If you’ve been hearing a few more pheasant calls — or shotgun blasts — around the county lately, here’s why: the Pennsylvania Game Commission just added about 500 “bonus” pheasants right here in Westmoreland County as part of a late-season release.

Game Land Maintenance Supervisor Hunter Ruby was out and about last Thursday, letting a few hundred of the colorful birds stretch their wings near Loyalhanna Creek in Derry Township. And it didn’t take long before the first hunters were testing their luck — reports say the sound of a shotgun echoed across the meadow just minutes after the release.

These “bonus birds” come from the Game Commission’s annual breeding program. Each year, they raise extra birds to make up for possible losses from things like avian flu. When everything goes smoothly, those extras get released toward the end of pheasant season, which wraps up at the end of February.

Local hunter Cody Schmidt, a 26-year-old from Greensburg, was at Oasis Road early that morning with a few friends and his chocolate Lab, Scout. For Schmidt, the morning wasn’t just about the hunt.
“It’s more about the dog work than anything else,” he said with a grin. “Scout’s my first hunting dog, and it’s awesome watching him figure it all out.”

Zebulun Campbell, a land management group supervisor with the Game Commission, said around 260 birds went out in Derry Township alone, with about 500 total released across Westmoreland County. Most of the pheasants are brownish-gray females, sprinkled with a few of the eye-catching, more colorful males.

All told, Campbell said about 1,800 pheasants were released across southwestern Pennsylvania this week — a welcome winter boost for hunters, bird lovers, and bird dogs alike.