The Sneakers Chronicles

The Annual Pheasant Dance

   It was about five or six years ago and sort of happened this way: My good friend Bob and I were having a pre-small game season beer along with some complimentary bar popcorn. Sneakers, my sharp-eyed beagle/border cross was snatching the occasional popcorn tidbits that slipped from the hand. Bob, the more experienced hunter, was regaling me with the delights of pheasant hunting, something I'd never done.

   "Hell, Tom, you're retired and you've got a dog. You've got the perfect excuse to pursue the bird."
   "But I don't have a gun. Know nothing about it. But you're right, one thing I do have is the time. Doesn't one need a bird dog?"
   "I got guns," replied Bob. "Tell you what. My dog's getting too old - you bring Sneakers and I'll fix you up with a gun for the season. Nothing better around here than a beagle for huntin' the bird."

Typical old geezer with nondescript
bird dog out for an afternoon's pheasant hunt

    We went and that was the start of many days (well, afternoons really) afield trying to master the fine art of locating, wing shooting and, when successful, preparing the pheasant for the table. And it worked! Sneakers turned out to be a marvelous bird dog, the nearby game land that we hunted was adequately stocked and slowly, I began to actually learn something about the sport. But I still consider myself an absolute amateur.

    Bob was right about the hunters - many retirees too badly bunged up to haul themselves out in bitter cold deer hunting weather to slip and slide up and down hill and dale. Invariably, upon meeting another week-day bird hunter, we'd both end up apologizing for our aches and pains and sadly shake our heads in mutual understanding about our avoidance of "real" hunting (deer, bear, turkey, etc.!) A three or four hour hunt was pretty much the universal deal. Not much macho stuff here - we were strictly fair weather leftovers or castaways from the hustle and bustle of the rest of huntin' America.

    But, why not? For the first four years there were plenty of birds, birds, as we understood it, we had paid for with license purchases. And our purchases of shells, outdoor clothing, guns, etc., while clearly not record setting, still helped to support the local outfitters. Better to hunt birds, than not hunt at all or (yuk!) sit around watching television. Sneakers took to it in spades and rewarded me with some of our most memorable moments together.

   For the purist upland bird hunter, hunting stocked birds is probably a no-no. Were this South Dakota or some of those other places where wild pheasant can still be found in abundance, I might agree. Even at the height of Pennsylvania's wild pheasant population in the 1970's when they numbered in the millions, they were not found here in Potter County in any great numbers. Most wild life managers credit the loss of habitat with the plunge today to about one-quarter million wild birds statewide. When the Game Commission increased pheasant production to offset the losses of the wild birds, counties in the northern tier of the state, including Potter, began to receive some of the allocation. Pheasants are the only birds propagated by the Game Commission.

   Which presents one of the ironies of the situation. Downstate Pennsylvania has had the right climate for fostering the wild birds in abundance, but the down-staters converted thousands of farmland acres to industrial complexes, shopping malls, developments, and they sprayed, mowed fields sooner, and removed fence rows, among other things. While we have had some real estate development here in Potter, it pales in comparison to what has happened elsewhere. Our farming practices now seem to be more conducive to the wild bird and industrial complexes don't exist. If we could import some of Lancaster County's climate, the lowly wild pheasant might just turn out to be a staple of our hunting landscape. And maybe, just maybe, with a bit more global warming, that will come to pass! Go Global Warming, bring it on!

   I began hunting pheasant when state production was around 200,000 birds. I got used to having enough birds available to make it worth my while, and I don't recall any major complaints from other hunters about lack of birds. And then we learned that because of a lack of money, production would be halved in 2005. Sure enough, I saw but one bird for the season at my usual game land, which meant I had to drive to another, further away. Even so, it was obvious that no matter what stocking scheme might be adopted, there simply were not the numbers as in previous years. Trips afield in 2005 dropped to 6, compared to as high as several dozen in previous years. I didn't even experience the mid-season terror of running out of shells! The withdrawal was not pleasant, and frankly, had been on my mind all through the year. What would it be like in 2006?

   2006: Once again, production is at 100,000 birds statewide. Unlike previous seasons when the information about the number of birds and the places they are to be stocked was tantamount to a state secret, lo and behold the Game Commission has "decided to provide hunters with additional information to assist them in deciding when and where to hunt those pheasants being stocked" [Game Commission Website, 2006 Pheasant Allocation]. Unreal! Log on, Tom, log on. Better days are here.

   Logged on: listed stocking locations for Potter County are State Game Land 59 (Fishing Creek), 64 (Phoenix Run), 204 (Castle Hollow) and PFBC Oswayo Fish Hatchery. Not included is my old favorite, just a five minute drive, but not surprising as it has only been a SGL for about 6 years, even though the Game Commission dutifully plants food and cover for pheasant every year, and maintains an access road and parking lot.

   Everything is fine? Well, maybe. Where in Fishing Creek are the birds stocked? This is a SGL with thousands of acres, mostly on high un-pheasant-like ground, and I've never hunted it. Castle Hollow is known, no problem. (A more experienced hunter once confided to me about Castle Hollow - "Just hunt the road, it's safer!") Only by chasing down the pages dealing with the Youth Pheasant Program could I find out where in the Phoenix Run game land the stocking would take place. The Northcentral Region map of state game lands doesn't include Castle Hollow, for example. The point is simple enough- it isn't simply a case of "build a website and they will come." If you are going to be candid and forthright (and why not, the birds are put out to be harvested) then be accurate and complete in providing the information.

