Golden Hour
Well-known member
It seems a handful of times each year, I am genuinely surprised at what transpires in the field. I had an unexpected and awesome afternoon yesterday and will share those with you and, maybe, you'll pick up what I'm putting down. Or maybe you are aware and just like to read about pheasant hunting. Regardless, here goes.
A co-worker tested positive for an illness and the boss thought we should take the afternoon off. And it was 32 degrees with light snow, so I loaded Sage up and headed out. I went to a public spot that I typically don't hunt. It has great cover and food plots, but it also gets hunted incredibly hard. I am not so concerned about hunting a spot after it's been hunted as I am having other hunters surprise me in the field.
Tip 1 - Check both parking spots to a given piece of public property. The likelihood of someone swooping in behind you is super low and it is both safer and more courteous.
I drive past a part of this area and see a truck parked near one section of this enormous public spot that has multiple parcels surrounding a body of water, so I keep driving and find another spot to hunt. Anyway, I park the truck, formulate a plan and go to work. Sage flushes a bunch of birds in the tree belt and I watch where they land. We head out and start working them. Sage flushes the hens (that were literally on top of slough grass that was on top of water), but no roosters. I'm working my way up along the edge of the slough and then I hear the "rooster", "up bird" and "hyaw" as the group I drove past earlier had left their original spot and pulled into a different parking area at the spot I was hunting and started working from the other direction. It reminded me why I don't like to hunt this area and I turn to go back to my truck. Amidst all of the hollering, pheasants flush way ahead of them and fly about a quarter mile to the spot where that group had been hunting when I first pulled up.
Tip 2 - The pheasants know you're there. The more noise you make, the easier it is for them to escape. When you move with some stealth and stop often, it is more difficult for the pheasants to pinpoint your exact location, making a flush within gun range much more likely.
Sage and I get back to the truck, drive to the other spot and go to work. There is a long tree belt that's probably 15 rows deep. Cedars and other gnarly stuff. Rather than go to an end, I cut right through the middle.
Tip 3 - Don't do what everyone else does.
Naturally, as I'm on my hands and knees making my way through this shelter belt, wings start beating and roosters cackle. That's okay. I wouldn't be able to shoot them inside the trees anyway. I'm hoping to get them out in the grass. I finally get through the trees, Sage is working the inside and birds flush from the end of the belt and fly down toward the edge of the water. Perfect.
Sage and I walk the opposite direction to get a couple hundred yards downwind from where the birds landed. We make big zig zags, moving from the shore to about 50 yards inland, hoping to catch some scent. We work it all the way down and nada. So, we push back toward the trees and Sage goes into her "rooster hop". Bird flushes, I pull up and smack him, but he doesn't go down. I watch him sail into the trees.
Tip 4 - Watch where they land after shooting and pursue them again. Not only is your likelihood of recovery greater, giving a reasonable effort to locate in injured bird is probably the right thing to do.
As I watch homeboy sail into the shelterbelt and note two of the taller trees for reference, a rooster flushes a few feet from me. I make a solid shot and Rooster #1 is in the vest. We flush another hen and work the area a bit longer, but to no avail. I pinpoint where the rooster I hit sailed back into the trees, get downwind about 50 yards and work toward him.
We get up to about where I think the rooster went in and, sure enough, he starts crowing and flies up above the trees. I take a shot that was completely absorbed by the trees. But I can tell that the rooster wasn't going far. Sage and I trek around to the other side of this mammoth tree belt and about the time I think we are getting close, homeboy crows and struggles to get to the top of a tree, where he lands and fights for purchase. Typically, I would probably not arkansas a rooster from a perch, but I'm confident this is the bird I hit down by the water and I want to get him in the vest. I take two shots, lots of pellets hitting branches, but I feel that I got him. Rooster #2 is harvested, he just needs to be retrieved. Of course, he doesn't fall out of the tree so I go explore my options. He's in a tree that is in the second row in from the outside of the shelterbelt.
