pheasant breeds

[hindhunter]

Hi All

what are your thoughts on the various types of pheasant breeds for holding and good returns

can any of you point me in the direction of a good supplier for poults that are a good non-straying type?

[pboro shot]

Not alot of difference between breeds as far as holding is concerned,

[fuzzypigeon]

Just get the best flyers and work a little harder on dogging in and pest control

[Nmb]

I have reared various strains to try and find the "perfect strain".

I find that black necks hold best but fly low, ring necks are pretty good on both holding and flying fronts. Haven't bred melanistics but we shoot quite a few from the neighbouring shoot. Bred michigans which flew well but didn't hold great. I would like to get a fairly pure Japanese green to breed from but struggling to get a pure bred.

In my opinion apart from michigans I don't think there is a huge difference between them.

Nick

[cocknee]

I had pure Bazanty's one year they flew amazingly well but were as wild as hell and difficult to keep no matter how much dogging in etc was done, I now have first cross Bazanty's crossed with ringnecks and have found them to fly well and are reasonably easy to keep.

[hatsanmad]

My favourites are the blacknecks. There a bigger bird fly well and hold well

[hindhunter]

Yeah your funny "Fuzzypigeon"

Nothing wrong with my dogging-in and pest control here

 

Thx for your comments, have had experience with byzanty and Michigan and Kansas bluebacks.

Think I am going to put down only white pheasants next year

I put down a small number of white ones this year and they have never wandered from the pen!!

 

May try to go back to more traditional blackneck strains.

its great to put high birds over the guns as long as they don't land on your neighbours ground and forget to come back lol

[Alycidon]

My favourites are the blacknecks. There a bigger bird fly well and hold well

 

 

Agreed, if you have a few hills to launch them off then they are a good as anything and they hold very well. I had a hand full oof cock Bluebacks in my bag last week, nearest shoot releasing them is 3 miles away.

 

A

[Nmb]

Since I wrote my last reply I took more notice about our birds on our two syndicate shoots. On our main one we release black necks as they hold better but on our little syndicate we release ring necks. Flying wise I have to say the ring necks have been top drawer and this years have been huge! I weighed a cock bird at just over 4lb!

Despite this I still think black necks hold that little bit better and we have had some good flyers this year.

Nick

Edited December 19, 2014 by Nmb

[Alycidon]

A few decent banks helps blackneck cocks especially, hens always fly the best anyway.

 

A

[Jimmer]

I had pure Bazanty's one year they flew amazingly well but were as wild as hell and difficult to keep no matter how much dogging in etc was done, I now have first cross Bazanty's crossed with ringnecks and have found them to fly well and are reasonably easy to keep.

+1 for bazantys, we have them this year and they are jumpy, but fly amazingly, and seem to hold as good as any other, if not a bit better. You just need some good shots on peg.

[Alycidon]

No point in super flying birds that are now in the next parish. You need it to stay at home or if driven away from it to be back in a couple of days.

 

A

[Kes]

Just my opinion but Nmb is talking sense.

Norman Mursell agrees and his book, Come Dawn, Come Dusk, advises that on the Duke of Westminster's shoot they caught up blacknecks from their home woods to breed as it suggests that they avoided being shot but remained close to point of release. It worked then and it will work now.

Michigans, I agree, are to be avoided - flying like exocets but being at least 5 miles from where they were released if not shot.

Ringnecks are second best.

A cross bewteen a blackneck and a japanese I would love to try, as the lightness of the japanese might compensate for the flight characteristics of the blackneck.

Really, I believe its feed and water that matter, as well as cover. Check regularly, predator control and avoiding disturbance, dogging in and you need little else.

[henry_o]

Hi guys. What are these breeds that are almost black? I don't mean like melanistics btw. We have pockets of such birds around us and they look fantastic but don't know if they are worth releasing? We currently release black necks that do hold well compared to others we experiment with but as we are on flat land the cock birds do sometimes struggle for height... Or maybe they're just cunning and know to stay low!

[henry_o]

Sorry just been looking and think they're either jap green or melanistics byzanties?

[Alycidon]

Hi guys. What are these breeds that are almost black? I don't mean like melanistics btw. We have pockets of such birds around us and they look fantastic but don't know if they are worth releasing? We currently release black necks that do hold well compared to others we experiment with but as we are on flat land the cock birds do sometimes struggle for height... Or maybe they're just cunning and know to stay low!

