Tactics of birds

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mlf3882

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So my brother and I just got back from our first ever SD pheasant hunt. I have read numerous stories from others that have hunted there and say the birds will flush wild in numerous numbers at the slightest noise and they were not kidding! Granted it was DEC and we only hunted public land but a local we talked with one day said the same occurs on private land as well. We stayed real quiet ie. no yelling at dogs or even talking between us and parked 1/4 mile away freq from where we hunted and the birds still flushed way out there.
So here is my question in shape of a theory- because SD is so popular of a destination do the birds act like that there because only the 'jumpy' ones are left to breed at the end of the season and pass that gene onto their offspring? I lived in KS for 15 yrs and hunted pheasants almost daily for the entire season (public and private) and birds did not act like that there. I shot a bird in SD right after entering the field and 50-75 more flushed bout 100 yrds away and they flushed more birds farther still. That rarely happened in KS.
I have no clue how SD birds usually act as being first timer, there was 8-10 inches snow on ground and limited cover to run in, was that more the reason how they acted?
 
mlf3882 said:
So my brother and I just got back from our first ever SD pheasant hunt. I have read numerous stories from others that have hunted there and say the birds will flush wild in numerous numbers at the slightest noise and they were not kidding! Granted it was DEC and we only hunted public land but a local we talked with one day said the same occurs on private land as well. We stayed real quiet ie. no yelling at dogs or even talking between us and parked 1/4 mile away freq from where we hunted and the birds still flushed way out there.
So here is my question in shape of a theory- because SD is so popular of a destination do the birds act like that there because only the 'jumpy' ones are left to breed at the end of the season and pass that gene onto their offspring? I lived in KS for 15 yrs and hunted pheasants almost daily for the entire season (public and private) and birds did not act like that there. I shot a bird in SD right after entering the field and 50-75 more flushed bout 100 yrds away and they flushed more birds farther still. That rarely happened in KS.
I have no clue how SD birds usually act as being first timer, there was 8-10 inches snow on ground and limited cover to run in, was that more the reason how they acted?
Click to expand...

I think you may have already stumbled onto the problem when you said:
I have read numerous stories from others that have hunted there and say the birds will flush wild in numerous numbers at the slightest noise and they were not kidding!
Click to expand...

The more birds in a field the wilder they become, more ears listening.... All it takes is one or two skittish birds to flush and they start the chain reaction to birds all around them. Best way I've ever dealt with hunting fields with large numbers of birds is to just go in and bust'em up and watch where they scatter. Then, hunt down the singles or smaller groups and you'll likely have much better luck getting close.
 
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you may have a point regards the numbers, when in KS all my hunting was around the NE part of the state and while pheasants were there they were not around in large numbers i.e. less than 10 would get up at any one time. I like your tatic you describe but our problem was the birds would fly onto private land surrounding the public...may not be as big an issue earlier in season. We are thinking about going out next year first part of NOV.
 
mlf3882 said:
may not be as big an issue earlier in season. We are thinking about going out next year first part of NOV.
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That's right. Early season they are not bunched up like late season birds. You experienced late season hunting. Birds are bunched up.

As birdshooter mentioned once one or two birds get spooked most will catch on to what's going on---and off they go.

Often some will stay behind. Those are the ones you go after. Other than that, you'll need a good number of hunters in the field to block them. Even then, a lot of birds will get up well out of range due to a very well rehearsed escape plan.

Regardless it's a cool sight to see isn't it;)

Nick
 
it was cool to see large numbers but then did get a little frustrating as everything was taking off on the horizon...I wondered if the amount of snow covering escape cover affected there antics as well ie. they could not run thru the shorter cover so choose to fly.

oh well...was fun none-the-less...thanks for the input.
 
As far as your theory goes; I run a bird preserve here in Mid-missouri. All of the pheasants were pen-raised at one time. But the ones that survive year-to-year tend to be loners most of the year. The younger birds tend to group up more in the middle of the ag fields. You will see older roosters browsing the edges and feeding really far away from the big group. South Dakota releases somewhere in the neighborhood of 450,000 pheasants per year. Will these released birds stay together in big groups? Of course. Will they breed? about 3-5% will. Or thats what "experts tell me". Havent gotten that in depth on my studies. But at my place if I release em in a group, they stay in a group. The longer they stay out, the more independent they become. And the group will gradually dwindle.
 
Birds leaving early or spooked...seems the roosters leave early and a few hens stay behind, not so wary. However, if one starts leaving, all depart.
 
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