The pheasant (Phasianus colchinus) is a burrowing bird. It is found throughout Europe, Asia and North America. It was imported to Europe from Asia in the Middle Ages. There are several dozen species of pheasants, which differ in their colorful coloring and the location where they are found.
The pheasant is a stationary bird that flies very well over short distances. It spends most of its life on the ground, but if needed, it can take off very quickly and gain height with speed. His flight is not very long by any means, but long enough for him to hide in safety and fly from one draw to another. In flight, it follows the terrain with its gliding flight.
It is thanks to one of these characteristics that it has become a very popular game and hunts are organized for it, with losses ranging from a few dozen pieces (mainly wild individuals) to thousands of pheasants caught in a single day. Such hunts are organized in pheasant farms, which directly specialize in breeding and hunting pheasants.
Pheasantry farms have their own breeding flocks of pheasants, their own hatcheries and have adapted the environment in such a way that the released pheasants thrive in it. It mostly concerns areas that are several tens to hundreds of hectares in size. This is not a fenced area, but an open space that is full of cover, small boxes with important food, in which the pheasants stay.
The pheasant is similar in size to the domestic chicken. The weight of the pheasant is around 1.5 kg and the length of the pheasant is around 60 cm.
There is noticeable gender dimorphism in pheasants. Males are larger, beautifully colored brown-red with various color elements and have a long tail wedge. Pheasant hens are smaller, they have a cover color that is brown. The coloring very well copies the terrain in which the hen nests.
A pheasant’s trophy is usually a well-grown tail that grows with age. For hunters, it is a trophy and a souvenir of the hunt. Tail feathers can be tied into different shapes that can decorate the wall of the hunting lounge. Another sign of a pheasant rooster’s age is spurs. These are growths on the claws that point backwards. This is another sign, thanks to which the age of the pheasant can be estimated.
Some hunters prefer these spurs as a good pheasant trophy and complete their trophies together with the tail.
Common pheasants look for smaller draws that alternate with small fields. It inhabits the edges of these fields together, where it hides in overgrown borders. It likes sunny, windward locations that are oriented to the south. But the pheasant must not be without water. For this reason, suitable places for it to appear are various watercourses, small streams, wetlands with overgrown grass and reeds.
The pheasant roosts in trees at night, so it needs to have mature trees or bushes in its vicinity to protect it from its natural predators, such as the fox.
The common pheasant is a permanent bird, but it is often referred to as a “tourist” that can walk on water to a suitable habitat. The pheasant gathers hens around him so that they don’t fly off into the world. In the spring, in the pheasant flow, which takes place in April, he defends his territory against other pheasants and protects his flock of hens.
A pheasant in the stream curls on the ground (making a loud sound) and flaps its wings, flapping all over so that its feathers are ruffled. This ritual can be seen in a pheasant several times an hour.
A pheasant hen lays about 12 eggs in a clutch that is on the ground in tall grass to keep it well covered. It will not settle until the last egg is laid. They sit on the eggs like this for 25 days. Chicks are independent from hatching and feed mainly on insects.
As soon as the pheasant chicks are feathered, they begin to fly in 14 days. During that time, pheasants stay in flocks, which do not break up until the following year.
Autumn is a symbol for pheasant hunting. These hunts start from 16.10. until the end of the year. It is possible to hunt pheasants in the pheasants from September until the end of January. Traditional pheasant hunts are very prestigious and it can be said that they belong to the pride of the entire hunting industry in a given year in the respective hunt.
Hunts are undoubtedly a social event. At the beginning of the hunts, festive fanfares made of borlice are played, which start the hunt itself, but also the individual healers. At the end of the hunt, the captured pheasants are put in the enclosures, where the hunters pay tribute by doffing their hats. During the entire hunt, the hounds come to their dogs, who with devotion and great taste bring the pheasants caught to their masters.
The pheasant can be hunted in large, pompous hunts that include dozens of shooters, hunters and dogs. The resulting scraps number in the thousands. Such hunts are primarily the prerogative pheasantries.
In the open countryside, such hunts no longer exist and the wild pheasant population is dying. High predation pressure from all corners, intensive agriculture, consolidation of lands and at the same time their drainage lead to a constant decrease of the wild population. For these reasons, pheasants are artificially planted, which unfortunately do not have the habits of the wild population (cautiousness, reproductive capacity) and survive only with difficulty in nature.
Of course, there are still plenty of pheasants in many places, and only because they are given sufficient care, there are suitable conditions and other positive factors. This is primarily South Moravia. Of course, there is a certain correlation with the wild boar population, as the wild boar is a large predator of all small game, including hares.
Another interesting method is drift fishing, which is becoming more and more popular. A small group of hunters roam the countryside, their dogs combing the place for pheasants. This type of hunting can usually be applied in pheasant fields, where there is plenty of hidden game.
An interesting way of hunting is pheasant hunting with predators. Falconry is a separate field of hunting and has a long history. Such hunts are very beautiful and it is good that they continue.
Bažant je loven brokovnicí drobným brokem od 3,0 do 3,5 mm. K lovu bažanta je především zapotřebí dobrý lovecký pes, který dokáže bažanta vystavit, vyhnat ale také aportovat.
Bažant se neloví pro trofej, ale kvůli pořádání honů. Spíše než trofej se hodnotí počty ulovených bažantů, jejich vybarvení, schopnost letu a dlouhé klíny. Pro jednotlivé lovce je malou trofejí klín bažanta obecného. Pro některé lovci mohou mít cenu i ostruhy bažantů, které lze považovat za trofej u bažanta.
Bažantí maso je téměř bez tuku. Aby bylo kulinárně jemné, musí být bažant vyzrálý. Proto se nechává bažant na několik dnů vyvěsit do chladné místnosti, kde jsou teploty maximálně 4 °C. Díky tomu maso správně vyzraje a získá dokonalou jemnost.
Maso z bažanta je dietní a velmi zdravé. Má nezaměnitelnou kořeněnou chuť. Z bažanta jsou nejlepší stehna a prsa. Bažanta lze připravovat vcelku pečením nebo dušením. Existuje spousta receptů, jak bažanta upravit.
Bažanta je potřeba prošpikovat slaninou, neboť má tendenci vysušování, pokud se peče. Maso by bylo suché.
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