Hunting silently and way out of gun range

remy3424 said:
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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I think making a lot of noise can spook pheasants, but not making any noise is impossible. They know you are after them,even on private property. Wearing orange is a bad idea,because they can see you from a mile away. They have excellent eyesight,and hearing, and they are intelligent for a bird.Turkeys have better eyesight.
 
This topic seems to come up every so often. I hunt quietly. Most likely, from learning from my Dad, who would have given me a thump on the head if I slammed a truck door or wasn't quiet. A good dog knows what it needs to do without being yelled at or encouraged while it's hunting. All that said, I believe that hunting too slowly is just as detrimental to success as a lot of noise. The worst thing that I have ever seen is when you are noisy and move to slow. My goal is to keep pressure on the birds until they make a mistake, (hold). They are incredibly good at escaping, if you give them time to. I watched a couple of my friends jump a covey of quail and shoot one that then relive the experience and give high fives. Meanwhile two huge coveys of quail did the run 100 yards and fly 400 yards dance for long enough that we never did catch up with them again.

Silent steady pressure is my approach.
 
The number of times I've had pheasants fly way out of range (& most likely ran quite a distance first) is all the evidence I need to prove being as quiet as possible helps, especially given the fact that much of the time, they flush downwind of me, because they can hear me better. Not to mention the marked increase in success from hunting into the wind vs hunting downwind. They don't hear us coming quite as soon. By being quiet, I'm not banking on being able to sneak to within a few yards of a pheasant. I'm hoping it allows me to get 5-10 yds closer than I'd get if I WASN'T quiet, before he takes serious evasive action. Many times that's the difference between a decent shot & none at all. There's almost always no guarantee whatsoever that I'll get another opportunity that day.

And I tend to hunt relatively slowly, if only to give my dog an opportunity to hunt thoroughly. But if we're in thin/medium cover & he wants to pick it up (while still being thorough), then that's what I'm forced to do. I agree that hunting slower than necessary gives pheasants more chance than they deserve to detect you & escape. Sometimes there's a fine line between being thorough & keeping the pressure on & keeping up with birds that may be on the move.
 
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A5 Sweet 16 said:
The number of times I've had pheasants fly way out of range (& most likely ran quite a distance first) is all the evidence I need to prove being as quiet as possible helps, especially given the fact that much of the time, they flush downwind of me, because they can hear me better. Not to mention the marked increase in success from hunting into the wind vs hunting downwind. They don't hear us coming quite as soon. By being quiet, I'm not banking on being able to sneak to within a few yards of a pheasant. I'm hoping it allows me to get 5-10 yds closer than I'd get if I WASN'T quiet, before he takes serious evasive action. Many times that's the difference between a decent shot & none at all. There's almost always no guarantee whatsoever that I'll get another opportunity that day.

And I tend to hunt relatively slowly, if only to give my dog an opportunity to hunt thoroughly. But if we're in thin/medium cover & he wants to pick it up (while still being thorough), then that's what I'm forced to do. I agree that hunting slower than necessary gives pheasants more chance than they deserve to detect you & escape. Sometimes there's a fine line between being thorough & keeping the pressure on & keeping up with birds that may be on the move.
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may surprise yourself, stop, pause, walk back (in a circle) and circle round to your spot again....dog will show you the way.
 
Goosemaster said:
Wearing orange is a bad idea,because they can see you from a mile away.
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Except for the fact that its required by state law. At least here it is.

And in my book, not being shot is more important than bagging birds.

If someone showed up in my group and started making uneccesary noise before the hunt, they would not be invited with again. This is one of the primary reasons that hunting solo or with one other hunter is advantageous over a larger group. You don't need to make any noise if you're by yourself. My dog knows what to do.
 
gimruis said:
Except for the fact that its required by state law. At least here it is.

