Hunter Survey of Pheasant Management in Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Game Commission Bureau of Wildlife Management Joshua B. Johnson Photo by Jacob Dingel

Bureau of Wildlife Management Surveys Harvest Surveys: 1) Game Take Survey 2) Furtaker Survey 3) Mentored Youth Hunter Survey 4) Spring Turkey Hunter Survey 5)Mentored Youth Spring Turkey Hunter Survey Human Dimensions Surveys: 1)Fall Turkey Hunter Survey 2)Hunter Survey of Pheasant Management in PA

Hunter Survey of Pheasant Management in Pennsylvania Purpose and Methods: Assess hunter attitudes and opinions on pheasant management in Pennsylvania Survey of 8,000 PA hunting license holders – 4,910 randomly selected from PALS database – 3,090 known pheasant hunters selected from historic Game Take Surveys Response options: Internet and mail Photo by Joe Kosack

Response Rates & Demographics 4,810 responses (62.2% corrected response rate) – 2,711 responses from randomly selected (55.2%) – 2,099 responses from Game Take Survey (67.9%) 94.0% Male:6.0% Female 1.5% are Pheasants Forever members Photo by Hal Korber

Which best describes your Pennsylvania pheasant hunting activities? 52.8% hunted pheasants in past, but not in % have never hunted pheasants in PA 12.3% hunted pheasants in % hunted pheasants in PA, but only on regulated shooting grounds *Includes data from randomly selected PA hunters only

How many years have you hunted pheasants in Pennsylvania? Number of years hunting pheasantsPercent of pheasant hunters < 5 years28.5% 5 – 15 years27.8% 16 – 25 years14.5% 26 – 35 years11.0% >35 years18.3%

Opportunity to hunt with friends or family I hunt pheasants opportunistically when I see them while hunting Pheasant hunting is very important to me I had time to hunt Pheasant hunting allows me to work my hunting dog I had opportunity to be a youth’s mentor PGC released more pheasants that in recent years I had access to a new place to hunt Reasons for hunting pheasants in in Pennsylvania Percent of respondents that agree

There were more wild pheasants available to hunt I had more places to hunt pheasants There were more stocked pheasants available to hunt Pheasants were stocked closer to my home I had more personal free time to hunt Important factors that might increase the chance of your participation in wild or Game Commission stocked pheasant hunting in PA Percent of respondents that agree

15.5%15.6% 31.6% 19.8% 17.5%

Pheasant Hunter Satisfaction with Pheasant Season

Pheasant Hunters Using Dogs Were More Successful in the Pheasant Season

How often do you use a hunting dog when hunting pheasants? Percent of respondents Always Usually Half of the time Rarely Never

~3% of PA resident respondents hunted pheasants in other states

Percent of non-resident Game Take Survey respondents hunting pheasants in PA

Percent of pheasant harvest during parts of pheasant season Junior Hunt Opening Day 1 st Week 2 nd Week 3 rd Week 4 th Week 5 th Week Winter Season Percent of pheasant stocking during parts of pheasant season

Percent pheasants harvested by property type Percent pheasants stocked by property type 11.3% 88.7% 9.5% 16.6% 74.0%

Did you purchase pheasants for hunting at regulated hunting grounds, dog training, or private release in 2012? 89.3% 10.7%

Do you obtain information about where and when pheasants are stocked by the PGC by any of the following ways? Percent of respondents Social media Other hunting website Other PGC employees PGC stocking schedule is predictable Paper publications PGC website Other hunters I hunt pheasants without obtaining stocking information

The Game Commission should continue to try to recover wild pheasants in PA 5.4% 11.9% 84.4% * Includes responses from randomly selected respondents only

Are you familiar with the existence of Wild Pheasant Recovery Areas? 63.0% 42.0% 58.0% 37.0% Non pheasant hunters Pheasant hunters

77.1% 17.1% 5.8% The Game Commission should continue to propagate and stock game farm pheasants * Includes responses from randomly selected respondents only

78.6% 5.3% 16.1% The Game Commission produces a quality pheasant

49.1% 32.6% 18.3% The Game Commission should continue stocking pheasants as they did during the season (maintain stocking schedule)

I like the regular pheasant season starting when it did in % 38.9% 15.9%

The daily bag limit should be increased from 2 to 3 pheasants 20.1% 19.2% 60.7%

Wild pheasant populations do not exist in the WMU where I hunt most 16.1% 67.7%

Only cocks should be legal for harvest in all WMUs 46.5 % 22.2 % 31.3 % 53.1 % 20.3 % 20.6 % 44.8 % 21.6 % 30.5 % All WMUsEither sex WMUsCocks-only WMUs

I support either sex pheasant hunting in all WMUs 40.6% 20.2% 39.3 % 21.4 % 34.9 % 43.7 % 17.0% 31.8 % 51.2 % All WMUsEither sex WMUsCocks-only WMUs

Cock and hen pheasants should be legal for harvest in WMUs where wild pheasant populations do not exist 58.1% 17.4% 24.6% 62.3%48.1% Cocks-only WMUsEither sex WMUsAll WMUs 19.9% 17.8% 13.7% 38.2%

The winter pheasant season should only be open in WMUs that do not have wild pheasants 22.8% 46.1% 31.1%

Hunters should be allowed to harvest cocks during the winter pheasant season in all WMUs 25.5% 57.8% 16.7%

Summary Strong support for PGC wild pheasant recovery efforts as well as pheasant propagation program, even by non-pheasant hunters Overall, more pheasant hunters are satisfied than dissatisfied with pheasant hunting experience in PA Support for maintaining season timing, stocking schedule, and bag limit Most feel that wild pheasants do not exist in the WMU they hunt most Opportunity to more equitably distribute cock birds across the state

Thank you to all survey respondents!