Has anyone hunted on a pheasant ranch? (stocked birds) Is it worth the money for a fun hunt on private land?

Stay in state, then.

There is no real wild pheasant population in IL anymore so controlled pheasant areas or private hunt clubs are all that's left here.

2 bird limit, $30. Just was at Kankakee this weekend. It's not the same as wild, but it ain't bad and it's definitely affordable.

Same, was at Chain O Lakes. I think its $34 and change for 2 birds. It's no Max McGraw but it gets the job done. There are tons of local/ semi local hunt clubs that are member run and aren't that expensive

Canned hunts have their place.  Fringe ranges where pheasants may not do well in the wild, training dogs, corporate type occasions, getting new/youth hunters on birds.  I'm all for it.  I used to work at a club in high school, from guiding with my dogs, to doing all the other fun stuff like standing inside a large netted enclosure catching roosters to put blinders on them or clip spurs.  Our hunters always shot a mixed bag of wild and released birds depending on the properties we hunted.  we maintained 1500 acres of grass and heavy cover, so we usually had good recruitment and winter carryover.  

here in South Dakota, most of the big lodges are releasing birds at least 2-3 times per season now.  Especially those that are running groups of 20 guys each weekend and who knows how many during the week.  I don't care how many places advertise "100% wild birds."  all that means is they didn't release the birds that morning and you are beholden to the state wild bird limit of 3 per day.  I do a few corporate hunts each fall and I always laugh at the guides that try to act like the 60 birds we just shot are all wild.  there are a few different ways to tell which ones are wild and which ones are released.  

I get "left over" birds from a pheasant farm sometime between thanksgiving and christmas each fall.  Usually 20-30 roosters that don't have any tails (long tailed birds sell out because they appear to be wild to the average hunter).  We release them on 65 acres of grass and have a family hunt.  It's not all that sporting, they don't flush the greatest and are pretty dumb, but it's fun to get all the family kids some shooting without having to walk the cattails and willow thickets to get to where the wild birds are that time of year.

Hunting on pheasant farms is all I’ve done to this point, but I’m working on raising a bird dog because of my experience there. My family usually goes on a hunt once a year at a local bird farm. For us it’s a great day in the field as no one has experience with bird hunting, we’ve only had rabbit dogs. I’m sure it’s much different than a wild hunt because most of the birds don’t flush until you about step on them. But it’s still a fun day especially to get your feet wet.

Went with three buddies about two years ago.  
Just us four and the guide and two dogs.
It was a full day walking in the grass lands and a lot of fun.

I make at least one trip to the pheasant farm each year a week or two before we go to South Dakota for the annual week long trip. Its a good way to make sure the GSP is on her game and warmed up for the wild birds.

The one we go to is only $20/bird and scratch birds are free. We paid for 20 birds between the 5 of us and left with 26.

For you guys that are new to dog training, do yourself a favor and don’t train on planted, pen raised birds.  If you cant train on wild birds, you are better off training with pigeons in launchers, than training on pen raised. Being able to control the flush with a launcher is orders of magnitude better than relying on a pen raised bird to move or flush properly.

Years ago I bought some pheasants and chukars from a local game farm and stocked a field we own.  The pheasants didn't flush or fly very well, the dog even caught one by the tail, but the chukars flew great.  If I was going to do it again I'd get all chukars.

The place we hunted offered chukar but I didn't get any. I'll probably do a mixed bag next time.

Wrong,
If you have a QUALITY breeder, you can train dogs.
The birds I have seen rasied around me can go from South Dakota to South side Chicago