This young "domestic raised" female ring-necked pheasant was found located in the middle of the Refuge's service road after being wounded by a "wildlife hunting preserve" (contridiction in terms since the definition of the word preserve is "to keep safe from harm, injury, or destruction") whose property is adjacent to the Refuge. {note the wound area on the left leg).

While the ring-neck pheasants are not natural to the South, their incursion into the Refuge by these "pay-to-feel-like your a hunter" busines operation for Corporate & City folks......is not a welcome sight to this photographer since their presence could negatively impact the native populations of wildlife. The only positive point to this pay-to-kill practice is that some of the domestic grouse and pheasants do have a chance to escape briefly after being shot at by some person who wants the feeling of being a quasi-hunter. The down side on these birds being in the Refuge is that if populations grow since these birds are now protected since they are not on the approved list for hunting within the Refuge as dictated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service during set hunting dates. So a "Catch 22" exists in that these birds are protecting but an over abundance can not be harvested by bonifide woodsman hunters. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.