On average, only 60 percent will survive the initial week of release. After one month, roughly 25 percent will remain. Over-winter survival has been documented as high as 10 percent but seldom exceeds 5 percent of birds released. For the most part, hunting has little to do with poor survival. Predators take the real toll, accounting for more than 90 percent of all deaths.
Starvation can also be a problem.
Some newly released pheasants take up to three weeks to develop optimal foraging patterns essential to survival in the wild. Reducing predator populations to levels where pheasant numbers can rise would involve astronomical costs. In addition, many predators are federally protected and cannot be harmed. Some pheasants will always be lost to predators, but well-designed habitat can reduce predation by up to 80 percent. Mortality is still very high, and roughly 40 to 70 percent of the hens will perish before attempting to nest.