Thread: Where to buy pheasants

Hi @Gamehunter – not sure what sort of property you have but I guess if you are around Tokoroa – you may be somewhat rural
We have had large numbers of Pheasants on a previous rural property near Katikati – surrounded by bush, orchards and farmland – I operated an intensive pest control program for about 17 years so Pheasant and Quail numbers just kept on increasing. To keep Pheasant and Quail around your property, they need dense cover to live in, a safe environment and food that they like. They eat a variety of seeds, grains, berries, shoots and even insects. I often saw them scratching around in the grass around the house site – but the place where I watched them for hours was out in the paddock below the bush line. They would live in the bush all day where they never stopped crowing to each other – then move down onto the paddock in the late afternoon – always hens first – then the cunning old roosters. I could often see six or more come out. Their favourite food was willow weed – from the time it first grew in November until it was dead and ripped to shreds in May. They are obsessed with willow weed and fly in from some distance to feed in it – almost always hounded out again by an old rooster. If you can grow willow weed in some damp patches – you will always have Pheasants.
I currently look after pest control in a local 100 acre Quarry Park. We have always had Pheasants around the farmland perimeter, and they seem to live happily in dense pine and gum trees but I always flush them off the farmland as I walk around. I sometimes see nests and often flush birds – a week of so back a hen – when I tried to see her nest a few flappers clambered out into some rubbish. A local resident had four Golden Pheasants that he wanted to release in the Park – he let them go but only one has been seen since – we presume they have moved down into an orchard.
I live in a small rural street – 29 houses surrounded by orchards and the estuary – we often hear pheasants crowing, sometimes see them on the lawn and a couple of weeks back I flushed a hen with about six chicks on a boundary walking track – so they are breeding successfully – we have killed more than 500 bird predators in the last two years – everything on four legs – including ten ferrets and about five stoats. Bloody cats are our biggest problem but there are plenty of rabbits around for them.
They are fabulous birds to have living around your environment – at times they become quite happy to be near humans.
I would suggest that before you buy Pheasants – you should kill all the predators and ensure you have good cover and food - they will likely come by themselves. Good luck.