Survival of pen-reared pheasants

The general purpose of this project was to evaluate the usefulness of programs for rearing ring-necked pheasants in captivity and releasing them into the wild. Ring-necked pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) are an important wildlife resource in Washington. Although pheasants are not native in Washington, they are commonly present in habitats dominated by grasses, shrubs, and/or forbs mixed with cropland, frequently irrigated. Pheasant populations have been influenced by numerous factors including: 1) habitat quality, 2) predation pressure, and 3) winter weather (Leopold et al. 1943, Yeager et al. 1951, Shick 1952, Stokes 1952, Robertson 1958, Wagner et al. 1965, Snyder 1985). Consequently, penreared pheasants are often released in areas with heavy hunting pressure in order to provide a harvestable surplus (Buss 1946; Siegler 1949; Dorr 1952; Westerskov 1952, 1953; Kabat et al. 1955; Robertson 1958; Ginn 1962; Gill 1976, Leif 1994).

Survival of wild pheasants is higher for females than males (for example 53 vs. 10%, Stokes 1952); most of the difference in sex-specific survival appears to be due to the influence of hunting pressure (Leopold et al. 1943, Stokes 1952, Mallette and Harper 1964, Dumke and Pils 1973, Warner and Etter 1983). In contrast to wild pheasants, pen-reared pheasants apparently have relatively low survival rates (Krauss et al. 1987, Leif 1994); perhaps as low as 4% (Buss 1946, Dorr 1952). Penreared pheasants also appear to have lower reproductive success than wild pheasants (Hill and Robertson 1988, Leif 1994). Pen-reared pheasants may have lower survival and reproductive rates because of their loss in foraging ability and their inability to adjust to predation pressure and food availability in a new environment (Kabat et al. 1956, Haensly et al. 1985, Leif 1994). Because of the low survival of pen-reared pheasants, timing of pheasant releases may be extremely important.

The overall purpose of this research was to examine survival of pen-reared ring-necked pheasants in central Washington. As part of this purpose several questions were addressed. 1) What is the survival rate of pen-reared pheasants? 2) What are the primary causes of pheasant mortality? 3) When does most mortality occur? 4) Does survival differ for pheasants released in autumn and spring? 5) Do pen-reared pheasants successfully breed?