Hen! Hen! Rooster!

T

Thinblueline

Member
I hunt more ruffed grouse and woodcock than anything but occasionally I’ll give pheasants a go, usually by myself or with one other. That doesn’t stop me from watching the myriad of YouTube videos from guys posting their pheasant hunts. I’ll tell ya, the constant yelling of “hen” and “rooster” has gotta be the most annoying sound or verbal communication of every video. I understand why people yell it, but I would argue that most of the time it’s an unnecessary precaution in these videos cuz at least most people I affiliate with wouldn’t be cracking off at something illegal. Maybe if you have someone inexperienced who needs help identifying their target, or a guy with the sun in his eyes needs some help, but good gracious everybody is yelling it and I almost think it’s a habit or tradition. I’ve even seen a video of a solo hunter starting to yell “hen”, which can only mean the practice is deeply engrained. No way I ever want to hunt like that with people yelling that out all the time cuz it drives me nuts. Ok I’m all better now. What drives you guys nuts out in the field?
 
We have new hunters or youth with us sometime so I would do it then for sure. But with the more experienced guys they usually just call out the hens. Sometimes it can be hard to tell and maybe somebody else can see it better than you. In any case it doesn't hurt. I don't even notice it it the field.
 
I didn't even think about this in the "Real world hunting noise" thread. I am that guy that TBL was referencing. If I am hunting with others, I am calling them out. I let every bird go that I am not positive on the sex (as everyone should). Some mornings in the first hour, with the low sun in the wrong spot, I sledom shoot, but if I can ID the bird, (guess if it is a rooster I might not if in my range/zone, my shot will let the others know) I call it out so anyone else can shoot if they are not sure, especially with youth or folks that are not life-long hunters. If there are blockers (not a normal thing) and we are within ear-shot, I will yell out if a rooster is heading at a blocker. I hate when a hen gets shot or even shot at and it happens almost every year. With my old dog, the call of "hen" was also for him, as call to "let that one go" and find another one, so I might call out "hen" even when alone. My new dog will likely learn this also. I guess I assumed this was a normal thing.

What drives me nuts is hunters that are not connected with their dog while hunting. They often are not exactly sure where their dog is. If you have some type of gps and are looking at that...you are one of those guys. The other is hunters "while in cover", are carrying their gun like a suitcase, slung over their shoulder or in a fashion they would not be able to shoulder the gun and shoot within a second or so. If you are in cover, be ready! Not paying attension (particularly to the dog) and not being ready all the time are my biggest sources of aggravation. Taking a phone call, seems ridiculous to me.

Good thread TBL, I am looking forward to see what folks say. I expect some to say "Guys who take this too serious"....I am that guy too! I have fun, but I want to have everyone tuned-in on what we are doing.
 
The standing around at the truck talking , the gear, the getting ready. Car doors being open and closed multiple times by the same GUy! and then being left open for me to walk back and shut.
Guys packing for the day like they’ll be gone for a week. The mess in the truck, hard gun cases , giant coolers.
Other people giving orders to your dog. The fuss over birds in the bag . It must be the new generation, wanting to put every bird on the wall.,
Collapsing of the line , there’s always one who is belining for the truck, sooooo tired…

Guys that get lost, guys that are always hungry, guys that are hungover
And don’t get me started on YouTube videos those guys and their dogs are a bunch of hacks
 
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in a time of far fewer pheasants, noise reduction is crucial. years ago an old-timer in Hill City told me that when their numbers are down they are jumpier and spookier. in my experience, it's true. in the mid-90s when numbers were way up in KS, two of us were walking in some native grass when 20 pheasants flushed all around us. they allowed us to walk into the middle of their covey. now it's a common sight to see far flushers even on opening day.
 
BrownDog, it sounds like you hunt with "fair-weather hunters", the opening week-enders who are done hunting no later than thanksgiving weekend, they are less than serious and maybe just don't have the experience to know (or care) what might be best. Find the hunting places (better if it isn't public) and you get to pick the guest list, that should give you a more enjoyable experience. If you are hunting in a big group, I can see it being more of a social thing and would be expecting more of what you describe. I agree with the videos. If you are very serious, you likely aren't pissing with all the video crap, just another distraction to deal with. GS does do a nice job with videos in his solo hunts, juggling everything, he seems to have it figured-out, (love the shot cam replays). The rest seem to be jerking the camera all-over the place and it makes me feel sea-sick watching them...or their frickin music is drowning out any of the sounds you want to hear.
 
