Recent content by Golden Hour

Thank you, Jevon. Would love to see Whisky chase some roosters some day. I used to kick Sage out of the truck a mile from where we were hunting to at least burn some of that energy. :)

I truly appreciate that. Thank you.

The 2025/2026 Season As the season is now officially over, I thought I’d take a look back at this past season. Lots of birds – Most importantly, conditions have been pretty much ideal for the pheasants. For the past three winters, pheasants have been able to scratch for their food and have...

I get checked about once every four or five years. It's typically a very nice conversation. They check license and shells. A number of years ago, I took my wife out for resident opener, grabbed the vest with 20 gauge shells for her and when we finished, gamey shows up and it's discovered my...

I think breed of dog and hunting style makes a huge difference. I hunted with two dogs last season and will forever do my best to limit those types of hunts. One man, one dog. That's the ideal ratio, IMO. The challenge with more than one flushing dog is that you have to watch both, which...

I shot a limit of roosters while ice fishing Kampeska yesterday. You should've stopped up. The pheasant flocks crossing the lake looked like the flying monkey scene on Wizard of Oz.

1. Those are typical hen:rooster ratios. It is also worth mentioning that roosters are runners and just because a guy is seeing a lot of hens, it is not an indication that the roosters are all gone. They're likely around somewhere. 2. Pheasants will eat a variety of foods. In the pic, I'd...

Great stuff! As has been noted, it is a conqueror's feeling to unload the gun and amble carefree back to the truck.

If you find a large area of cattails that the deer have been in, it's pretty comfortable hunting. Or some of the cattail stands aren't as thick.

Young of the year birds are basically at maturity this time of year, so they're a touch bigger and faster than in October. And they've likely been pressured (unless you're hunting cherry private land) and have their escape route figured out and there's rarely indecision when they flush...

If you pause it around the 3:09 mark on the video below you can see the distinctive enlarged nare. youtube.com/watch?v=Nvbfc0kjU6Y&feature=youtu.be Here is a screenshot of it -

It's easy for me to have the bias as I live in an area with a phenomenal pheasant population. :)

Whatever it is looks spoiled. I believe Spur is on the right track. Did it stink? Musty type smell. Regardless, if it's easy, the pheasants will eat it. But just to make sure you aren't doing anything wrong, let me know the coordinates if it's within 30 miles of Watertown. :)

The telltale sign is the hole in the pheasant's nares (nostrils) where blinders are attached when the pheasant is raised in captivity. There are other indicators, but that is the typical sign.

The reason being that I believe it violates fair chase to raise an animal in a domestic setting where it doesn't forge survival skills that a pheasant hatched on the prairie will develop and subsequently release it to be "hunted". If anyone else wants to, that's their prerogative, but keep it...