Favorite type of pheasant hunt

Fresh snow is a given.

Shootin' the shnit out of 'em is preferable

I prefer to hunt large CRP tracts, but not with a large group of ppl. It's great just following the dog b/c then you don't have to think "Gosh, should I go walk that line?" The dogs tend to find birds well on their own and if you're not in a line of hunters, it lends itself well to finding a bird, downing a bird, retrieving said bird, then starting all over again with another bird.

Oh yea, big wheat stubble can provide a similar experience.

My least favorite type of hunting is in crop fields. Sure, I find birds there, but I just don't care for walking them all damn day and I don't get to see a lot of quality points in crop fields (sometimes yes, but mostly it's flush and shoot). I strongly prefer the big grass.
 
I have been done in an hr or so on many day's. Not really my favorite. Don't get me wrong seeing a huge flush is cool, and everyone should see one at least once, but I don't like it when it is that easy. I had thought I had seen some huge flushes until last year in SD in Dec. I saw two different flushes of 1000+. I would guess one to be 1500 or so. That is a cool sight. My perfect day is walking from legal shooting time to legal shooting time. Working hard and scoring a limit. Pretty awesome. Last year was one of my best. My two boys were able to get limits and I was hen blocked until about 5 or so. One field and I got three in 30 minutes pretty damn good.
 
By myself or with one or two other guys. 4 is fine, but it's better if there's another dog involved.
I don't prefer the "scorched earth campaign" of the big groups, but I'll do it occasionally for the social aspect. They always end up a Chinese fire drill. The dogs get rushed and recovering cripples becomes a pain.
I'd much rather just follow and read my dog.
 
Favorite pheasant hunt memories

Opening day on a frosty clear morning with a few friends on an Iowa farm with mixed cover and the dog does something amazing like, "There can't be a bird there can there?" or "you better follow him, he's on a bird" or one of my favorites with the dog on a solid point and my partner says, "here hold my gun, I'm going to see if I can grab the pheasant bare handed".....
 
I'm not a snow guy, I know that is weird. Makes getting around more difficult and I'd rather have birds that run then sit tight. The most exciting time of the hunt for me is when the dog is trailing a running bird and has to work 100 yards or so through the cover to find it. My favorite hunt is when a buddy and I take off work (usually Wednesdays), temp is 40 with light breeze from the North. We hunt all morning and then go into a small town for lunch in the town caf?. After lunch we hunt another few hours before heading home. Rarely involves a limit, something though, but more often we bring home 3 or 4 roosters and a few quail. Christmas break out in SW Kansas with just me and dogs is a close second. Hardly ever say a word to them, just follow and watch them do their thing. In years when there's birds it's nothing to see a couple hundred in a couple hours and be back with a limit before lunch.
 
I cut my teeth pheasant hunting in Western Minnesota on WMA and WPA land. I remember seasons where I hunted 40 days and took 20 birds and didn't think it could get any better. Those birds meant pushing it hard in cattail sloughs sunup to sundown. Then I discovered hunting in North and South Dakota and spent 12 years making friends and getting private access on top shelf cover over there. Hunting on primo private land that doesn't see pressure turned all day hunting into limiting out quickly each day and spending the rest of the time having coffee and talking to farmer friends. I know it's a good problem to have but the hunting almost got too good and it turned more into shooting than watching the dog work (which was still fund with 10 year old dogs). As I've turned over another generation of dogs and find myself with young dogs again I am now seeking out bigger expanses of 'less primo' cover where taking birds takes more time and there is more dog work involved. Right now happiness is a huge expanse of ok CRP land mixed with pasture where I can let the dogs work at 400 yards and still see the action.
 
Just Hunt'N

Well said On Point...where are the good old days when you could just go hunting, with out all of the B.S. ?



My favorite kind of pheasant hunt is one that doesn't include what land is renting for, how much a bushel corn and soybean's are, ethanol, farm subsidies, what CRP is paying, the cost of spray's, fence line wars, land auctions, emergency grazing/haying, farm bills, crop insurance, Etc, Etc, Etc.

I just want to walk a old grown up fence line for a bird with my dog and old favorite shotgun, is that too much to ask?

Lately on this site, the first paragraph is all that is talked about. The site has kind of lost it's way IMO. Too many talking about money and not enough talking about free spirited old traditional pheasant hunting. If you have to put a cost on everything and make a buck with every turn. I'm not sure I would want you hunting with me. I want someone who thinks a potted meat sandwich, a thermos of coffee/tea your old dog and gun and enjoying some FREE hunting that the good Lord provided us a place for, is my kind of hunting partner. We don't need $15 a six pack beer and a $50 dinner in town after our day either. Inch think Porterhouses on a cement block home made grill with a wood fire will do nicely with cocktail from a $10 bottle of Canadian and off brand cola. Are there any common folks left out there? :cheers:
 
Two people and a Brittany or two hunting small cattail sloughs and creeks in a grainfield that borders near massive CRP acres.
 
Me and the lab..

I enjoy hunting with buddies and their dogs, but to me, nothing is better than going solo with my black lab Shadow. I got so lucky with this guy, unlimited drive and an ability to learn and apply continuously. I am sure SWMBO is sick of me talking about how cool it was to hunt behind the dog that day!