remy3424 said:
BrownDog, it sounds like you hunt with "fair-weather hunters", the opening week-enders who are done hunting no later than thanksgiving weekend, they are less than serious and maybe just don't have the experience to know (or care) what might be best. Find the hunting places (better if it isn't public) and you get to pick the guest list, that should give you a more enjoyable experience. If you are hunting in a big group, I can see it being more of a social thing and would be expecting more of what you describe. I agree with the videos. If you are very serious, you likely aren't pissing with all the video crap, just another distraction to deal with. GS does do a nice job with videos in his solo hunts, juggling everything, he seems to have it figured-out, (love the shot cam replays). The rest seem to be jerking the camera all-over the place and it makes me feel sea-sick watching them...or their frickin music is drowning out any of the sounds you want to hear.
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Recording is easy. Doesn't take any effort. Camera runs on voice commands, so you don't even have to touch it. Editing is the part that takes effort, but to have footage of my dog is beyond worth it to me.
 
remy3424 said:
BrownDog, it sounds like you hunt with "fair-weather hunters", the opening week-enders who are done hunting no later than thanksgiving weekend, they are less than serious and maybe just don't have the experience to know (or care) what might be best. Find the hunting places (better if it isn't public) and you get to pick the guest list, that should give you a more enjoyable experience. If you are hunting in a big group, I can see it being more of a social thing and would be expecting more of what you describe. I agree with the videos. If you are very serious, you likely aren't pissing with all the video crap, just another distraction to deal with. GS does do a nice job with videos in his solo hunts, juggling everything, he seems to have it figured-out, (love the shot cam replays). The rest seem to be jerking the camera all-over the place and it makes me feel sea-sick watching them...or their frickin music is drowning out any of the sounds you want to hear.
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Remy it’s just once a year and they are family. Every year I say never again but its kind of fun hunting with the 2 or 3 guys I like. I wish the rest would just bow out, lol.
Oh the you tube videos. The dog work, some good bird dogs but the retrieving work is mostly bad. Dogs who won’t come anywhere near with the birds , calling them repeatedly, mouthing them, chewing them up dropping 15 ft away. Come on man.
The guy with the camera usually is so focused on killin shit and getting it on camera. Tunnel vision. I watched one a couple of days ago , the guy must have shot about 8 birds. Over people , across the line, between gaps in the line, rushed last second shots before they got to line. I know the camera does funny things with the angles. The best shots I know have that tunnel vision , so focused on the bird that everything else is just kind of blurr, some have trouble turning it off
 
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My opinion on ROOSTER!! ROOSTER!!! is that for the most part, the videos where it's a big, super-annoying issue are mostly flare nare "hunts" on preserves. People who may actually NEED to be told whether or not they should shoot & are probably encouraged by the owners/guides to call out hens & roosters, lest they have issues shooting the little brown ones. Plus, the average viewer also "hunts" flare nares & kind of gets off on all the ROOSTER!! ROOSTER!! Besides the fact that I really enjoy watching my own videos (as great/poor as they may be) & YouTube gives me a way to access them any time, any place, I want people to see what real pheasant hunting looks like. My one-guy-one-dog version of it anyway. Since that's the way I typically hunt, there's not much to "drive me nuts in the field". And on the somewhat rare occasion that I hunt with someone else, I'm pretty picky about who that is, so I'm NOT annoyed. I don't hunt pheasants to be annoyed.
 
remy3424 said:
I didn't even think about this in the "Real world hunting noise" thread. I am that guy that TBL was referencing. If I am hunting with others, I am calling them out. I let every bird go that I am not positive on the sex (as everyone should). Some mornings in the first hour, with the low sun in the wrong spot, I sledom shoot, but if I can ID the bird, (guess if it is a rooster I might not if in my range/zone, my shot will let the others know) I call it out so anyone else can shoot if they are not sure, especially with youth or folks that are not life-long hunters. If there are blockers (not a normal thing) and we are within ear-shot, I will yell out if a rooster is heading at a blocker. I hate when a hen gets shot or even shot at and it happens almost every year. With my old dog, the call of "hen" was also for him, as call to "let that one go" and find another one, so I might call out "hen" even when alone. My new dog will likely learn this also. I guess I assumed this was a normal thing.

