About a month ago I was at my lease and ran across a pheasant, one of the guys is there now and he saw it today, guessing it must have come from one of the area high game fences, not sure been on the place for 4 years and this is the first time anyone has seen one. I looked and unless I missed it, I don't see a season for them in Haskell county, so does that mean we can't shoot it or we are welcome to shoot it at anytime?

No shoot zone. GW's would be pizzed. TPWD released around 15k birds in Knox and Haskell counties back in mid 70's. They were not flight conditioned and dogs, poachers and predators made short work of them. We saw them around for years here and there, but I thought they were a long since gone. It's possible that one is from that stocking but also could be other explantions.

I will bet you $1.00 to a doughnut that this was a residual bird to some guided libby bird hunt in the area. There are a couple of outfitters that do some canned pheasant hunts in that neck of the woods. Lucky bird! They are typically eaten by this time of the year in that country.

I've hunted 900 acers in Rule for the last three years and no pheasant but I have seen the in matedor wma

Before I saw these replies, I called tpwd and the lady who answered said no I can't shoot him. I'm out here this weekend, I may go ahead and call the GW tomorrow and ask.

So how can an outfitter do a canned hunt but I can't shoot one?

Really like to put him on my wall, but going to play it by the book. A pretty bird ain't worth the trouble

Elementary, my dear Watson. Permit.

Wild pheasants have been slowly expanding their range south eastward from the Panhandle over the last 40 years. Don't shoot them, let them multiply. Remember thats how they got started in the Panhandle from wilder pen raised pheasants like the Afghan whitewing pheasant (also called the Bianchi pheasant) and the Manchurian ringneck pheasant, see article below:

http://amarillo.com/stories/2001/12/02/whe_legionsofspo.shtml#.V2bu3Vfsakg

With all the rain we received the wild quail and pheasants should have a good hatch.

https://swco-ir.tdl.org/swco-ir/bitstream/handle/.../Munday_1979_07_26.pdf?...1…

Google: "More pheasants released in area Wednesday Munday Texas"

Pheasant were also stocked in 1979 near Munday by the TP&WD, check out the article above. Those first stocking were successful, it just take a long. long time to build up to a hunt able population. Stock more and protect what you have.

There are wild pheasants in the rice fields south of Bay City, I have seen many of them, but no open season outside of the 37 Panhandle counties. They can easily exist in the wild between Fort Worth/Dallas area and the Panhandle, they will do good in wet years and go down in dry years just like they would in western Kansas and in the Texas/oklahoma Panhandles. But it will take a long time to build up a hunt able population.

Respectfully, I disagree that the stocking in Knox Co was a success. I lived there then and off and on, most of my life.. The ones at Sunset were slaughtered by farm dogs and poachers. There were still a lot of birds to be seen but less and less every year. Vic Lowery, who was the GW there thought it was a waste of time. Not enough grain crops in the area to support any population. Way too much cotton and wheat. In the mid to late 80's, we saw very few bird anymore. Stanfields has been doing released hunts for probably 20 yrs west of Knox City. They see almost no residual birds carry over to the next year. I wish they would take hold but it just doesn't seem to work well.

Thanks for the update on Knox county. When I say the pheasant release near Munday, Texas was successful in 1979, I met that they got seed stock on the ground. When pen raised pheasant were first released in the Panhandle 70 years ago, a great deal of people said it would not work. They said they had too much cotton, too hot, the ground did not have the right calcium Etc..

https://www.news.google.com/newspapers?n…,1381498&hl=en

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19711212&id=9-QiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=apoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3599,1381498&hl=en

Google: "Afghan pheasants released in Texas Google News"

Now 70 years later wild pheasants are seen all around Lubbock. In Texas, wild pheasants need undisturbed nesting cover and moisture more the they need grain. Up north in the cold country those pheasant may need more grain. My co-workers that live near Lubbock say that they see wild pheasants near water source like playa lake and man made lakes.

At first, when bird are first released you will have an 80 to 90% mortality but the 15 or 10% that survive may move 10 to 15 mile down the road (no where near the release spot) and start a family. Each generation that hatches in the wild is more alert and more wary of predators and road hunters, than the first generation.

I get reports of wild pheasants (not a lot but a few) seen along the Red River near Turkey, Childress, Estelle, Paducah and Quanah. Why drive six to seven hours to pheasant hunt.