jerseyhunter

That sure would get rid of some of the riff-raff.

JeramyK

I see a big problem with it. But at the same time I can' t see them doing anything about it. Would be nice though.

TreePhantom

Geez, thank God there are no stocked phesants around me. I went pheasant hunting 1x in high school. Went to the local gamelands. There was a car parked right by us that was occupied. Thought nothing of it until he got out and asked us if we knew when the phesant truck was coming. Sorry, not for me. To each is own.

MikeE51848

Actually, the PGC addessed this issue recently by granting the stocking truck the same status as an occupied building. So now it' s a what, 300 ft (or yds) saftey zone around the truck? I haven' t hunted pheasants since I moved from the Germansville area in Lehigh County (used to hunt SGL 205). I' m interested in seeing how the WMU' s will change the composition of hunters on gun opener. I feel that when the PGC went to the concurrent buck/doe season, hunting pressure was more spread out than in the past. Heck, on the 2nd day, there' s hardly any pressure, and by the 3rd or 4th day, you' re wishing there were some hunters around to move deer.

BarnesX.308

I' m sure glad I didn' t take out my Brittany. I' d sure hate to have something happen to her. I was thinking about hunting squirrels instead of deer when I saw the amount of people there. However, when I got out there and saw all those people and heard them yelling back and forth, I knew the squirrels wouldn' t be coming out of their nests.

PABowhntr

MikeE51848,

Small world. I live in New Tripoli and hunt almost exclusively on 205.

PAbearman

My friend whose dog it was had to be restrained by the other guys he was with. The dog was on the other side of a fence row and till he got over there and realized what had happened, the guy who shot the dog was way out across the field. He took of after the guy and his friends stopped him. She was a great dog.

cableguy119

These are horrible stories, I am glad I don' t hunt pheasent. I take the squawker out in January and do some crow hunting.

Why stock an animal only to have them shot right off the truck? Sounds a bit like the old Higgins Pigeon Shoot. Fair chase should be the case. If they are going to stock them it should be days before a hunting day and allow the birds to disperse more. maybe that would spread the birds out and have hunters working harder for a bird. Maybe make it similar to crow hunting only allow it on Saturdays, then stocking on any other day. seems a bit like shopping on black friday when everyone makes a mad dash when the store doors open. (Not Fun)

If the pheasent population isn' t strong enough to survive in our woods then why stock them? Shouldn' t they be treated almost like an endangered species. Maybe after years of not hunting them we can one day start hunting them again. Don' t argue herritage on this one because it seems to be a bit off base if they aren' t living and breeding and sustaining themselves that is nature' s way. Stocking them seems a bit wrong for many reasons.

Grizzlybear

cableguy119 - The severe decline in the PA pheasant population isn' t due to over-hunting. It' s due to farming practices that have changed in the past two decades or so eliminating much of the cover and habitat that these birds need. I don' t believe that the population would recover on its own if we limited the hunting of them. Stocking them (right now) is the only way to keep them around. Anybody else have a take on this? Now, the other question you raised, about continuing to stock a bird that has naturally declined and not sustainable, is a whole other debate.

MikeE51848

In the late 70' s and early 80' s, I lived in a rural area of Lehigh County, I still recall the time I drove home from work and saw 40 - 50 cock birds brawling in the cut corn field along side my house. Then they started building houses like crazy and farmers began plowing their fields right out to the road. And the birds disappeared. Once in a while, I still see a stray cock pheasant in May, which means he made it through both winter and hunting season. But he' ll die of loneliness as I don' t think the PGC stocks hens anymore south of I -80. Why stock at all? Sounds just like the Fish Commission trout program, ie; it' s a tradition. At one time the PGC was fooling around with a hardier pheasant but I guess nothing came of it. Me, I' d rather hunt turkeys.