Pheasants on the run in Minneota
When the weather forecast called for one inch of snow in early February, it was a shock when up to 10 inches instead blanketed the area overnight. That caused a lot of problems with people scurrying to get their driveways and vehicles cleaned off so they wouldn’t be late for work. School was called off and some roads were temporarily closed. It even caused approximately 100 pheasants to escape their pen and roam around town.
The late Fuzzy Downing raised pheasants at his property on the west side of town for many years. Since his passing in August, his family has been taking care of the birds where Fuzzy’s wife, Joyce, still resides.
“Usually, when it’s going to snow, we randomly knock off the snow from the netting so it doesn’t come apart,” said Logan Sussner, Fuzzy’s grandson, who helps take care of the pheasants along with his parents, Jeff and Nacole, and siblings Lydia, Lyzah and Libby.
“We were only supposed to get one inch that day, so we didn’t think it would be too bad. But then we saw all the snow the next morning.”
When the unexpected additional snow fell overnight, it caused a gap in the netting and, like a prison break, the pheasants escaped. The birds were seen in various parts of town by community members.“When my dad (Jeff) and I went over to check on the pheasants, as soon as we turned the corner we saw several of them and we knew right away what had happened,” Sussner said.
“There are three separate areas to the cage they are in, so we caught some of the birds and locked them in the back part and left the front part open.”
Some of the pheasants, knowing where their food source was, came back on their own and went inside the front cage where the Sussners would corral and lock them in the back portion with the others.
“I would guess half we got half of them back,” Logan said. One of those pheasants retrieved was right next door to the Sussners where Police Chief Bill Bolt lives. When Bolt parked in front of his home next to the Sussners after work following that storm, he noticed a pheasant running underneath his vehicle as if it were seeking warmth. “You don’t typically see pheasants in town,” Bolt laughed. “So it was kind of a surprise.” Bolt got out of his vehicle to take a closer look, but then the bird scooted up his driveway and stood next to the garage door.
“I opened the garage door and went inside, but I left the door open in case (the pheasant) wanted to come in to get warmed up,” Bolt said. “He followed me right in. He was pretty tame.”
Bolt had some bird seed in a bag in his garage and threw a handful on the garage floor. “He went right over to it and started eating,” Bolt said.
“And then he flew up in the rafters and slept all night.” Figuring the pheasant was one of Fuzzy’s birds, Bolt informed the Sussners. Logan came over the next morning and retrieved the wayward bird with a net. “I’m real happy to have been able to provide shelter to one of Fuzzy’s birds,” said Bolt. “These birds are a nice memory of a very kind and gentle man.”
The Sussners have taken over the operation of raising the pheasants now.
“We feed them crushed corn. And when they are laying eggs, we feed them a high-protein diet,” Logan told. “And then we pick the eggs and bring them in the basement of my grandma’s house where the incubators are. And when they get big enough, we put them out in the holding pen.” Fuzzy would raise the pheasants as a hobby and then eventually sell them, just as his grandkids are now doing.
“The pheasants are a reminder to what Fuzzy’s legacy means to his grandkids,” Bolt said.