   If birds are raised in order to be shot, doesn't it make sense to make the process as forthright as possible? In other words if there are sufficient hunters then the odds go way up for harvesting and the odds go way down for other predators (fox, raccoon, weasels, house cats, dogs, hawks and others, including cars). Hunter satisfaction, which translates into a "thumbs up" for the Game Commission, perhaps even an increase in license sales, might be enhanced.

   So, you ask, having gone through all of this just to prepare for opening day, how did it go? Well, given the info, I drove to Fishing Creek late morning figuring I would be able to spot a few fluorescent orange nimrods plying the flats and find a bunch of cars and trucks. Not a hat or a hunting vest was seen. The only thing to report is that the streams were bank full and overflowing, confirming my long held belief that here in Potter County, at least, the opener should be moved forward two or three weeks to a date when the weather is a bit more stable. In any case, I saw no pheasant hunting in Fishing Creek.

   I started back to Coudersport, not sure about continuing on to Phoenix Run. As I approached my old favorite SGL (the one dropped from the stocking list) I noticed a truck and three hunters in the field. Curious, I decided to pull in. After a short wait, these intrepid waterlogged hunters came in.

   "Howdya do," I asked.
   "Put up one cock bird," they replied. "Didn't get him, though. Everything is flooded. You can't get around very well."

   Soooooo....there are birds here. Well, now, maybe I'd better hang around 'til they leave. Sly fox that I am, I merely inquire whether they are going to keep on hunting.

   "Naw, guess not. Too damn much water for hunting here." And indeed, the Allegheny River has overflowed its banks inundating all of the low-lying land along the stream.

   By the time they had driven away, Sneakers and I were slogging our way across the flooded fields. Was it good hunting? No, more like harvesting rice in an oriental paddy. Did Sneakers locate the cock bird? Yes. And probably, under the circumstances, the entire stocking which I estimate at 4 crates (about 20 birds). They'd all nested in the only decent high ground available.

   Did I panic when Sneakers disappeared over the bank of the river in pursuit of what I thought was a winged hen? Yes, only to be relieved when the bird took off, apparently unharmed. Had he tried anything fancy, Sneakers would have been swept to Port Allegany before I could get to the river. Close call. Too close, so we packed it in. We at least now knew where a few birds would be for the coming week of rain and snow as currently forecast.

    So what's the beef, Tom. You found some birds and had it been better weather you might have had a bang up day. And aren't you being a bit cute with the "my usual" game land? Aren't you, in fact, doing the same thing as the GC?

My Defense:

1. The game land is "new" and apparently un-mapped. According to the GC website, there are 63 SGL's in the Northcentral Region that are un-mapped. Ergo, they are not plotted on a Region map. Topographic mapping, apparently, is the criteria for inclusion in such displays. Do hunters need an expensive topographic map of what, in fact, is an old abandoned farm along Route 6 between Mina and Olmstead, Pa.? Why not just a simple line drawing that anyone familiar with ordinary drawing software could do until the real thing could be done.

2. Yes, I'm glad that even a few crates were placed there. But one has to wonder if other small stockings have taken place in other places. If so, can we rely on the allocation numbers published by the GC. Isn't it possible that the published numbers are all skewed somewhat? Does it really matter? Are absolute numbers of any practical value? The GC Website info is much better than previous years, but could be improved. The point is that where the birds are placed is probably more important than the numbers of birds.

3. I think I could live with a $5.00 pheasant stamp. The Game Commission says it can't afford to raise more birds. OK, we understand. A five-dollar bill shouldn't break any of us. 200,000 pheasant hunters could generate a theoretical $1,000,000.00, enough to nearly double current production.

4. We now have a Youth Pheasant Hunt Season (Oct. 7 - 13). Why not use this as the start of the regular pheasant season. Some of the birds are already out (15,000 birds are released for this program). Here in the northern counties survival rates of stocked birds should increase with an earlier start to the season. I'd bet that more lifetime hunters (a.k.a. old geezers like myself) would clean the old shotgun and take to the fields. I know that I'd feel more comfortable putting my 14-year old dog in the field during the warmer weather. Not to mention myself.

The Pheasant Pages at the Game Commission Website:

www.pgc.state.pa.us/ - from the home page, click on "hunting," click on picture of pheasant.

Postscript

Since writing the above it has come to my attention that there is currently a bill before the General Assembly that authorizes a pheasant stamp. House Bill 2600, introduced on April 3, 2006 providing for a turkey stamp and a pheasant stamp and fees for restricted accounts for turkey and pheasant programs, spells out in Section 1, (a), (23) a fee of $10.00 for resident and non-resident pheasant hunters. If enacted, the pheasant stamp would be required of all pheasant hunters beginning in the license year July1, 2007. The collected fees would be held in a special account restricted to the maintenance and operation pf the pheasant program. Theoretically, such a fee might enable the pheasant program to be self supporting.

The full bill may be viewed at the Game Commission website:

www.pgc.state.pa.us/

Click on “Laws and Regulations”

Click on “Legislative Updates”

Scroll to bottom

Click on “HB2600”