White: Missouri’s pheasant hunting hot spots

A happy and successful Missouri pheasant hunter.

Photo courtesy of the Missouri Department of Conservation

It was the week before Christmas years ago when I embarked on my first pheasant hunt in Missouri.

Back then, as it is today, the season was statewide, although there were only a few places where there were enough birds to hunt. John Madden was the county conservation agent who told me there were pheasants in places near the Missouri River, where he had seen them, in which I had already knew.

On many duck hunting trips near the river I had flushed pheasants. So I set out to try to get the daily limit for Christmas dinner. As the duck season was still going, I worked a spot along a pothole near the river, when a rooster pheasant flushed about 15-yards in front.

I raised my Remington 870 and fired. The bird dropped, and I had my first Missouri pheasant. Madden told me later that he didn’t think the pheasants would ever be numerous in the county since the (Missouri) Conservation Department had tried to stock the birds for several years without good results — and he only knew of a few hunters that actually went out just to hunt them.

There were no pheasants in Missouri when the first settlers arrived in the state. There still wasn’t any after statehood was achieved. In parts of Asia, however, there were many different species of pheasants. Long before their arrival in Missouri, pheasants had been transplanted from their native range to other parts of the world, including several mid-western states.

The bird’s ability to eke out a living around the rice paddies of China foretold it’s skill to do the same in the cornfields and sloughs of the Midwest, especially in states like Kansas and the Dakotas. There were no records kept of early planting of pheasants by private individuals or groups, so no one knows for sure just when the first pheasant arrived in Missouri.

Although neighboring states, Kansas, Iowa and the Dakotas have huntable numbers of pheasants, Missouri only has a small population in the northern and southeast areas of the state. The Bootheel has lots of grassland and flatland, which pheasants like. There are many people who think we ought to stock a large number of the bids to increase the pheasant population. However, wildlife biologists and game managers say that stocking isn’t the answer and, a waste of money.

A colorful Missouri (cock) pheasant — which Missouri bird hunters would like to see more of.

Photo courtesy of MDC

Pheasants reared in captivity by private breeders and game farms are many generations removed from the wild. Birds from this source might look like fine specimens, but their ability to survive in the wild suffers drastically.

Charles Dickson, Chillicothe, has hunted quail and pheasants in Missouri for years, and said, “I usually hunt around Albany — where I find both quail and pheasants on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) land. It’s a place where the wildlife habitat is good.

Added Dickson: “I think they come down from Iowa along the Missouri border. I used to go to South Dakota to hunt pheasants, but now I just stay near home to hunt both birds. Instead of having a turkey for Thanksgiving, we usually have a pheasant or two that I shot. I have a friend that lives near the Bootheel, and he hunts pheasants there, and usually gets a few in the winter. I was surprised when he told me there were pheasants near where he lives. I thought the only place to find them in the state was just south of the Iowa border, or at game farms.”

A retriever with a Missouri pheasant.

Photo courtesy of MDC

In The CRP, farmers voluntarily agree to remove environmentally sensitive land from agriculture production for 10 to 15 years, and in turn receive annual payments to plant grass and trees, and construct wetlands to improve its health and quality. The long-term goal is to re-establish land cover, improve water quality, prevent soil erosion and create wildlife habitat.

Sam Clark, of Sedalia, does most of his pheasant hunting in Kansas because the population of ringneck birds is good. .

“I have shot a lot of pheasants in Missouri, but it was on a game preserve where the birds are set out, and you know they are there,” said Clark. “I take my two sons and wife there where they learn how to hunt and practice safety. It’s a good place (for new hunters) to be successful.”

Although, there are not many pheasant hunters in the state compared to Kansas, Iowa or the Dakotas, there are still a few that have had success. In 2012, hunters harvested 6,000 cock pheasants. Many of the birds harvested are taken by quail hunters, who might flush a cock pheasant.

I remember Madden saying, “I never thought I would see the day when, while in the field, I would see more deer than rabbits or more turkeys than crows. The only thing that never changes is change.”

Maybe some day we will be saying something similar about pheasants in Missouri. The pheasant and quail season that opened on Nov. 1, will continue through Jan. 15.