4:30 close is silly.

I may be odd man out on this. I think 4:30's fine. I like knowing the birds are landing behind me as I exit the field. I want them safe and warm until the next day.
 
SD has way more habitat and way more birds. Where I hunt, I would fear pushing birds into nominal roosting cover if pushed at sundown. Such as a fence row or plowing. Especially late season when temps are low. Upland biologists for the DNR have always said. They've never found a pheasant dead from starvation in Iowa, but plenty from exposure. More so I feel more a sense of "Fair Play". We are coming at these birds with every modern contrivance we can come up with now. I'm old enough to remember the only hunters with trained bird dogs were doctors and lawyers. Now every other truck or SUV has a FC dog. I'm guilty too, I have beeper collars and remote trainers etc. I've shot more than my fair share of birds, so giving them a zone of opportunity before sunrise and after is a paltry concession for something that has given me such great joy and beauty.
 
Cackleburs said:
SD has way more habitat and way more birds. Where I hunt, I would fear pushing birds into nominal roosting cover if pushed at sundown. Such as a fence row or plowing. Especially late season when temps are low. Upland biologists for the DNR have always said. They've never found a pheasant dead from starvation in Iowa, but plenty from exposure. More so I feel more a sense of "Fair Play". We are coming at these birds with every modern contrivance we can come up with now. I'm old enough to remember the only hunters with trained bird dogs were doctors and lawyers. Now every other truck or SUV has a FC dog. I'm guilty too, I have beeper collars and remote trainers etc. I've shot more than my fair share of birds, so giving them a zone of opportunity before sunrise and after is a paltry concession for something that has given me such great joy and beauty.
Click to expand...

Great post.

:10sign:
 
I am an Art Teacher by trade and a Sportsman by desire. There's way more to the hunt than the kill. Hope this pict. opens up of one of my paintings.
 
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The goal of extending shooting hours is not really about shooting more pheasants, but rather to increase access and opportunity for hunters who do not have a flexible work or school schedule. For instance, high school teachers and high school students that end their day at 3:30 might have an opportunity to get out and hunt during the week. Not so long ago a young person not involved in football or high school sports could put their gun in the car and slip out after school and go hunting, now a gun in a car at school is probably a felony. How can a teacher/student get out of school drive home and get their gun, and still have any time to do any hunting before 4:30, or are we just giving lip service to wanting new youth hunters? Sunrise/Sunset tables show that the extended shooting time would be most significant early in the season when weather is not a factor. Implicit in any argument against starting the season earlier or extending hours is the belief, conscious or unconscious that somehow what we are doing affects the pheasant population. The deeper issue and why I am going to stop wringing this threads neck, is that human beings are creatures of habit and resistant to change.
 
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