Hunting late season years ago, 2-3 guys with a lab, right after a snow storm of 2 ft, hunting some cattails, the water was frozen and the cattails mostly laid down and snow covered. Dog was on a scent and difficult going. Out of the corner of my eye I see what I thought was a weasel or muskrat bobbing in and out of the cattails. What the hell was that? Watching for a few seconds there it is again, sledding over and thru the snow covered cattails is a hen pheasant, using her legs as propellers and sliding on her breast like a bobsledder flat out moving like a rocket propelled jet.
Sometimes you think you've seen every trick they got and damn if they don't show you a new one
When I was a very young kid, 8-9, mid 60s, hunting with my dad, & no dog, he knocked down a rooster at about 45 yards out. It dropped near an empty irrigation ditch, and we immediately put on the search. After about half an hour and no luck finding it, back where we started our search, we were standing on the ditch access road, dad cussing and deciding what to do next, He looked down and yelled I’ll be damned. Walked down the embankment of the ditch and sticking out of a hole was about 4 inches of tail feather. The rooster had crawled into a rabbit or muskrat hole and died. My first pheasant bag of tricks lesson.
Most of us think of pheasants as ground dwellers and for the most part, they are. One crisp foggy winter morning at very early dawn driving down a backroad, out in a field about 60-80 yards out, 1 single big tree with no leaves, there appeared to be about 30 birds, probably ravens one said. Silhouettes too small said another. so we parked and as it grew lighter, 1 by 1 they started dropping to the ground. Yep Pheasants roosting in the tree. We surmised that sometime in the night a coyote or fox maybe had jumped them up there? Or the fog? or they had been cross bred with a turkey. Who knows. But just another trick in their bag. And no chance at all of sneaking on them. And have only seen that once.
50+ yrs of hunting joy
Have a great season everyone and never underestimate your opponent
Sometimes you think you've seen every trick they got and damn if they don't show you a new one
When I was a very young kid, 8-9, mid 60s, hunting with my dad, & no dog, he knocked down a rooster at about 45 yards out. It dropped near an empty irrigation ditch, and we immediately put on the search. After about half an hour and no luck finding it, back where we started our search, we were standing on the ditch access road, dad cussing and deciding what to do next, He looked down and yelled I’ll be damned. Walked down the embankment of the ditch and sticking out of a hole was about 4 inches of tail feather. The rooster had crawled into a rabbit or muskrat hole and died. My first pheasant bag of tricks lesson.
Most of us think of pheasants as ground dwellers and for the most part, they are. One crisp foggy winter morning at very early dawn driving down a backroad, out in a field about 60-80 yards out, 1 single big tree with no leaves, there appeared to be about 30 birds, probably ravens one said. Silhouettes too small said another. so we parked and as it grew lighter, 1 by 1 they started dropping to the ground. Yep Pheasants roosting in the tree. We surmised that sometime in the night a coyote or fox maybe had jumped them up there? Or the fog? or they had been cross bred with a turkey. Who knows. But just another trick in their bag. And no chance at all of sneaking on them. And have only seen that once.
50+ yrs of hunting joy
Have a great season everyone and never underestimate your opponent
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