In 2021, the Montana State Legislature created funding for the “Youth Pheasant Release Program,” authorizing the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to spend $1 million annually “for the purchase of pheasants to be released on state lands.” With the stated purpose of promoting young hunter recruitment, birds reared on State Penitentiary grounds in Deer Lodge were released on multiple sites prior to 2022 youth hunting season. All looked good on paper, and it was hard to argue with the intent.
However, experienced Montana bird hunters and conservationists raised serious concerns from the start. Studies overwhelmingly show a negligible survival rate among pen-raised birds released into the wild. They lack both the genetics and experience to evade predators. Critics claimed the program was asking license buyers and taxpayers to waste money feeding coyotes.
Pheasants have earned their reputation as America’s most popular upland gamebird because of the challenge they offer in the field. Tough and wily, they seldom fall easily even to experienced hunters. None of us who love to hunt them regard these traits as problems. That’s what makes pheasant hunting special. Shooting pen-raised birds is more akin to shooting barnyard chickens than wild ringnecks. Do we really want to recruit young hunters by teaching them to ignore challenge and take ethical shortcuts?
Artificial abundance of naïve birds invites concentrating predators with unknown effect on native wildlife and nearby livestock. While the Deer Lodge facility does test for some pathogens, pen-raised birds have been the epicenter of avian influenza outbreaks elsewhere around the country, with catastrophic effects on wildlife and commercial poultry producers. The potential to spread undetected avian parasites to wild bird should also arouse concern.
Montana’s Fish and Wildlife Commission is now considering a proposal to expand the program, now repackaged as “Roosters for Recruitment” to emphasize its original intent. Approval would result in more pheasants released at more locations including private land over the next five years. No one disputes that young hunter numbers are declining, but has this program accomplished anything to address the problem? While it’s impossible to prove a negative, there is no evidence suggesting it has.
Hunter recruitment should begin by examining the real reasons fewer young Montanans are taking to the field. Hint: the problem isn’t lack of opportunity to shoot tame pheasants. It’s because young hunters no longer enjoy traditional places to hunt. Thank restricted access to public lands and denial of private land opportunities due to outfitter leasing and land sales to wealthy out-of-state interests. The Montana Sportsmen Alliance believes recruitment efforts and money spent on them would be better directed toward solving those impediments to young hunters, and we strongly oppose expansion of Roosters for Recruitment program.
This guest column was submitted by the Montana Sportsmen Alliance Board of Directors.