Favorite Habitat to Hunt

Golden Hour

Golden Hour

Well-known member
Not sure about the rest of you guys, but I sure miss hunting season. And I joined this site to talk about pheasants. Here's a chance to do that.

For me, it's light grass. A Waterfowl Production Area, but way away from the water. It's the stuff they loaf in on a sunny November afternoon, just waiting for Sage and me to come play. I don't have to listen for the dog because I can see her every single move, from the bored "there's nothing here, dad" to the "we got you now, mother trucker!", it's just perfect. It isn't easy and I probably see about a third of the birds we chase take flight a hundred yards or more ahead of us, but it's still my favorite.

So, the topic is favorite habitat to hunt. There is one word I want to emphasize - favorite. I put this poll on Facebook a while back and it turned into "most successful habitat to hunt", which is fine. But I'll be honest, I can shoot pheasants from cattails in late December, but it is not particularly my favorite habitat to walk through and I lose sight of Sage.

What's yours and why?
 
CRP grass that's thick, but not too thick, and with some variety. I love "the dance": dog points, I move in to try to flush, dog relocates, I stand still and watch until dog points again gets too far, I move in to flush, sometimes repeated several times and covering a hundred yards or more. Either the dog's moving or I'm moving until it's over. Sometimes it ends in a shootable flush, sometimes an out of range flush, sometimes a hen, sometimes it just ends.
 
My favorite habitat would be some sort of a drainage ditch with 60 feet of CRP on each side. dogs move up and down in the ditch where there is usually water. Then up into the CRP where birds will loaf next to a harvested corn field. I can walk and meander through that type of cover all day. I have shot lots of birds in that way and don't loose many either. They have only a few places to run and hide.
 
Ace & I miss hunting season too...pretty badly. Pretty sure our favorite spots miss us too.

With so many variables in pheasant hunting, it's tough to pin down an absolute favorite habitat. Given the right weather, time of season, etc., they can all be unbelievably fun. But at the end of the day, if I could pick one hunt above all others...it'd be cattails after the first good snow of the season (4"-7"). A relatively small slough on a 35-degree day (so I can wear my light gloves), with a 5-7 mph breeze in my face. Small enough that we can hunt edges (& meander around in the middle only if absolutely necessary) & feel like we've covered it well. The breeze & fresh snow allow me to be awful quiet walking around the edge & Ace to be as stealthy as a springer crashing through cattails can be. I can't see him much, but it's not so windy that I can't hear him well. If things work out right, & we're able to really surprise a couple, they tend to cackle. Our mission is to shut them up.
 
Pretty hard to beat a stand of cattails after its frozen solid. Especially after a fresh snow.
 
I like hunting milo. Something neat about seeing the grain move around where the dog is and then a rooster busts out. Kinda like playing shark in a ball pit with my neice and nephew at chucky cheese.lol
 
My favorite would be the border between a harvested corn/milo field and CRP right after a dusting of about 1 inch of snow. Nothing better than seeing the tracks in the snow to let you know that there are birds around.

Last winter I was hunting in these exact conditions, saw a set of tracks go from the field into the CRP. My dog was working ahead about 15-20 yards so I decided to follow the tracks as best I could. After a couple of minutes I lost the tracks, back tracked, started following them again then lost them at the same spot so I just stood there and called the dog over.

As soon as the dog got close a rooster exploded from the grass right next to my foot almost taking my hat off in the process. Took me a second to realize what had happened and I was still so flustered that I missed an incredibly easy shot. Great times, 10/10
 
I do love when the pheasants are in crp grass and you can really see the dog work. On cattails I will say this, they are all a little different and after hunting a lot this year I got a crash course in them. I can think of one cattail chunk in particular in MN that I tried this year and they were just perfect. All about armpit height, with a good number of trails through them. Not too thick, not too thin, juuuuuuuuuuust right. The birds were stacked in there and we had a great time. On the flip side I hunted one patch in SD that was loaded with birds, but unless you could flush a bird on the edge, it would be really tough getting a shot because they were over my head and thick. I can see why the birds liked them.
 
I am with Golden Boy on drainage ditches or small creeks. I really prefer the ones that have that super thick grass that looks like fettuccine noodles near the low areas. I really like fence lines with heavy grasses and grains on one/both sides as well. Any cover that I can really see both my Viszlas work and freeze on a bird that they pin is absolutely the best. My least favorite is monstrous cattail sloughs....much prefer the really small ones in the middle of grain fields that hunters ignore because of the extra walking needed to get to them. BTW: I have to honestly say that I am enjoyed the past month in ND almost as much as I do the fall. I have taken Ellie and Willow out several times a week with the intention of getting them on birds. The only thing missing is the retrieve. The bird numbers right now are exciting to see.
 
My favorite is any I have permission to hunt. CRP or waterways, it is all good. I seldom hunt public areas, I usually let that for fellas without the contacts I have now. Maybe easier, is my least favorite type, this might be stands of Big Bluestem, I am tall, but that stuff can be 8 feet or taller.
 
wheat stubble in a terraced field that has not been sprayed post harvest. good luck finding such a field.
 
remy3424 said:
My favorite is any I have permission to hunt. CRP or waterways, it is all good. I seldom hunt public areas, I usually let that for fellas without the contacts I have now. Maybe easier, is my least favorite type, this might be stands of Big Bluestem, I am tall, but that stuff can be 8 feet or taller.
Click to expand...
Big Blue Stem grass is anti-hunter.
 
Short grass or edges of cover where I can watch my dogs in full ...

People love to hate short grass ... one might be surprized at how many birds can be found in grass shorter than your knees....
 
I prefer CRP about knee high to see my dog with no strips. I like watching my dog pen the birds or at least try to. I also hit nesting areas or areas close to roads the last hr of hunting.
 
CRP corners on center pivot grain fields. One or two guys with dogs can have a lot of success in these. If there is snow...even better!
 
I think my favorite are the dried cattails that have deer trails in them or dead areas where water used to be. Especially early in the season before the birds really figure out that hiding spot isn't working as well as the wet years.

You can sneak through there easily and quietly without much effort and they're usually filled with birds while the dogs get to work.

I think the best hunt I had was on opening day in MN a few years back, with 5 guys we got our limit on opening day. Most being on the pond side of the dried out pond working cattails or working through the dried out, thick cattails.
 
I like tree rows with lots of pheasants! ;)
Took the dogs out to one of my favorite hunting spots after work just to get in a walk for me and my wife. I am so lucky she likes to do this with me. Wild birds on public land.

Pheasant Explosion video has the dogs working into the wind with it blowing a little right to left. They really were glued to the ones on the right in the trees. I can't imagine how much scent there was blowing right at them.


The Running Rooster was in the adjacent tree row. No wind advantage at all. We had a tail wind blowing a little left to right. Ellie continues to mentor Willow on handling a running bird.

 
I like to hunt dog hair thick Aspen stands, living in northern michigan that is where our game birds are, grouse and woodcock. When out west I like any habitat other than brome fields. I like habitat where you can work towards pinch points that might get a rooster to hold rather than to the next county. Obviously any habitat with fresh snow can't be beat.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top