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How can I help pheasants escaped from local shoot survive?

DawnG
05/12/2022 22:33

Hello,

I have had pheasants in my garden, and seen them all over, they have survived a shoot on the neighbouring estate. It is very cold now and I presume they are used to being housed and fed. How can I help them survive?

In answering please consider that I have a cat who I have previously seen stalking pheasants in the garden. Also that I am concerned about creating dependency on my feeding them, as I may need to move out of the property when my job concludes mid next year.

If they can manage without my help that would be a huge relief, so please let me know.

I live in rural Devon. Not many water sources except the sea immediately near my property. Nearest river puts them back on the estate that wants to shoot them.

Any advice gratefully received, they have been around since last week pecking weeds/ground in the field behind my house.

  • 0 06/12/2022 11:58
    They will be used to grain drops but not housed - they are pretty good survivors and if not will provide the local foxes and the odd bird of prey with a dinner or two. Without natural predators Pheasants do very well and are very capable of looking after themselves. Grain drops are used to keep them in an area for shoots.

    How do I know this? Prior to the 1980's we did not have Pheasant on the Island (Jersey) a number were brought onto the Island to create a shoot which backfired - if you will excuse the pun when the organisation discovered that under our law it illegal and so the birds were released (also illegal but once gone there wasn't a lot the authorities could do) and we now have a thriving population and they can be a bit of a pest sometimes so I really wouldn't be too concerned about the ones around you

    Cin J

  • 0 06/12/2022 17:37 in reply to Germain
    They are hardy birds and will have spent most of their lives in outdoor pens prior to release into woods for shooting. The 'keeper will have put down grain for them every morning to keep them in the woods and on the shoots land. You don't need to worry about shelter, they will roost in local trees. But you can keep them close to your home by ground feeding them wheat or the usual wild bird mix.
    They are tough birds but the hens make awful mothers. I have lived on a shooting estate all my life, my brother and one of my uncles were 'keepers and I've had many tame peasants and kept golden pheasants too.
  • 0 23/03/2023 17:25
    Don't forget they are the property of the shoot. The game keeper's livelihood depends on having them to present to the guns and each bird can be worth a great deal of money. When they are driven over the guns they will spread across and outside of the estate. The keeper feeds them back into the drives and they will usually not be shot over for a fortnight or so to allow them to settle. I can understand that you may not like or agree with shooting but it is very unfair to feed them off the shoot and encourage them not to return home. Wait until 1 Feb when the season finishes and then you won't cause any damage to the shoot
  • 0 23/03/2023 19:33
    DawnG said:

    Hello,

    I have had pheasants in my garden, and seen them all over, they have survived a shoot on the neighbouring estate. It is very cold now and I presume they are used to being housed and fed. How can I help them survive?

    In answering please consider that I have a cat who I have previously seen stalking pheasants in the garden. Also that I am concerned about creating dependency on my feeding them, as I may need to move out of the property when my job concludes mid next year.

    If they can manage without my help that would be a huge relief, so please let me know.

    I live in rural Devon. Not many water sources except the sea immediately near my property. Nearest river puts them back on the estate that wants to shoot them.

    Any advice gratefully received, they have been around since last week pecking weeds/ground in the field behind my house.

    I hope you’re not thinking of doing anything illegal in law. Even if you think your doing is right by helping the Pheasants!

    Regards,

    Ian.

  • 0 24/03/2023 12:58
    The information may be useful for others for future reference. In what way was the information wrong? I have been working on shoots for 26 years. They may be classed as wild birds, but you shouldn't go feeding them off the shoot. It is almost akin to poaching.
  • 0 24/03/2023 15:20
    The earlier post said they were classed as wild once released. I didn't see why I should contradict the legal classification, but the fact is.the shoot bought and paid for the poults, raised them and will charge each gun (depending on the shoot) around £40 per bird. Why so combative? I'm simply providing information for the original poster who obviously didn't know much about shooting. It is bad form to feed someone else's pheasants away from the shoot during the season. Just leave them alone and let the keeper (the clue is in the name) use their skill to return them and retain them on the shoot. There will be a lot about for a while after the end of the season and the keeper won't be too concerned about the cock birds then.
  • 0 26/03/2023 17:33 in reply to Purdey3
    Purdey3 said:
    The earlier post said they were classed as wild once released. I didn't see why I should contradict the legal classification, but the fact is.the shoot bought and paid for the poults, raised them and will charge each gun (depending on the shoot) around £40 per bird. Why so combative? I'm simply providing information for the original poster who obviously didn't know much about shooting. It is bad form to feed someone else's pheasants away from the shoot during the season. Just leave them alone and let the keeper (the clue is in the name) use their skill to return them and retain them on the shoot. There will be a lot about for a while after the end of the season and the keeper won't be too concerned about the cock birds then.

    Read the link to the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act.! Have a look what that part of the Wildlife and Countryside Act said.! Although no one takes much notice of that part of the act.

    Regards,

    Ian.

  • 0 26/03/2023 18:56 in reply to THOMO

    I saw what you originally wrote - so Good grief. I suggest you read my post again a little more carefully. Particularly the bit where I say "I didn't see why I should contradict the legal classification," You posted it and I was not going to contradict it. Trying to be helpful does not seem to get you far on this site.

    I am not here for an argument. I am not supporting shooting. I am not supporting (or otherwise) releasing pheasants. I just happen to know more then the original poster and thought I would provide information.

    Incidentally the idea that pheasants are routinely dumped is rubbish, as is the idea they are all raised in battery cages in the UK. There is bad practice in every industry but I have worked on lots of shoots (as a gundog handler) and have personally never come across this practice. Birds are reared in pens and taken at the end of the day by beaters or guns or they go to the game dealer. I am not saying you won't find examples of bad practice. Of course you will, and it should never happen, but it is the exception, not the rule.

    Happy to engage in rational discourse, but bit fed up of the keyboard warriors.