86 



THREE METHODS OF STOCKING, Error number 3, relating to 

 the establishing and holding of captive-bred pheasants on preserves, requires 

 rather extended treatment. At the present time three principal methods 

 are employed in this country in stocking covers for pheasant shooting. 



1. At the Clove Valley Rod and Gun Club, Verbank, Dutchess 

 County, New York, a system of placing birds in covers in open 

 front runs from which they eventually escape has been worked out 

 with great satisfaction to the club members and with the loss 

 of an astonishingly small percentage of the birds that are released. 



2. Occasionally some estate owner who has become enamoured 

 of drive shooting abroad establishes it on his preserves. This 

 requires large acreage and is very expensive. 



3. Many of the states are endeavoring to afford pheasant 

 shooting to the public, as was stated in the introduction to this 

 book, through the annual distribution of eggs and young birds 

 for the stocking of unposted lands. 



These methods will now be considered in detail : 



HOW THE CLOVE VALLEY CLUB DOES IT. For the complete 

 and interesting exposition of method number 1, I am indebted to Mr. 

 Henry Martyn Brigham, counsel of the Clove Valley Rod and Gun Club 

 and author of the original New York Breeders' Bill, which has done so 

 much to encourage game breeding in that state: 



Perhaps the best method of planting ringneck pheasants for 

 shooting is that pursued at our club, where Mr. Neil Clark, the head 

 game keeper, has established an enviable reputation, not only in 

 raising pheasants and mallards, but in releasing them under such 

 conditions as to afford excellent sport. 



It is essential that captive-bred pheasants be released in suitable 

 cover, as otherwise they will not remain long at the point where 

 they are let go, and they are likely to flush out of gun shot. A line 

 of fence, along which bushes and brambles, weeds and heavy 

 grass have been allowed to grow unchecked, is ideal for this 

 purpose, particularly if located within one or two flights of a swamp 

 or swale, which is the natural hiding place of these birds. The point 

 selected should be at least one flight from the boundaries of the 

 preserve and as near its center as possible. 



BIRDS PLACED IN RUN. Having selected the cover in 

 which the birds are to be released, three to five are placed in an 

 A-shaped run, which consists of a frame of 2 x 1 stuff covered with 

 two-inch twine netting, tarred, six feet long, two and one-half 

 feet high and the same dimension in width. One end is left open 



