bird ID

D

dead pheasants forever

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I was hunting out near the KS border when a pair of unidentified birds flushed about 25 yds ahead out of some switchgrass. They looked a bit smaller than a hen and didn't have long tail feathers. Definitely not quail. Would those be prairie chickens? Too far south for sharptails, right?
 
If if didn't have tail feathers it was a prairie chicken...They are hard to shoot because you think they are a hen when they first flush and by the time you get them ID'ed, its too late!
 
Depending on how far south you were, it was most likely a Greater Prairie Chicken. Over the past several years I've seen an increasing number of them. Neat birds for sure.
 
The DOW website says that Colorado only has a few hundred sharptails living in Douglas County, though these birds were also slightly outside of what the DOW calls the prairie chicken range. Probably prairie chickens.
 
25 yds is a good flush!! Usually get up 75 to a 100 yds out. They were chickens!!!!
 
That's one reason I was confused. I've only seen them in NE and KS flying like dove. I thought you had to pass shoot them. These got up on the edge of shooting range like sharptails. At the time, I was working real slow in tall switchgrass into a decent wind, so maybe that got me close. I'll be sure to get a tag next year and try the same thing in the same area again.
 
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