Hunting silently and way out of gun range

AKSkeeter

AKSkeeter

Well-known member
Hunting silently is so important. No slamming of truck doors, no talking, etc.
I hunt my labs silently and in big country, way out of gun range...up to 200 yards away.
For big country hunts, covey flushes is a function of mileage and letting the lab hunt out as far as I can see her.
Same with rock ptarmigan in Alaska.
If I want the dog to check in, I simply stop. If I want the dog to change directions, I change directions.
One retriever author termed this the "rubber band effect" with silent communication between the hunter and dog.
Easy hunting solo and with a lab that is biddable and a team player.
Once the dog gets birdy, I whistle sit the dog and move in for the covey flush.
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Depends what youre hunting. In Iowa we hunt 95 percent private ground that hardly gets hunted. Even the public is hit rather lightly. We are loud the whole time catching up on life and birds hold fine. Out in SD, where every piece of public ground is hunted 13 times a day 6 days a week, i believe its extremely important to do things different than others and quietly.
 
Labradinger said:
Depends what youre hunting. In Iowa we hunt 95 percent private ground that hardly gets hunted. Even the public is hit rather lightly. We are loud the whole time catching up on life and birds hold fine. Out in SD, where every piece of public ground is hunted 13 times a day 6 days a week, i believe its extremely important to do things different than others and quietly.
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In south Dakota, on public land,you have to be very smart.I walked by a few,that doubled back on me, and I have a really good yellow lab.
 
Labradinger said:
Depends what youre hunting. In Iowa we hunt 95 percent private ground that hardly gets hunted.
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I hunt 100% private, untouched land. No one else hunts it for pheasants. I do not hunt in a group though. I hunt either by myself or with 1 other person. Before we get to the spot we intend to hunt, I tell them no noise.

People yelling at dogs, slamming truck doors, and barking out "hen!" irks me to no end. I wouldn't do that walking into my deer stand or turkey blind, so I don't do it walking into a pheasant field either. Whether it makes a difference on the number of birds put in the bag, its a variable I can control. So I am going to control it.
 
I was taught by some old-time pointer hunters in the 1980s.
They hunted with English Setters.
When a dog went on point, no one said anything!
Just pointed up to the sky to indicate to the other hunter, point!
and silent hand signal to move into flush position.
"Silence is golden"
 
"Private land dummies" do exist. They haven't been hunted in a couple months (if at all) & will let you get away with making more noise. But it doesn't mean they'll tolerate everything, & it doesn't take much hunting for them to wise up. Once wakes them up a lot. 2 or 3 times within a week or 2 makes them veterans. More than that makes them practically public land birds.
 
A5 Sweet 16 said:
"Private land dummies" do exist. They haven't been hunted in a couple months (if at all) & will let you get away with making more noise. But it doesn't mean they'll tolerate everything, & it doesn't take much hunting for them to wise up. Once wakes them up a lot. 2 or 3 times within a week or 2 makes them veterans. More than that makes them practically public land birds.
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You thinking I should educate the birds at HH to make them a fair challenge for you and Ace?
 
A5 Sweet 16 said:
"Private land dummies" do exist. They haven't been hunted in a couple months (if at all) & will let you get away with making more noise. But it doesn't mean they'll tolerate everything, & it doesn't take much hunting for them to wise up. Once wakes them up a lot. 2 or 3 times within a week or 2 makes them veterans. More than that makes them practically public land birds.
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I get the opportunity to hunt a friend of mine land, but only until east river deer season is completed. No one hunts prior . I usually don't get there till mid December. Pretty sure no one educated them all season, but they are just simply late season birds and require stealth and a solid plan of attack to put them in the game bag.
 
Those places where golden hour hunts don't look like they get hunted much.I hunted with dadus proper in 1980.I put an ass whipping on him.He wrote about it.
 
I am not a proponent of unnecessary noise but just view it differently than a lot I guess. Maybe I am blessed due to the number of birds that are around my area. I hunt 50% public, 50% private unposted (open to anybody). I have shot 90-115 pheasants each of the past 5 years. I hunt pointers that I let range as far as they want. They lock in and their beepers start going to let me know they are on point. I walk in and flush the bird(s). I would suspect that 50% of the time my dogs have to relocate on a moving bird before I flush them. I also hunt 75% of the time with up to 4-5 people that are family and very close friends.

My observations from a lot of of days in the field during the season plus nature walks the rest of the year:
  • They hear your vehicle roll in and shut off.
  • They hear you rack a shell in your gun if they are close.
  • They hear you walk in the brush.
  • They hear you shoot.
  • Yelling rooster/hen certainly has benefits and we do it all the time. It certainly helps my wife erase any doubt she may have. It allows her to prepare for that bird I flush on my side of tree rows but flushing through to her side.
I won't argue that if you can control the noise factor by all means do that. I just contend that an emphasis on "silent" is overstated. Whether you hunt like a ninja or hunt with friends and rib each other a little, I would just do you with no apologies.
 
NDPheasant said:
I am not a proponent of unnecessary noise but just view it differently than a lot I guess. Maybe I am blessed due to the number of birds that are around my area. I hunt 50% public, 50% private unposted (open to anybody). I have shot 90-115 pheasants each of the past 5 years. I hunt pointers that I let range as far as they want. They lock in and their beepers start going to let me know they are on point. I walk in and flush the bird(s). I would suspect that 50% of the time my dogs have to relocate on a moving bird before I flush them. I also hunt 75% of the time with up to 4-5 people that are family and very close friends.

My observations from a lot of of days in the field during the season plus nature walks the rest of the year:
  • They hear your vehicle roll in and shut off.
  • They hear you rack a shell in your gun if they are close.
  • They hear you walk in the brush.
  • They hear you shoot.
  • Yelling rooster/hen certainly has benefits and we do it all the time. It certainly helps my wife erase any doubt she may have. It allows her to prepare for that bird I flush on my side of tree rows but flushing through to her side.
I won't argue that if you can control the noise factor by all means do that. I just contend that an emphasis on "silent" is overstated. Whether you hunt like a ninja or hunt with friends and rib each other a little, I would just do you with no apologies.
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I have some real estate in Florida for sale.Nobody shoots that many birds.I do agree with your noise comment.
 
Goosemaster said:
I have some real estate in Florida for sale.Nobody shoots that many birds.I do agree with your noise comment.
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You maybe have met your first guy then Goose. I am blessed to be able to hunt about 35-40 days a season. I hunt many days for 1.5-2 hours after work, almost every weekend and holidays.
 
This is one of those differences we have hunting birds in different locations, habitat, bird populations and hunting pressure conditions. I hunt about half the days NDP does and shoot about half the number of birds entirely on private ground, but my experiences mirror his. The birds already know you are there, you are kidding yourself if you think you are going to sneak-up on them. Maybe in light cover it improves your odds by not talking, shooting or walking in the deep dry cover, but in my experience, you can find plenty of birds TRYING your best to be quite or chatting it up with your friends/family.....if you can still concentrate on your dog. Heck, have I called out "hen" for my dog's sake when I am solo.
26 days until the Iowa opener, how did that happen!
 
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