 

 

I released 50 black pheasants in a pen some 6 years ago, within two weeks of release with the wheat still standing I had black poults trying to get into another pen 900 yards away as the crow flies.

 

We shot 8 the first year and another 2 or 3 the second year, from 50, all the other shoots around say they never saw any. Ironically I shot a black one as a guest yesterday, wet day, did not realise what it was until the dog brought it back.

 

A

[scotslad]

I think just go with any of the older more established strains, but i honestly don't think it makes a massive lot of difference. As everyone has said it is better to show a slightly lower bird than show no birds at all, atleast if there on ur ground u can play with the drives to try and improve them

 

The local game farmer reared about 30% kanas crosses last year as they were the 'in' thing locally, only 1 shoot wanted them back this year. We stuck to our normal black/ring necks, even the game farmer didnae think they were anything specail flying either,but very jumping in the pens, never seen birds so jumpy could hardly walk them in throu popholes when i helped my mate out with his birds. But they were quite large birds as some of the crosses can be a lot smaller, as the last batch he got from a different supplier were same cross but a lot smaller, he put it down to oppisate way round ie kanas males/females. Dunno if that makes a difference?

 

Some keepers will have favouite strains too and just stick too them, i helped 1 keeper who would send any mellanistic pheasant poult back would check the crates for them, he absolutely hated them, yet i know other shoots release 100% melanistic birds, round here always used to say black birds for black woods.

I've also heard neighbouring shoots moaning/praising the birds when they came from the same supplier out of the same batch and have similar woods, some of it's luck but mainly looking after them right and having good habitat for them

[Alycidon]

Not alot of difference between breeds as far as holding is concerned,

 

 

Disagree, Blueback crosses walk for miles, stay at home birds Old English Blacknecks. OEBs have done us proud for the last 5 years and increased returns by about 5% but this year they have flown poorly by and large. Before that there was no flying issues but we have had bright still days this time. We shot a couple of ringed blackneck cocks this week, they were released about 3 miles away.

 

A

[Alycidon]

I think just go with any of the older more established strains, but i honestly don't think it makes a massive lot of difference. As everyone has said it is better to show a slightly lower bird than show no birds at all, atleast if there on ur ground u can play with the drives to try and improve them

 

The local game farmer reared about 30% kanas crosses last year as they were the 'in' thing locally, only 1 shoot wanted them back this year. We stuck to our normal black/ring necks, even the game farmer didnae think they were anything specail flying either,but very jumping in the pens, never seen birds so jumpy could hardly walk them in throu popholes when i helped my mate out with his birds. But they were quite large birds as some of the crosses can be a lot smaller, as the last batch he got from a different supplier were same cross but a lot smaller, he put it down to oppisate way round ie kanas males/females. Dunno if that makes a difference?

 

Some keepers will have favouite strains too and just stick too them, i helped 1 keeper who would send any mellanistic pheasant poult back would check the crates for them, he absolutely hated them, yet i know other shoots release 100% melanistic birds, round here always used to say black birds for black woods.

I've also heard neighbouring shoots moaning/praising the birds when they came from the same supplier out of the same batch and have similar woods, some of it's luck but mainly looking after them right and having good habitat for them

 

 

Forget black ones, I had two black poults trying to get into a pen 900 yards from where they were released 2 weeks after going to pen. We put 50 down and shot 8 in year one and 2 or 3 more in year two.

 

A

[scotslad]

But that's exactly wot i mean some keepers i know swear by them and release 100% mellanistic ones, my mate used to release a small number on his shoot and shot as many % wise as the black/ring necks he released.

Everyone notices if they have a few black/different coloured birds and they wander, but how many of the majority of ur birds wander but u just can't tell as all loo the same? Unless ur brave enough to tag/ring them u'll never really know.

 

Last season as i said a lot of locals shoots tried kanas X birds, but hardly any shoots wanted them this year as % returns were not great but last ear was a strange year for weather anyway and a lot of shoots that released the same strain of birds as usuals %'s were downso mibee unfair to judge on the 1 season (esp if a poor season locally)

 

Apart from ur smaller bodied strains (Michigans and Kansas's X's) dinae really think it makes that much difference if ur feeding, habitat and weather are OK.