I am one of those guys who geeks out on crappy weather when hunting. Solo hunt in the rain and wind this year was phenomenal.

My ideal day:
  • Late season
  • Cold
  • Cloudy
  • Snowy or precip
  • Windy to hide noise
  • Sit back and follow the dog, watching him bust into and work super thick cover

Crappy, late season weather keeps more people at home and increases the challenge/reward.

Like many others here, one of the more enjoyable things in life is watching in awe as my hunting buddy works in synch with me. Watching him select and circle cover, noticing how he learns to run a semi-circle 30 yards out to pick up lost scent, seeing him go all-day long in thick cover and deep snow that make most dogs quit with energy to spare. And one other thing - he started pointing, really pointing, this year. Never once worked on that. Almost like he is waiting for me to get in position.

I'll take the above type of day whenever I can.

Prost!
:cheers:
 
I enjoy hunting with buddies and their dogs, but to me, nothing is better than going solo with my black lab Shadow. I got so lucky with this guy, unlimited drive and an ability to learn and apply continuously. I am sure SWMBO is sick of me talking about how cool it was to hunt behind the dog that day!

I am one of those guys who geeks out on crappy weather when hunting. Solo hunt in the rain and wind this year was phenomenal.

My ideal day:
  • Late season
  • Cold
  • Cloudy
  • Snowy or precip
  • Windy to hide noise
  • Sit back and follow the dog, watching him bust into and work super thick cover

Crappy, late season weather keeps more people at home and increases the challenge/reward.

Like many others here, one of the more enjoyable things in life is watching in awe as my hunting buddy works in synch with me. Watching him select and circle cover, noticing how he learns to run a semi-circle 30 yards out to pick up lost scent, seeing him go all-day long in thick cover and deep snow that make most dogs quit with energy to spare. And one other thing - he started pointing, really pointing, this year. Never once worked on that. Almost like he is waiting for me to get in position.

I'll take the above type of day whenever I can.

Prost!
:cheers:

I concur! The weatherman is telling me our hunting party should get to experience this sort of weather this w/e:cheers:
 
My fondest memories always seem to involve snow. I have a giant rooster mounted on the wall in my office. It was shot in the snow. I can still picture that bird softly landing in the snow next to the cattails and my old dog scooping him up and delivering it to hand, just as proud as can be! The other recent memory is also in the snow. The new pup hit a fence earlier in the field and was cut above the eye and bleeding all over her face. I shot a nice rooster flying high and he dropped beautifully in the snow. The young pup raced to the bird, scooped it up and delivered to hand, her first wild rooster. I will never forget that image of a bloody face, a beautiful rooster, and a few inches or fresh snow on the ground. Those are the hunts I remember the most.

So I guess to answer the question favorite places to hunt have to involve snow.
 
Snow, dogs and birds. I love hunting on a cold morning in fresh snow. It knocks down the cover in general and usually herds the birds into the windbreaks or heavy cover. On a bright morning after a nice snowfall the night before there is nothing prettier than watching the dogs work the cover and see a nice rooster flush up against the blue sky while being illuminated by the bright, rising sun. I can close my eyes and picture it. It will make an entire season.
 
Watching the dogs work in a snow, seeing fresh tracks in a falling snow or a freshly fallen snow. Seeing birds running in front of you down a row of crops. Even feeling your flushed cheeks after a short chase of a downed but not dead rooster.
 
favorite

snow is a real treat in pheasant hunting but on a daily basis i look for large fields with adequate cover and i delight in them. most big fields rarely get hunted cause most hunter's are just too plain lazy to hunt them, they take work, most hunter's don't want to do that, so where do the pheasants go when chased, someplace where they won't be bothered and one place is big fields.

cheers
 
After 50 years of pheasant hunting, this is how it has evolved for ME.
I could go to a large pay to hunt ranch in ND, always welcome always free.
Limit out probably in bad conditions maybe take an hour.

I want a place where I can take off with the pups, make a day of it, see maybe a dozen pheasants, There are Sharptails and Huns. Sometimes LOTS of Sharpies, shoot a couple sometimes, sometimes not.
If I'm on that day, a limit of worked for roosters. :)

 
A Man after my own heart. Its the hunt and dog work that I am looking for.


After 50 years of pheasant hunting, this is how it has evolved for ME.
I could go to a large pay to hunt ranch in ND, always welcome always free.
Limit out probably in bad conditions maybe take an hour.

I want a place where I can take off with the pups, make a day of it, see maybe a dozen pheasants, There are Sharptails and Huns. Sometimes LOTS of Sharpies, shoot a couple sometimes, sometimes not.
If I'm on that day, a limit of worked for roosters. :)

 
I think for me it's hunting alone with my dog on those cold late fall/early winter afternoons/evenings. The harvest has just finished, clouds are low and grey, no wind, and it's spitting snow. Working the edges of corn fields and digging deep into cattail sloughs.

It's on such days birds seem sit a little tighter, and when flushed, those fast beating wings brake the silent snow muffled air, then the "pop" of the shotgun goes off and the bird drops. The the best part of all, the dog brings that wild rooster to hand and it's time to admire the his colors/beauty.:thumbsup: I love it!

Nick


Sounds like Heaven on earth to me too.
 
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