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So where do the birds go after stocking day?

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Robusie

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I have gotten beyond the mad morning rush on Pheasant Stocking days, and can usually scare up a bird or two later in the day, but I have never seen a bird after stocking day. Maybe some of you guys can give me a idea where to go look for birds.

Do they usually end up being pushed far from the stocking areas or not? In cover or more likely in the grass or margin areas? Uphill from being flushed or down toward gullies seeking a drink?

The best advice I got so far on thiis site was to "try to think like a Pheasant", which sounds like sage advice, but doesn't really help at all.
 
#3 ·
You never realy know you just have to get out there and hunt, I have seen birds in the parking lot a few days after a stocking day and I have also seen birds a few miles from where they were stocked but most of the time there are still birds in the general area of where they were stocked.
 
#4 ·
In my freezer[rofl]
 
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#9 ·
a friend and I were hunting private land for geese this year and ended up with a cockbird over a mile from assumpink. generally I would say the birds now are in the thick inpenatrable hedgerows amd deep in the timber now
 
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#18 ·
Heavy cover. A food source.
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Pretty much sums it up. Birds will come down from their roost in the morning, feed and then go straight for cover(the smart ones at least)[hihi]. They'll come back out again in the afternoon to feed and then roost for the night.

Be sure to open up the crop when you shoot birds, you'll learn a lot this way. Often times the crop will be empty on birds that were recently put out but on ones that have been around for a couple days you'll be able to see what they've been feeding on.
 
Discussion starter · #19 ·
OK, thanks everyone for the responses. I went out this AM and managed to flush one out of heavy cover, (and missed it). A lot of tough walking and I was close to giving up, but at least I felt like I had a clue. Thanks guys.

And I agree that predators take their toll, I have seen eaten carcass. But with the number of birds stocked, some have to make it through the hunters and predators to the next sunrise.

Nice Photo topneck. Did you cook them yourself?
 
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