How Pheasants Hunker Down

by Ken Solormon

Photo by Roger Hill.

If you like hunting pheasants in fall, you need to help them make it through the winter so they can nest in spring. Here’s what pheasants face when the snows fly and the thermometer drops … and how they survive to see another spring. (Also, knowing what a pheasant does on a typical day will help you hunt them):

With the first deep snow or ice storm, people start to worry about pheasants starving. Death due to starvation during inclement weather is extremely rare if pheasants have adequate winter habitat.

A pheasant’s typical winter day goes like this: If available, the pheasant will spend its nights in grassy cover or wetlands (called roosting cover). An hour or so before sunrise, they will leave the grass and head for shrub cover for protection from aerial predators (loafing cover). Here, they will be joined by other pheasants before venturing out to feed. About 30 minutes before sunrise, they will move out to feed in harvested grain fields or, better yet, unharvested food plots (feeding cover). more…