Parker Trojan hits the field again...

[J.B. Books]

Originally Posted by Stephen Hodges

NH stocks about 12 to 14K birds each fall, depending on the number of Pheasant stamps they sell the previous year. The birds do not winter well and do not (Pete will disagree with me) breed in the spring, so it is a put and take hunt. It is what it is, and can provide some fun shooting a little later in the season, and feeds many hawks and owls. Opening day can be a war zone. I much prefer our native grouse and woodcock.

In 1973 Governor Mel Thompson ordered the destruction by burning of the NH Fish & Game Pheasant farm in Brentwood NH due to a EEE outbreak. Prior to this event the NH F&G raised their own birds and stocked in both spring and fall. Those birds were larger than what we have today and in spite of the winters back then many survived and did breed in the wild. Unfortunately I know this because during the summer I would occasionally accidently run over a nest with a hen pheasant standing her ground that I did not see with a sickle bar mower. I would then have to stop the tractor and go ring the birds neck. The NH pheasant stocking program today is a shadow of it's former self.