The pheasant’s greed and fear dictate some general behaviors. An individual bird alone in a particular habitat will sit quietly waiting for any threat to go away or pass by. As long as sound and vision assure that the threat is not increasing, the strategy is to sit tight. If the senses indicate the threat is increasing, the strategy may switch to evasion. Walk or run away unnoticed. If the keen senses indicate the threat is still rising, and heaven forbid, one of those devil dogs is coming, it’s up, up, and away. If a threat is approaching and the pheasant is aware how near and what direction, and suddenly there is no more sensory input, (the threat went motionless and silent) over a few minutes time, anxiety will rise to trigger the flight response.
Now imagine this habitat with a hundred pheasants. Three side by sides rollup, 15 guns get out along with 3 devil dogs amid lots of commotion and laughter. What is the cumulative anxiety level of the 100 pheasants? What will they do? The first wave will depart immediately. The second wave will depart while everyone is scurrying to get into position. There could be 10 remaining that will sit tight hoping you walk right on by, and may flush behind the walkers
Scout, plan, approach, contain, control, count, limit out. What could be simpler?
