Hunters will see something new in the air this fall at Sterling WMA in southeast Idaho

Evaluating success

Whether it is surrogator-raised birds or the more traditional pheasant release method, the focus of this project is to evaluate ways to improve the pheasant supplementation program and the pheasant hunting experience for those afield.

This surrogator experiment will help Fish and Game and its partners evaluate the ability to rear and release pheasants on site and evaluate the potential effectiveness of this technique by seeing how many of the surrogator birds are harvested.

A hunter who harvests a black pheasant will automatically know his/her pheasant came from the surrogator and was not a wild or farm-raised bird. Additionally, as part of this project, Fish and Game will be leg-banding a portion of the roosters distributed via traditional stocking methods. These banded birds will give managers a better understanding of what harvest rates are for farm-raised birds. Managers can then start to compare potential benefits for each of the pheasant supplementation techniques.

Hunters can help with our harvest estimates by doing the following:

• Please leave one wing from each of your harvested pheasants in a blue wing barrel which can be found on most access areas and parking lots at the WMA.
  
• If a hunter prefers to not leave a wing or if they harvest a banded pheasant, he or she can report the harvest to the Southeast Region Fish and Game office in Pocatello at 208-232-4703.

"We will be posting flyers on Sterling WMA with this information as well as some photos of black pheasants," said Regional Habitat Biologist Maria Pacioretty. "Just remember, Idaho has no season on hen pheasants no matter the color, so hunters should always be mindful of their target."