What drives me nuts is hunters that are not connected with their dog while hunting. They often are not exactly sure where their dog is. If you have some type of gps and are looking at that...you are one of those guys. The other is hunters "while in cover", are carrying their gun like a suitcase, slung over their shoulder or in a fashion they would not be able to shoulder the gun and shoot within a second or so. If you are in cover, be ready! Not paying attension (particularly to the dog) and not being ready all the time are my biggest sources of aggravation. Taking a phone call, seems ridiculous to me.

Good thread TBL, I am looking forward to see what folks say. I expect some to say "Guys who take this too serious"....I am that guy too! I have fun, but I want to have everyone tuned-in on what we are doing.
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This ^^^. I have let many a rooster escape due to low light, early season with little color or an unsafe shot. Killing a bird just isn’t important enough to be unsafe or unsure. I am not a fan of bangers either. Missing at 30 all the way up 60+ yards. Yes I do know you can drop a bird at sixty+ yards but you will wound many more then you recover. I love good dog work and have always had decent to good dogs. It kills me when I bring a dog less guy out and tell them watch the dogs and their mannerisms and you will get opportunities. Inevitably they lolly gag not paying attention and wondering why they don’t get anything. My oldest son was like this for years as he is a thinker and would walk through fields doing anything except hunting.

Guys hollering at their dogs all day
Audible point indicators ( screeching hawk is the worst)
Cheapskates
Talking politics or religion on hunting trips
Game hogs
Cheapskates
Game law violators
Trespassers
Cheapskates
 
A couple years ago, there just weren't many YouTube pheasant hunting videos that I enjoyed, which is why I started doing my own. Which has brought up my new favorite pet peeve - The Keyboard Champion/One Upper - this guy has better dogs, better land, shot more birds and probably makes more money than everyone else in the world. A guy who loves to tell you what you're doing wrong, but doesn't have a single shred of video evidence of his superiority.

Don't get me wrong, it's quite alright to feel a certain way about things, we all do, but the guy who takes the time to criticize on social media is just annoying. I private message a buddy of mine and laugh about some of the outrageous things we see on videos, but I know how petty it is to ridicule or judge someone publicly about what they are doing.
 
Golden Hour said:
Which has brought up my new favorite pet peeve - The Keyboard Champion/One Upper - this guy has better dogs, better land, shot more birds and probably makes more money than everyone else in the world. A guy who loves to tell you what you're doing wrong, but doesn't have a single shred of video evidence of his superiority.
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I am that guy!!! :p (Well, I guess I have a little video footage (evidence of "something"), but otherwise that's me.) :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
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Do you guys have any tips for a guy getting ready to start recording this year? I bought a used GoPro 8 to start out with, been playing around with some. I don't know about the voice commands but I have been using the remote control with good results so far.

I don't want to post everything to YouTube, just want to be able to relive some hunts. My son's first season carrying a shotgun is this year so it's a pretty big one! 😁
 
birddude said:
Whistles, phone calls, smoke breaks, Braggers, elitists, game hogs, emptying a simi auto every time a bird flushes. Thanks for reminding me why I don't hunt with too many guys!!
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Dude,

Amen. Preach on !!! I used to hunt with a guy that never had his dog within range of us. He was always blasting that damn whistle in my ear. I finally figured out how to fix that. I bought a bigger whistle than his. :)
 
Definitely calling out whether its a hen or rooster is annoying. I don't do it anymore, even when I'm hunting with someone else. For starters, that's noise and its unnecessary noise. I can't tell you how many times someone has yelled "hen" only to have a bunch of rooster flush further out of range.

Dogs that don't listen or chew birds into a pulp are my biggest peeve in the field. They don't get invited to come again.
 
Ok another one… guys that brag incessantly about how good their dogs are and/ or how much cash they have in them. I listened to a work contact brag on about his wonderful lab he claimed to have like 10k wrapped up in. So about six or seven years ago he invited me to go with him to SD where he had access to some private land. ( I think just to show me what a real lab looks like) Well I am kinda of a hunting whore so against my better judgment I decided to join him and his brother and a couple clients. I did work it so I could drive myself. We pulled up to a great piece of switch grass next to a cut field. As we were getting ready to head in he let this little flushing lab out. Zoom she was gone heading down that cut field to the corner busting roosters the entire way with him yelling and blasting her with the shock collar. Well I thought maybe she needs to get it out of her system but no the next 3 fields were the exact same way. Finally his brother convinced him to put her away and we ended up shooting some birds. He never really talked dogs with me much after that.
 
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