Sporting Days
Member
Anybody else getting excited for Saturday's pheasant opener?
What I like best about opening day is the tradition of it -- even more than the actual hunting because the wild pheasant hunting isn't what it used to be. Even the tradition surrounding the opener has waned a bit along with the wild bird populations and the fact that many serious pheasant hunters can join a bird club and hunt the birds six months or more out of the year or head out of state.
Still, I just love leaving the big city and heading up to the rural towns and communities that still mostly open up their arms to welcome pheasant hunters. And I love spending a fall day with my kids and my dog walking a farm with a shotgun in hand hoping for a wild flush or two.
My usual opening-day spot, the Richvale Hunting Area up in Northern California's rice country, closed down this year due to dwindling interest.
So I'm heading a few miles north up to Willows for a similar community-oriented pheasant hunt, where farmers open up their land to pheasant hunting as a community fundraiser of sorts. The local wildlife refuges will likely get a visit from me as well over the weekend. What's everyone else's plans?
What I like best about opening day is the tradition of it -- even more than the actual hunting because the wild pheasant hunting isn't what it used to be. Even the tradition surrounding the opener has waned a bit along with the wild bird populations and the fact that many serious pheasant hunters can join a bird club and hunt the birds six months or more out of the year or head out of state.
Still, I just love leaving the big city and heading up to the rural towns and communities that still mostly open up their arms to welcome pheasant hunters. And I love spending a fall day with my kids and my dog walking a farm with a shotgun in hand hoping for a wild flush or two.
My usual opening-day spot, the Richvale Hunting Area up in Northern California's rice country, closed down this year due to dwindling interest.
So I'm heading a few miles north up to Willows for a similar community-oriented pheasant hunt, where farmers open up their land to pheasant hunting as a community fundraiser of sorts. The local wildlife refuges will likely get a visit from me as well over the weekend. What's everyone else's plans?