Sage and I go back into the trees and make our way to the tree that our bird is perched in. As I'm developing a scheme on how to get him down, I see Sage on a rock solid point. I assumed it was where the wounded rooster was sitting before we flushed him again, but I'm curious, so I say "okay". She breaks point and jumps into a jumble of grass. And a pheasant flushes. And it's a rooster. And I'm in this thick gnarl of trees, but I see a window and wait for the pheasant to pass. It was not a shot I would recommend to a young hunter, but I was confident and that confidence paid off as Sage brought him back and Rooster #3 is in the vest.
Rooster #2 is still atop the tree. I take my vest off, set my gun safely to the side and go up to the tree. I consider climbing, but I consider falling, so I grab the thickest branch I can find and shake it like a Polaroid picture. Nothing. I shake again. This time I notice the pheasant has spread his wings and is looking at me. Homeboy is still alive. Now I'm kind of frantic, thinking he'll fly away. I move to get my gun, which is unloaded and a ways away from me. My vest is on the ground in the other direction with my shells and I have this fleeting vision of Rooster #2 still not ending up in my vest. I don't know if the Lord cares about pheasant hunting the way I do, but the pheasant starts to move and falls onto the ground near my feet. Sage makes the 14" retrieve and I dispatch this spurred little warrior and toss him in the vest.
Tip 5 - Don't give up. I could have given up after that rooster sailed into the trees. If I had, I probably would have gone home with one pheasant instead of a limit.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the story. I know a lot of the things I say are common sense to seasoned pheasant hunters, but there are always new hunters and even if you've shot 10,000 birds in your life, the pheasant hunting game is one where I continually see things I've never seen before. And most importantly, don't be afraid to hunt ground that others have hunted. Pheasants are really good at hiding and evading. Despite having years of experience, I know that I leave pheasants unflushed. Last week, I heard one crowing at me after I'd just been through there.
Tip 6 - If you develop a method of removing those tiny little cockleburrs from a dog's fur, you'll make some coin. You can see them on Sage's chest. I got most of them, but every time I run my hands over her, I find more. Ugh!! I don't think she'll quit hunting, though, so that's a bonus.
A co-worker tested positive for an illness and the boss thought we should take the afternoon off. And it was 32 degrees with light snow, so I loaded Sage up and headed out. I went to a public spot that I typically don't hunt. It has great cover and food plots, but it also gets hunted incredibly hard. I am not so concerned about hunting a spot after it's been hunted as I am having other hunters surprise me in the field.
Tip 1 - Check both parking spots to a given piece of public property. The likelihood of someone swooping in behind you is super low and it is both safer and more courteous.
I drive past a part of this area and see a truck parked near one section of this enormous public spot that has multiple parcels surrounding a body of water, so I keep driving and find another spot to hunt. Anyway, I park the truck, formulate a plan and go to work. Sage flushes a bunch of birds in the tree belt and I watch where they land. We head out and start working them. Sage flushes the hens (that were literally on top of slough grass that was on top of water), but no roosters. I'm working my way up along the edge of the slough and then I hear the "rooster", "up bird" and "hyaw" as the group I drove past earlier had left their original spot and pulled into a different parking area at the spot I was hunting and started working from the other direction. It reminded me why I don't like to hunt this area and I turn to go back to my truck. Amidst all of the hollering, pheasants flush way ahead of them and fly about a quarter mile to the spot where that group had been hunting when I first pulled up.
Tip 2 - The pheasants know you're there. The more noise you make, the easier it is for them to escape. When you move with some stealth and stop often, it is more difficult for the pheasants to pinpoint your exact location, making a flush within gun range much more likely.
Sage and I get back to the truck, drive to the other spot and go to work. There is a long tree belt that's probably 15 rows deep. Cedars and other gnarly stuff. Rather than go to an end, I cut right through the middle.
Tip 3 - Don't do what everyone else does.
