State of Montana Newsroom
DOC brings pheasant program to Pine Hills Correctional Facility
In April, the Montana Department of Corrections expanded its pheasant raising and rearing program by delivering 1,000 roosters to Pine Hills Correctional Facility (PHCF) in Miles City.
The pheasant program is a partnership between the DOC’s Montana Correctional Enterprises and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The 2021 Montana Legislature allocated $1 million toward the “Roosters for Retention” program through HB 637 with the goal of attracting new youth hunters. The birds are released annually on state wildlife management areas with hopes of attracting new youth hunters.
Inmate workers at Montana State Prison began raising pheasants in 2022. This is the fifth year the program is hatching eggs.
“We’re excited that we can expand this program to eastern Montana,” DOC Director Eric Strauss said. “It’s been a great addition to our lineup of DOC vocational programs. This will make preparations for state-wide releases in the fall more efficient for staff members and the birds.”
This year, the goal is to hatch 35,000 eggs.
The pheasants sent to Pine Hills were hatched last year and held over winter in Deer Lodge. Moving forward, all pheasant hatching will take place at MSP, and the Pine Hills facility will serve as a holding facility to help with dispersal in the fall or when FWP starts with releases. No birds will be hatched in Miles City.
Four one-acre flight pens are in place at Pine Hills with plans to build four more. This will be the first year that birds are sent over to eastern Montana before the fall release. MCE plans on sending sub-adults in late June to be grown out until the fall release.
Inmate workers from the Montana Women’s Prison will tend to the pheasants. Workers live separately from the youth residents at Pine Hills and oversee basic duties like checking the water and feed daily, maintaining bedding, and inspecting the flight pens for pests and holes.
“Building a holdover facility in Miles City at the Pine Hills Facility helps both the volunteers delivering and the birds themselves,” Montana Correctional Enterprises Bureau Chief Ross Wagner said. “The birds will be sent to Miles City at an earlier age and date, raised until 20 weeks old, then moved to Wildlife Management Areas in Eastern Montana to help with recruitment and retention through the Roosters for Recruitment program. This program helps not only Montana hunters; the program and supervisor teach the inmate workers transferrable skills to help them upon release.”