When, Where, and How did You Shoot Your First Pheasant?

January of 1989, last weekend of my first pheasant season as an 11 year old. We were hunting with a group from Louisiana which we took them pheasant hunting up here and they would take us bass fishing on Toledo Bend.

I was carrying a single shot 20 gauge and the first field of the morning, I had an opportunity to shoot my first rooster. However, I had to pass it up as I had a blocker in front of me, so no shot was taken. I guess it was meant to be as I bagged my first rooster later in the morning as it came up in front of me in CRP. I knocked it down to which one of the party's golden retriever snagged it for me. Thinking I had missed again, I asked the two guys closest to me who shot it. They looked at me and said, "You did,son. No one else fired." I'm pretty sure my feet quit touching the ground the rest of the weekend. My dad was beaming because not only had I bagged my first bird but because all of these guys said I could hunt with them any time.

Four or five years ago, in one of the bad years, I actually had the opportunity to hunt that same spot again. I hadn't shot a bird all season (the population was horrible) but we walked this patch. I shot three, one of which came fairly close to where I actually bagged my very first rooster.
 
Fun reading...but am I alone in better clarity in remembering those birds missed during the early years? Best story on that note involved my best friend and I probably age 12-13, tracking a pheasant in the snow and coming up on it hiding in a narrow ditch. I offered my buddy first shot, proceeded to kick it in the behind, and he shot so quickly it would have pulverized the bird had he hit it. He was empty (single shot), so I took my turn and missed first shot only to have my pump jam. So we stood there silently watching that scared but otherwise fine bird fly off and out of sight. Probably was the only bird we flushed in range that year!

First bird in the bag was with new side-by-side Christmas present from my Dad in 1974, out by myself that day tracking in the snow and flushed a rooster from a cut corn field. I was so proud after downing that bird that I ran home to show my Dad and called it a great day.

And I agree with others, the excitement of a flush never dissipates with time. Fortunately I'm able to hunt more fertile grounds in my older age!
 
Jakeismydog2 said:
Will I be kicked off of UPH if I admit I do not remember the first pheasant I shot?
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BANNED!! lol. :cheers: to imperfect memory, a universal human trait.
 
Jakeismydog2 said:
Will I be kicked off of UPH if I admit I do not remember the first pheasant I shot?
Click to expand...

LOL...sinner. We'll be praying for you.:D


First bird---December 1988, Union IL. I received a new 12 pump shotgun for Christmas so I was pumped (no pun intended;)) Up until that point I was using an H&R single 20. Couldn't hit a thing with that gun:eek: so I had high hopes for this new well oiled gun of mine.

My dad and I headed out into the fields. He pushed a stretch of Willow whips for me as I posted at the end. 2 dozen hens went up, then a nice 2 year old rooster. All flying from my left to the right. I shouldered my new shotgun, put the bead on the rooster, pulled the trigger and the next thing I know, the rooster was falling straight from the blue sky!!! I made a head shot on him. I can remember the way he fell, then hit the snow bouncing all over the place. As I ran over to grab the bird I was yelling out to my dad "I GOT ONE I GOT ONE!!!!!. That was a good day.

My dad wanted to get him mounted for me but at the time we didn't know you can mount head shot birds so we fanned out his long tail and placed it on a "first bird" plaque. It's hanging on my garage walls today.
Nick
 
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1st bird

On Dec 27 of 1987 (12yrs old), my dad, uncle, 2 cousins and I were hunting a large crp field my great grandfather's farm. 2 days prior I had awaken to a 20ga coast to coast (Mossberg 500) under the Christmas tree. I was on the right side of "the line" next to my dad with my uncle and 2 cousins left of him.

My cousin had also just received a 20ga shotgun for Christmas and was on the far left. The prettiest, largest, loudest cockbird I had ever seen got up in front of my cousin, and he shot at it. The bird flew in front of my other cousin and he shot at it. The bird continued in front of my uncle and he shot at it. The bird, still on the wing, flew in front of my dad, and he shot at it. For some reason, the good Lord wanted me to have that bird 'cause he had made it through about 10 rounds of ammo. I can still remember the gun finding my shoulder, the beak of the bird, the recoil of my gun and watching him do a backflip and falling to the ground.

I'll never forget my Dad winking at me and saying, "nice shot".
 
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1st rooster

I was nine when I harvested my first rooster. My dad was a Game Warden in Cumming County Nebraska so he knew the area of where the good hunting was and had permission. Dad took me out to a old farm just outside of town to get in a quick hunt before church. My shotgun that I had was a bolt action 410 that I got as a birthday gift from my grandpa.
 
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Jakeismydog2 said:
Will I be kicked off of UPH if I admit I do not remember the first pheasant I shot?
Click to expand...

I remember my first pheasant, just don't remember if it was first year I carried my .410 single shot or the second. My first season in the field with a gun was in 1956 in SW Minnesota. I remember it flushing out of the ditch in front of me. I was so shocked when it went down I thought my dad had shot it. But I got a shot off before he could pull the trigger.
 
