Toad....Give me some thoughts on Pheasant hunting

[Reschke]

There are a few places here in Alabama that import Pheasant and actually put them in place for some hunting. Generally the pheasants that they put in place only have about a 40-50% survival rate. I have never been pheasant hunting but have been quail hunting for many years and have heard that they are similar in behaviour. If you can give me some more information or direct me to a good website for pheasant hunting I would appreciate it.

[Golfer]

Hope you have a doggy

The state of Ohio releases a few thousand pheasant each year in various places for you to hunt.  There are a few extras surviving every year that we're starting to get a population built up.

There are also pheasant farms you can go to and purchase a number of birds to have placed in a field for you and then you hunt the designated plot of land.  I've been to one of these a few times during a special youth hunt they were allowing.

Anyways...on to actually finding them.  The birds that are released up here are done on state ground, for obvious reasons, and there is a varying setup of sunflowers, corn and soybeans with lots and lots and lots of fence lines which the birds love for cover.  What you'll want to do if hunting a fenceline:

Assuming you have a dog.  We had a chocolate lab that we used as our bird dog.  He's not a highly trained dog...just was a house pet with a hobby.  He knew commands, sit, hunt, find-da-bird, right, left and so on which made him a practical hunting dog for pheasant, waterfowl, doves and what not.

If practicable have one hunter on each side of the fence walking "down the line" with the dog walking the downwind side of the fence line.  As soon as he gets wind of the bird he'll get "birdy" in the case of a lab which you can tell when he starts sniffing like crazy and his tail goes nuts wagging in all sorts of directions.  Once he  gets birdy you're getting ready for a flush and watching out ahead of the dog keeping pace but just behind...15-20 feet behind the dog is a good distance.  When the roosters go, often times they'll make a cackle and fly up out of the fenceline then into the wind.  Important tip, if you want to keep ANY meat whatsoever on these birds, do not put a 12gauge shell into them when they're only 5 feet from you climbing slowly.  This will result in a puff of feathers and a  bird with just enough meat on it for a mouse to starve.

Now, if the bird doesn't flush and the dog keeps hunting up the fence...you'll want to stay with him because a pheasant will run.  It can be quite a feat just to get one to fly on occasion if there's a lot of cornstalks in the area and he can just keep running from one side of the field or section to the other.  Use whatever means necessary to get the bird to fly.  Throw a rock, go "whoo whoo" or use verbal threats.  No one thing we've found works better than another so try lots of wishful thinking.



If you're hunting a field, you want to make sure your dog can handle a zig zag hunting course running diagonally ahead of the hunters.  You want your hunting party spaced out abreast with 10-15 or so yards between each hunter provided it is a nice open field area you're hunting.  Switchgrass fields and what not.  The dog will be running gleefully ahead of you using his nose to find the birds, again once he gets birdy get ready.  If for some reason your laborador points, thank him for a job well done and pat him on the head.  Then walk right at the point and get ready to jump when that bird goes.  Even though you know they're coming, it's still a rush to have one flush a few feet from you!


I've never really hunted quail to hunt quail, now and then a cubby would go and we'd say "ooh neat"  before we could identify what they were and even think about shooting they'd be gone.  There isn't a big wild population here in Ohio but the ODNR is working on it.  From what I've seen on TV, they're hunted very similar if you've got quail hunting experience.  Good luck!

[Toad]

Reschke,

I'll try to help if I can.

First, what you describe is called many things, usually a "preserve shoot", "controlled shooting area" or (out here anyway) a "put 'n take".

Shooting pen raised pheasants depends a lot on the pen. If you have the most economical, basic "containment" type pens, then when you put the birds out it will be similar to pen raised quail. That is, they pretty much stay where put and flush when pressed (sometimes with a necessary boot) and they fly very poorly.

If you have good pens, say 200 yards long with 20' height or better, and they are scared and flushed regularly in the pens by humans, you can get a better product.

Now, all that aside, I've never seen, shot or eaten a pen raised bird that can compare with a wild one. Wild ones are tough quarry. They've spent their whole life avoiding predators...hawks, coyotes, bobcats... and when hunting season comes, humans. They are hard flushing, fast flying, evasive, hard to kill (a single bb will often stun a pen raised bird to the point of landing and waiting; this rarely happens with a wild bird. They'll carry more shot than you can imagine if you don't hit them right.)

So, all that said, I occasionally use "put 'n take" places for training young dogs before season. Usually the preserves operate from August to April while the season is November thru January.

To me, this is the most correct use of preserves. I don't see them as "real" pheasant hunting. This isn't to be snobbish, it's just that there is a vast difference in the experience due to the difference in the very nature of the quarry.

If you want the real flavor of it, get 2 good buddies and plan a trip to the Midwest and hunt wild birds.

