Aim for the big birds

On Saturday, hunters in California will stalk ring-necked pheasant, dove and wild turkey as the season opens for three upland game birds. Pheasants, the big birds native to Asia, are expected to draw about 4,000 hunters to state Department of Fish and Game-sponsored hunts for juniors, families, women and wheelchair users (in one, high-school football players steer participants through the fields). California’s pheasant population peaked about a half century ago. You can still find wild pheasants in the Sacramento, San Joaquin, Honey Lake and Imperial valleys, but nearly 8,000 pen-raised pheasants are trucked in and released for the special hunts. At the events, the caged birds -- eight to 10 per cage -- are freed at first light. The birds soar or take cover on the ground. “All of a sudden, a rooster will explode from the brush and come up cackling and land 100 yards away,” says Jesse Garcia, a biologist with the state agency. The state buys almost $80,000 worth of male pheasants -- funded by sales of the California Upland Game Bird stamp, which this year features a flock of quail -- and doles them out at hunts that run through Dec. 26. Because pheasants are hunted on flat turf and not in a forest, the birds are a good fit for newbies, and in the Fish and Game hunts, skittish pen-raised birds usually flee skyward and away from humans upon release. Go to www.dfg.ca.gov/hunting/gbh/.

-- Ashley Powers