Early season pheasants, do they like the cattails?

B

Bob Peters

Well-known member
I know when I hunt and it's nice weather, maybe even a little warm, the last thing I wanna do is bust through cattails. I always assumed this about pheasants too. If they've got a lot of nice grass to snooze in and hang out, they don't have a need for cattails. But then I got to thinking, it's really shady in there, and with good water quality it's probably a nice cool spot for a bird to rest and get a drink.
 
While pheasants stick to cattails after the snow flies for obvious reasons, cattail sloughs are, in this pheasant hunter's opinion, important year round for the ecosystem they create. While the edges of the cattails are often flooded in spring and early summer, the vegetation surrounding the sloughs are gold mines for insect production, which are vital for growing chicks. I'd also argue that the calcium needs for hens laying eggs are met by chomping on snail shells that are found there. At the same time, I've seen pheasants run into 3" deep water to escape in the early part of the hunting season and am certain that they'll do the same when evading other predators.

On a more serious note, any rooster that is worth his weight in bismuth knows that Friday and Saturday nights at the watering hole are probably their best chance for finding their soul mate.
 
I would say that early season cattails are not the preferred habitat for pheasants. That being said. I've had success in certain instances early season walking around catttail sloughs with my hip waders on and finding birds sitting on little clumps in the sloughs after being chased for a week or so. I find most people aren't that dumb, crazy or diehard to try that tactic. It's a tough walk for me and the dog.
 
On public lands, cattails early season can be very fruitful in my experience. Whether or not they want to be in there relative to other areas, I'm not sure, but that tends to be where other hunters aren't when its warm early season, and where the hunters aren't, the birds are. Agree with Golden Hour's comments, great edge habitat, close to water typically, and lots of diversity along the edges makes for a good recipe.
 
cyclonenation10 said:
On public lands, cattails early season can be very fruitful in my experience. Whether or not they want to be in there relative to other areas, I'm not sure, but that tends to be where other hunters aren't when its warm early season, and where the hunters aren't, the birds are. Agree with Golden Hour's comments, great edge habitat, close to water typically, and lots of diversity along the edges makes for a good recipe.
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Edges are always good. But my experience has been the opposite. I walked lots of cattails early thinking I was going where others were not, but I was by far way more successful in the more obvious crp/traditional grasses. Feel like I kinda wasted lots of time pushing rugged cattails trying to get off the beaten path when the birds just weren’t in there.
 
Pheasants, particularly 2nd year roosters, love to hang out in cattails, particularly damp, somewhat sparse cattails, in late morning & throughout a warm afternoon, early in the season. As alluded to above, it's cool, there's stuff to munch on, & plenty of running room (safety). Usually the most productive (& easiest) method is to walk outside the edge, letting your 4-legged partner do the heavy lifting. Early in the season, I somewhat uncommonly (but not never) find it necessary to pound big, thick sloughs as one might later on in the season. That said, if conditions are such that hunting just outside the slough forces birds INTO the slough, then I'm usually willing to get in there 20 yds & pin them outwardly, against the edge.
 
I wait until the cattails freeze. I've stepped in up to my balls more than once and it ruined my day. No rooster is worth that.

I can recall a couple years when some of them were bone dry though. That's not generally the case though.
 
dawgs14 said:
Midday cattail edges have been very good to us over the years. Surrounding corn or cover make for a great mix of habitat essentials.
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Exactly. Under "normal" early season weather conditions, they'll often go out to feed at sunrise & afterward, make their way to some cattails within a couple/few hundred yards of the harvested grain to hang out. These birds are typically more huntable than others, because they'll relate to structure, & so can you. It eliminates (or drastically reduces) the "finding a needle in a haystack" aspect from hunting. FANIAH style hunting is the downfall of many & can make for a long, frustrating day, feeling like there aren't many pheasants around.
 
A5 Sweet 16 said:
Exactly. Under "normal" early season weather conditions, they'll often go out to feed at sunrise & afterward, make their way to some cattails within a couple/few hundred yards of the harvested grain to hang out. These birds are typically more huntable than others, because they'll relate to structure, & so can you. It eliminates (or drastically reduces) the "finding a needle in a haystack" aspect from hunting. FANIAH style hunting is the downfall of many & can make for a long, frustrating day, feeling like there aren't many pheasants around.
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Maybe I’m dense what is FANIAH style?
 
If it dry, pheasants definitely are using cattail areas any time they become pressured ... early, mid, late.
 
I love pointing dogs (well Brittanys). First bird dog at 18 was a Brittany. I have never really had a reason to change. They simply outperform any other breed that I have hunted behind (friends' dogs) on the uplands. I can walk into a private field, GMA, or WIA as others are leaving and find and shoot birds behind my bird dogs.

When I hunted waterfowl they retrieved birds (water and land) fine. I have had dogs have 15 - 30+ bird retrieve days. Many of my Brittanys would catch underwater swimming ducks by submerging their heads completely under water.

Whistle trained and command trained on blind retrieves - no. I have not often found that especially relevant in real world waterfowl hunting. They are not a breed to hunt over water in the cold - that I certainly yield to the Chessie and lab. They sit still on a slough edge or lay next to me and stay still in the field - that is the first trait needed to get you closer shots.

Great house dog (except for shedding), great family dog, and a nice size (30 pounds - 42 pounds).
 
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Opening weekend last year hunted a 20 acre? cattail 'swamp' next to a railroad track, private property. Alfalfa I think on one end, some combined crops around, and some uncombined. There was no shortage of birds in it.

A month and half later, there also was no shortage of birds in it. I hate hunting those big patches though, because it is so hard to mark a bird down.
 
Golden Hour said:
While pheasants stick to cattails after the snow flies for obvious reasons, cattail sloughs are, in this pheasant hunter's opinion, important year round for the ecosystem they create. While the edges of the cattails are often flooded in spring and early summer, the vegetation surrounding the sloughs are gold mines for insect production, which are vital for growing chicks. I'd also argue that the calcium needs for hens laying eggs are met by chomping on snail shells that are found there. At the same time, I've seen pheasants run into 3" deep water to escape in the early part of the hunting season and am certain that they'll do the same when evading other predators.

On a more serious note, any rooster that is worth his weight in bismuth knows that Friday and Saturday nights at the watering hole are probably their best chance for finding their soul mate.
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No chucks at the watering hole in Douglas. Chicks
 
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