Naturally, as I'm on my hands and knees making my way through this shelter belt, wings start beating and roosters cackle. That's okay. I wouldn't be able to shoot them inside the trees anyway. I'm hoping to get them out in the grass. I finally get through the trees, Sage is working the inside and birds flush from the end of the belt and fly down toward the edge of the water. Perfect.
Sage and I walk the opposite direction to get a couple hundred yards downwind from where the birds landed. We make big zig zags, moving from the shore to about 50 yards inland, hoping to catch some scent. We work it all the way down and nada. So, we push back toward the trees and Sage goes into her "rooster hop". Bird flushes, I pull up and smack him, but he doesn't go down. I watch him sail into the trees.
Tip 4 - Watch where they land after shooting and pursue them again. Not only is your likelihood of recovery greater, giving a reasonable effort to locate in injured bird is probably the right thing to do.
As I watch homeboy sail into the shelterbelt and note two of the taller trees for reference, a rooster flushes a few feet from me. I make a solid shot and Rooster #1 is in the vest. We flush another hen and work the area a bit longer, but to no avail. I pinpoint where the rooster I hit sailed back into the trees, get downwind about 50 yards and work toward him.
We get up to about where I think the rooster went in and, sure enough, he starts crowing and flies up above the trees. I take a shot that was completely absorbed by the trees. But I can tell that the rooster wasn't going far. Sage and I trek around to the other side of this mammoth tree belt and about the time I think we are getting close, homeboy crows and struggles to get to the top of a tree, where he lands and fights for purchase. Typically, I would probably not arkansas a rooster from a perch, but I'm confident this is the bird I hit down by the water and I want to get him in the vest. I take two shots, lots of pellets hitting branches, but I feel that I got him. Rooster #2 is harvested, he just needs to be retrieved. Of course, he doesn't fall out of the tree so I go explore my options. He's in a tree that is in the second row in from the outside of the shelterbelt.
Sage and I go back into the trees and make our way to the tree that our bird is perched in. As I'm developing a scheme on how to get him down, I see Sage on a rock solid point. I assumed it was where the wounded rooster was sitting before we flushed him again, but I'm curious, so I say "okay". She breaks point and jumps into a jumble of grass. And a pheasant flushes. And it's a rooster. And I'm in this thick gnarl of trees, but I see a window and wait for the pheasant to pass. It was not a shot I would recommend to a young hunter, but I was confident and that confidence paid off as Sage brought him back and Rooster #3 is in the vest.
Rooster #2 is still atop the tree. I take my vest off, set my gun safely to the side and go up to the tree. I consider climbing, but I consider falling, so I grab the thickest branch I can find and shake it like a Polaroid picture. Nothing. I shake again. This time I notice the pheasant has spread his wings and is looking at me. Homeboy is still alive. Now I'm kind of frantic, thinking he'll fly away. I move to get my gun, which is unloaded and a ways away from me. My vest is on the ground in the other direction with my shells and I have this fleeting vision of Rooster #2 still not ending up in my vest. I don't know if the Lord cares about pheasant hunting the way I do, but the pheasant starts to move and falls onto the ground near my feet. Sage makes the 14" retrieve and I dispatch this spurred little warrior and toss him in the vest.
Tip 5 - Don't give up. I could have given up after that rooster sailed into the trees. If I had, I probably would have gone home with one pheasant instead of a limit.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the story. I know a lot of the things I say are common sense to seasoned pheasant hunters, but there are always new hunters and even if you've shot 10,000 birds in your life, the pheasant hunting game is one where I continually see things I've never seen before. And most importantly, don't be afraid to hunt ground that others have hunted. Pheasants are really good at hiding and evading. Despite having years of experience, I know that I leave pheasants unflushed. Last week, I heard one crowing at me after I'd just been through there.
Tip 6 - If you develop a method of removing those tiny little cockleburrs from a dog's fur, you'll make some coin. You can see them on Sage's chest. I got most of them, but every time I run my hands over her, I find more. Ugh!! I don't think she'll quit hunting, though, so that's a bonus.
Attachments
Last edited:
