Steven Reynolds, a free-lance writer who lives in Palmville Township near Wannaska, Minnesota, shared this story of a problematic pheasant rooster that took up residence a few years ago on his property in Roseau County, an area not known for its pheasant roosters – problematic or otherwise. PALMVILLE TOWNSHIP, Minn. – A ring-necked pheasant rooster and two hens suddenly showed up on our northwest Minnesota farm one spring day a few years back, and just as soon scuttled all the plans the resident ruffed grouse had about nesting along our road.
The rooster rousted them with such audacity that my wife, Jackie, and I later cried “fowl” in its escalation. Jackie and her son, John Helms, had sighted the rooster and his hens first, after I had gone to work one afternoon. The next day, the rooster boldly strode in front of my car as I left the farm, causing me to stop and slowly edge by the beautiful bird whose detailed plumage shown iridescent in the sun.
I wondered if I’d ever see him again. Pheasants don’t last too long in Palmville, c’est la vie. ADVERTISEMENT One afternoon, I was using the rider mower when the pheasant flew across the hood so close that he blew my cap off.
Totally amazed, I shut off the mower to retrieve my cap. I tried to approach the bird, but it ran away nervously, looking over its shoulder. During the hours that followed, the pheasant edged ever closer to me, unafraid of man or machine.
His crowing and wing-beating antics gave me an idea to rec.