about one weekend every other month while stationed at the Amphibious Base in Little Creek, Virginia, near Norfolk. I always drove on Route 15 north from Harrisburg. At the site of the Evangelical Hospital in Lewisburg, I used to see many pheasants in the front lawn; sometimes over one hundred. Can you imagine that? Today, there is absolutely no huntable land anywhere near the hospital. That is one answer to the question, “where did all the pheasants go?”
Another fact, living in Williamsport, we never hunted pheasant hens; they were fully protected with good reason. No reproduction takes place without them. When I moved to Bradford County in 1979, I could hardly believe that hens were legal to shoot. It took quite awhile before I started shooting them because all the birds were stocked. In one crate would be ten hens and two males. I found this out by going along when WCO deputies did some in-season stocking. They only asked that I not hunt any stocked area the day that we stocked. No problem for me and it was interesting to see just how far some of the birds flew away from the crate. Some actually flew out of sight; well over a quarter of a mile or more.
Another hint on the decline of the pheasant populations in Pennsylvania. We used to love to hunt corn fields after they were picked. Bird often ran near to the end of the corn field so we would post a watcher at the end to block them. The corn fields were not only full of picked corn stalks, but also weeds like foxtail, providing excellent cover for the birds. It was quite an experience when I started playing softball at Canton Cedar Ledge field. I asked how many softballs they lost when someone hit a home run to left or left center field. I was told almost none and go check out the corn field. I was amazed that there was no cover other than the corn stalks. It was easy to find a white softball. There was no cover for rabbits or pheasants.
We will have Part II next time. Remember, America is the Land of the Free, because of the Brave. Thank a veteran for their service and take some quiet time to visit veterans' graves in a cemetery.
Jim Collins is an outdoor writer for this newspaper. To contact him, email jimcollinsinsurance@frontiernet.net; or write to him at Outdoors With Jim Collins, 87 Windfall Road, Alba, PA 16910.