On Friday, Nov. 7, I was out at Mud Lake Wildlife Management Area looking for some owls when I noticed an Idaho Department of Fish and Game truck stop near a small field of corn. The driver grabbed a crate full of pheasant cocks and released them. Two of the pheasants flew directly toward me, landing in some tall sagebrush near the shore of Mud Lake. From the next crate, three cocks flew over me, landing in the thick willows at the water’s edge.

I was not the only individual watching the pheasants being “stocked” but three hunters dressed in orange quickly exited their trucks and released their dogs. When they were halfway down the row of corn, two roosters flushed and two of the hunters filled half of their daily limit of two birds.

The driver of the pheasant – wagon was making his thir

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