Will I be kicked off of UPH if I admit I do not remember the first pheasant I shot?
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Nope, just in good company with the rest of us old farts, Jake, lol.
 
I was 14 hunting with a single shot 20 gauge, my dad and 2 of his friends from work came up and hunted on our farm in Shafer MN. My dad's friend brought his yellow lab we were hunting a grassy area when a pheasant flushed in front of me I made a good shot and knocked it down and the dog brought the bird back. I think that was the only one I hit that day.
 
Great thread. I was 11, so 1985. Mahaska county, Iowa. Hunting with my Dad and one of my friends. Ithaca Model 66 Super Single. Dad and my friend both were getting some flushes. But I was seeing nothing. As I sulked, a rooster took off. At the shot, it did something none of the other roosters had ever done. It folded. Our dog was elsewhere so I got it myself. My dad and friend both asked where it flew to. I said, "into my vest." Took them a minute to realize I had finally got one. I got 2 more that season.
 
I was 16 years old. I believe it was Yellow Medicine County, near Canby Minnesota. Just got my license and had a yellow lab we rescued from the Sioux Falls humane society. She had never hunted and neither did I. But, she had some good instinct and knew what she was looking for. Good dog for not being trained. We were heading back the car to head home for the day and she put up a rooster. I wasn't ready but dropped it. She found it no problem and brought it back. That rooster is now hanging on the wall next to a picture of the lab, Sammy. She was great for not being trained and put up alot of birds.
 
Smilin Spaniels said:
I was 16 years old. I believe it was Yellow Medicine County, near Canby Minnesota. Just got my license and had a yellow lab we rescued from the Sioux Falls humane society. She had never hunted and neither did I. But, she had some good instinct and knew what she was looking for. Good dog for not being trained. We were heading back the car to head home for the day and she put up a rooster. I wasn't ready but dropped it. She found it no problem and brought it back. That rooster is now hanging on the wall next to a picture of the lab, Sammy. She was great for not being trained and put up alot of birds.
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Two natural born hunters. :cheers:
 
shot my first bird in December of 2008. Had brought the dog back to PA from south Texas and a few days after christmas decided to take him out for our first go at pheasants. PA F&G commission stocks birds and has a few gamelands that they manage for birds and we decided to hunt Hillman State Park and the surrounding game lands. Hillman is a reclaimed stripmine west of Pittsburgh and it recieves a generous # of birds each year. We made our way from the truck into a few food plots, worked a pine thicket and just generally started beating the brush. The frest snow made the walking rough on the hills. After several hours, I decided that it was time to head back to the truck and as we came over a hill the dog got real birdy near a patch of tall grass. After working back and forth through the grass, he was on a rope to a blow down about 40 yards out, he closed to about 10 yards and set the point. I was not far behind him and just as I was getting into position the bird busted straight up, and turned offering me a L-R quartering away shot. I pulled up, fired, missed, pumped, fired again and watched the feathers explode. That bird was dead when it hit the ground, Beau, was on top of him, and made a great retrieve! We had hunted all day and didn't see squat, and killed a bird 75 yards from the truck on the way out! After that I was hooked.
 
I think it was 1970/71 in Scott Co. Iowa. My Grandpa's old bolt action 410. Tracked and followed and flushed a rooster a couple of times across two neighbors farms before finally dropping him in the snow. I hunted off and on for several more years, but when I finally got my first Brittany it all came together! Dogs add so much to a day in the field. I'm on my 4th Britt (an Epagneul Breton this time) and looking forward to the upcoming season with my son and grandson.
 
Never got the chance to hunt until an adult. Found out there was a hunt club that rented dogs. They would let you take the dog yourself and hunt. Yes, they were planted birds. The thought of the dog excited me. To be honest. I don't remember my very first pheasant. What I do remember is the experience of walking a field with that dog. I knew that day I had to have a hunting dog.

Here's a cute one. My first Hungarian Partridge. Was hunting eastern Montana with my dog. Driving by a popular hunting area. Opposite side of the road, a covey of Hunn's flushed and flew straight at the side of my truck. About 8 of them. 7 went under, in front, above, behind the truck. One failed to maneuver and went straight into the side of the truck. I stopped the truck. Put it in my cooler. A hunter in the field saw what happened. He smiled and gave me a thumbs up. So I took my first Hunn with an F250.
 
Somedude said:
Great thread. I was 11, so 1985. Mahaska county, Iowa. Hunting with my Dad and one of my friends. Ithaca Model 66 Super Single. Dad and my friend both were getting some flushes. But I was seeing nothing. As I sulked, a rooster took off. At the shot, it did something none of the other roosters had ever done. It folded. Our dog was elsewhere so I got it myself. My dad and friend both asked where it flew to. I said, "into my vest." Took them a minute to realize I had finally got one. I got 2 more that season.
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A wit at age 11! Good one. ;)
 
I was 12 and me and my dad were hunting some public land in wisconsin where there was this big hill. I was huffing and puffing up this hill being a bigger kid and I stop then Cackle Cackle rooster took off and with my Remington wing master full choke 30 inch barrel I knocked that rooster down.

Remtech
 
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