There's tons of public hunting out here in all the states. There's open Federal and State land (usually around lakes so you can get in some duck/goose hunting too), there's State sponsored "Walk-In" hunting land where the State leases hunting rights for the season from farmers. Yes, this type land gets more pressure but early in the season it's good. You can often get permission for private land too. Opening weekend is usually reserved for "family hunts" with siblings returning from all over the country. Same for the time around Thanksgiving. Usually after Thanksgiving a lot of private land opens up.

People out here are pretty friendly. You'll meet some that have a hard-on for hunters, usually folks that have had disrespectful people damage property, leave gates open, seen hunters acting like jerkoffs in the cafes, etc.

But mostly, if you're friendly and polite you'll receive the same treatment in return.

As to sites, here are a few "how to" sites:

Pheasant hunting tips

(Note that different states have different regs for shooting times, etc. Also, I disagree that 2-3 men can't hunt standing corn; you can and successfully. There's ways and there's ways.   )

More Tips

Stick with a 12 ga., even on opening day. Shoot for the white ring on the neck, not the whole bird. 6's are fine for opening weekend, switch to 5's or 4's for later season birds.

Bunch of good links here, mostly stories, didn't read them all though.

Links

Busting buzzer-beater roosters

That will get you started and generate more questions.

I have several friends that come up from Georgia every year.

Here's a few observations.

If you have a good quail dog... one that can be kept close like a Brittany, not an English pointer... bring it. If you have a far ranging dog that you can't control, leave it home. Believe me, you'll enjoy the hunt more without a dog than with one that's busting birds out 250 yards in front of you. It's not the dog's fault really and you're going to get angry at it despite that.

Bring clothes suitable for steady walking at temperatures from 85 degrees to -10. Bring your best walking boots, Gore-tex if possible. Conditions change in a blink out here. There's an old saying... "If you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes." If a "norther" blows in, you can start hunting in a T-shirt in the morning and you'll be wearing everything you own by 2 PM.

Most Southern guys generally overdress. They bring their "sitting in a deer stand" insulated coveralls. Walk for about 4 hours steady in those and you'll know why it's best to have a good "layered" system consisting of light, moisture wicking stuff.

Guns: Any 12 ga, most guys should be choked modified, use  2 3/4 1 1/14  HIGH SPEED (1300 FPS or preferably the 1400 FPS) 5's or 6's for early season. High velocity puts them down. PERIOD. I've done some pretty definitive experiments over the years using different brands and different velocities within the same brand. What matters is VELOCITY; that's what keeps the crips from running when they hit.

Trucks. Any vehicle with decent ground clearance, good tires and lots of room. I usually get myself in 4WD situations a couple of times a year but most can be avoided if you pay attention. So 4WD is nice but not necessary really.

I'd be happy to help you in any way I can.

[Toad]

Oh yeah, two books:

This one is a great read that delves into why pheasant hunting is the upland sport of kings.

Pheasants of the Mind: A Hunter's Search for a Mythic Bird

This is one of the better "how to" books:

Modern Pheasant Hunting

[Reschke]

Thanks we just had a sporting clay shoot down here I was invited to and several of the guys were talking about going pheasant hunting in the Midwest and a few hunts here. I used to have an English Springer but he just died a few weeks ago and he was a great quail dog.

[Reschke]

My Dad and I are looking at taking a couple of bird hunting trips in the next couple of years and I am wanting to go Pheasant hunting somewhere with good birds.

[Toad]

South Dakota consistently ranks number one for pheasant hunting, particularly in its eastern corn belt region. The state’s annual harvest most years is 1.5 to 2 million birds. Eastern Nebraska, Western Kansas and Western Iowa annually jockey for the second, third and fourth positions, respectively, with harvests of a half-million to 1 million birds a year, depending on conditions.

That's about the size of it.

Of them all, SD is BY FAR the most "pay to shoot". It's an industry up there with less public hunting and free private is rare.

Not nearly like that in NE and KS, Iowa is leaning towards the SD model but not nearly as bad..

[GREENTENERAL]

I used to clean pheasant in Winner SD,  the pheasant capital of the US.  What Toad said is correct, velocity kills, and no need to overdress.  I have actually seen people come in dressed in a full gilly (only to hand over a few ground pounded birds)

And another thing,  the British are very strange when it comes to hunting, especially Sean Connery, and the really rich ones that have someone else load their guns (called a loader).  Stear clear of Chicago Italians as well, They are not bad people, but they always have that one stupid brother that has to tag along.

[Stringer]

Reschke,
I'll be glad to try to help you with hunting near Russell, KS.  Opening day would be difficult as it's pretty crowded, but some other weekend during the season would be doable.

[Reschke]

Thanks Stringer I will keep that in mind. I don't even go deer hunting down here on opening day unless its bow season. Plus that will give me time to save up for that new Beretta Extrema that I have been wanting.