Written By - Nick Simonson - 10/10/2007
Link to Original Article here

The countdown on my computer's screen saver says it all: Nine Days, 18 Hours, 32 Minutes, 14 Seconds.

To help time lapse for you, that's about sunrise on October 14, 2006 - The opening moment of pheasant season. I expect to find myself walking the five-row shelterbelt west of the Simonson farmstead near Watford City at that time.

Wherever you might be at dawn next Saturday - stomping a cattail slough, working the grassy edge of a cut wheat field, or sleeping soundly in bed - here are a few fun facts about the bird that drives me, and many other hunters, mad at this time of year.

- On flat ground, a pheasant can run at speeds of eight to ten miles per hour. Once in the air, the birds can attain speeds of 45 miles per hour.

- The ringneck pheasant is not native to either North Dakota or the United States. The first several hundred birds were brought over from China to the Willamette Valley of Oregon in 1881.

- Removal of up to 90% of the roosters in a population of pheasants produces no significant reduction in offspring the next year.

- Pheasants are a polygamous species. The average rooster will have a harem of three to seven hens, and is capable of fertilizing several dozen hens in a mating season without loss of fertility. (Take that Viagra!)