And in my book, not being shot is more important than bagging birds.
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This^^^. I normally get checked or run into a warden in every state I hunt and I'm wearing orange regardless because it's safer. My Vizsla and GSP are normally wearing blaze orange vests too. Easier for me to see them in the field and a deer hunter isn't going to think my dog is a deer. If it costs me birds...so be it. I do this for fun.
 
Mosby said:
This^^^. I normally get checked or run into a warden in every state I hunt and I'm wearing orange regardless because it's safer. My Vizsla and GSP are normally wearing blaze orange vests too. Easier for me to see them in the field and a deer hunter isn't going to think my dog is a deer. If it costs me birds...so be it. I do this for fun.
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I am not condoning it.I don't wear orange.
 
Mosby said:
This^^^. I normally get checked or run into a warden in every state I hunt and I'm wearing orange regardless because it's safer. My Vizsla and GSP are normally wearing blaze orange vests too. Easier for me to see them in the field and a deer hunter isn't going to think my dog is a deer. If it costs me birds...so be it. I do this for fun.
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100% all day long
 
I run into other hunters (a few times a season) more than I run into a game warden (maybe once every other season). If we happen to be hunting the same piece of ground, my orange hat very effectively says, "You go your way. I'll go mine." But more often than not it tells people, "Sorry, I got here first. Go find someplace else." It's not law here in SD, but just a little orange hat can be seen with the naked eye from a loooonnngg way.
 
A5 Sweet 16 said:
I run into other hunters (a few times a season) more than I run into a game warden (maybe once every other season). If we happen to be hunting the same piece of ground, my orange hat very effectively says, "You go your way. I'll go mine." But more often than not it tells people, "Sorry, I got here first. Go find someplace else." It's not law here in SD, but just a little orange hat can be seen with the naked eye from a loooonnngg way.
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Yeah by pheasants.
 
Haha id love to see the study that shows pheasants spook at the sight of an orange hat. Show me the study that pheasants can even see color. I hunted with someone who wasn't wearing orange, but had a couple different browns on. I almost swung into him several times. If you hunt with someone within shotgun range of you. it’s moronic to not have some kind of orange visible.
 
Labradinger said:
Haha id love to see the study that shows pheasants spook at the sight of an orange hat. Show me the study that pheasants can even see color. I hunted with someone who wasn't wearing orange, but had a couple different browns on. I almost swung into him several times. If you hunt with someone within shotgun range of you. it’s moronic to not have some kind of orange visible.
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It's pretty well known that birds can see in color and have great vision. But I agree that pheasants don't spook at the sight of color. Maybe in some high pressure areas would they take note of an orange covered guy walking around because they've seen the game before.
 
Ive learned something today, about birds seeing color. Looks like they can see uv as well, and our clothing dyes and detergents put off uv light. So even if a phez can see you coming from 40 yards being a foot off the ground in 4 foot tall grass, better be treating that camo with uv blocking spray or detergent. Now im trying to figure out how i ever kill turkeys….
If anything, wear orange so the poor SOB who hunts with you doesnt have to live with the guilt after he puts a few 5 shot in your melon because he had no clue where you were.
 
Labradinger said:
Ive learned something today, about birds seeing color. Looks like they can see uv as well, and our clothing dyes and detergents put off uv light. So even if a phez can see you coming from 40 yards being a foot off the ground in 4 foot tall grass, better be treating that camo with uv blocking spray or detergent. Now im trying to figure out how i ever kill turkeys….
If anything, wear orange so the poor SOB who hunts with you doesnt have to live with the guilt after he puts a few 5 shot in your melon because he had no clue where you were.
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Don't shoot low,and let people know where you are.
 
gimruis said:
Well, you shouldn't be shooting low anyways simply for safety purposes.

Also, letting others know where you are also lets the pheasants know where you are. So your entire philosophy of avoiding detection just collapsed on itself.
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It's rare that I hunt with other people. Me and the dogs. We make noise, we go off road,we do whatever we want.Isnt life grand.
 
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