benelli-banger
Well-known member
I try to shoot a 2nd time at hit birds if I safely can…if I had a buck for each time a buddy told me it was “dead” but couldn’t find the bird, I could buy several boxes of ammo!
Lost birds
- Thread starter AKSkeeter
- Start date
Miforester
Well-known member
I have found recovery percentages are highest if dogs mark the vicinity the bird when down. Some areas have just baffled me when the dogs can't pick anything up, then next one they make an amazing find and track. This December my dogs located the bird twice, first time it ran, second time they knew it was there but couldn't get to it, I h ad to dig down about 2 ft in thick grass to pull it out.
Question - how many try and ground swat a winged bird? I don't because that is what why I have dogs. Just curious.
Question - how many try and ground swat a winged bird? I don't because that is what why I have dogs. Just curious.
benelli-banger
Well-known member
Have I? Yes…but rarely. If the bird is NOT in cover, out in the wide open, dogs nowhere near…but that’s a rare scenario.
Miforester
Well-known member
Ditto. Last year I dumped a rooster that landed in a picked corn field I knew I couldn't take my eye off him. Was trying to recall my dogs, I tuned my head for a second to see where the dogs were, turned back to the rooster and gone. I thought to myself I should have ground swatted, fortunately my pup located and point him hiding in the stalks.
KEOutdoors
Well-known member
Fantastic job by you and your pup!
I was the same way this year, first time ever! lost zero doves, zero ducks, and zero pheasants. Well over 400 birds total. Real makes a hunter proud when no birds are lost!
I was the same way this year, first time ever! lost zero doves, zero ducks, and zero pheasants. Well over 400 birds total. Real makes a hunter proud when no birds are lost!
Jeeez I take a break from the bs because it's just not that fun & i come back to this. Theirs no plausible way you shoot 400 of ANYTHING & didn't lose none. How many of them birds were pheasants and how many was pen birds? There's guys on here with some damn good dogs& they all lose some, we're supposed to believe you an your dog are way more efficient then everyone else on here. No way.
KEOutdoors
Well-known member
Take another break
Glock
Well-known member
You must really enjoy eating wild game! Assuming your season started on September 1st, 400 birds is about 3 birds per day.
BRITTMAN
Well-known member
Roosters will bury in deep grass. They will run aways and bury in deep grass. They will crawl into any crevice they can find.
Early season seems tougher because it is often warm and the cover still a bit green.
I (we) have not lost a pheasant in a few years. Mainly my youngest son and I or just myself. We shoot clays ... a lot and the young man can shoot well on clays and birds. Good ammo. Mostly closer shots over points. Dog does not give up if he knows there is a downed bird.
Many seasons I have found more birds (wounded) than the few (if any) I have lost.
Early season seems tougher because it is often warm and the cover still a bit green.
I (we) have not lost a pheasant in a few years. Mainly my youngest son and I or just myself. We shoot clays ... a lot and the young man can shoot well on clays and birds. Good ammo. Mostly closer shots over points. Dog does not give up if he knows there is a downed bird.
Many seasons I have found more birds (wounded) than the few (if any) I have lost.
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KEOutdoors
Well-known member
15 per day dove limits add up real quickly when you have private sunflower fields. They grind to sausage real quick. Pretty much anything ground meat i eat in sept/oct is dove. Breakfast sausage, Italian sausage, plain. Then you have poppers of course. Easy for dogs to find them in a mowed sunflower field. Other place i hunt is mowed cow pasture...
Early teal also starts sept1 and is 6 bird limits. Then duck/goose season on/off from oct-dec. Only thing that would have been a lost bird there would be shooting ducks in reeds, I did not take any iffy shots because of my young pup.
Then pheasant from end of oct-now. I hunt creek draws, timber draws, and similar small cover areas. Shots are close.
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KEOutdoors
Well-known member
I dont understand how people actually lose more than a couple birds a year. But you talk to guys who say "yeah we lost 10 last week, they run like rabbits when they hit the ground". I just dont understand it. I never had a bird come down alive this year, let alone run off. Few wing flaps from head shot birds is about it... I shoot close and have patterned all my combos to ensure I am not leaving anything on the table there. I am not a good shot... But roosters arent exactly hard to hit, especially after all those doves in sept/oct I just mentioned.
Its easy for your dogs to find every rooster when you drop them dead at 25-30yds...
I can definitely see a dog with a not so hot drive to find the bird losing track of a wounded rooster, i just dont understand how guys have so many wounded to start with.
So original question was how many pheasant and how many pen birds? Put your money where your mouth is.
KEOutdoors
Well-known member
Im not going to be interrogated and defend myself for telling the guy who lost no birds good job and stating i did the same. Go troll somewhere else. Ive not hunted a preserve in 4 years, will be hunting them next month to get my dog more work. Id tell you what to do but id get kicked off here, so I will leave it at that. If i tell you a number you are either going to say its not enough or "no way you killed that many". So go troll somewhere else.
gimruis
Well-known member
I don't quite understand this either. But they do. As to why, I can only speculate. Poor shooting, wrong choke/ammo combination, shooting at birds too far, lack of dog training, etc. Who knows.
I don't think the average bird hunters is piling up 400 birds either. Heck the average pheasant harvest here in MN per hunter is like 3.2 birds per season.
benelli-banger
Well-known member
I don’t think it’s relevant to refer to an acceptable number of birds lost, such as “a couple”….I’d refer to a %…you pick the %. A guy who knocks down 80 or 100 vs a guy who knocks down 20-25 is likely to lose more than “a couple”. Under 5% is stellar, IMO. For me, scenting conditions are a common denominator when I lose birds…and choice of shot…straight away’s are a challenging recovery for me, especially when scenting conditions are bad, and it’s warm out. Seems like this season I battled many days with poor scenting conditions…many. If someone didn’t lose a Sharptail, I wouldn’t be surprised…much more fragile than a pheasant, much shorter and lighter cover, etc. I can conceive of not losing any pheasants if shot choices were robotic…never past a certain distance, never at straight aways, never shoot a second or third until the first bird down is recovered, etc. For those that are recovering 97%+, Cheers to you! 
I try to shoot a 2nd time at hit birds if I safely can…I suggest that to my pals, many just don’t or won’t…maybe they forget? Many comment on how “dead” the bird was…not! 
I try to shoot a 2nd time at hit birds if I safely can…I suggest that to my pals, many just don’t or won’t…maybe they forget? Many comment on how “dead” the bird was…not!
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Wind River
Well-known member
My lost rate was <0000% when hunting on a golf course. Most fell on the green near the pin. Dog would fight the caddy for the bird. 
Dog won every time.
Dog won every time.
KEOutdoors
Well-known member
I don’t think it’s relevant to refer to an acceptable number of birds lost, such as “a couple”….I’d refer to a %…you pick the %. A guy who knocks down 80 or 100 vs a guy who knocks down 20-25 is likely to lose more than “a couple”. Under 5% is stellar, IMO. For me, scenting conditions are a common denominator when I lose birds…and choice of shot…straight away’s are a challenging recovery for me, especially when scenting conditions are bad, and it’s warm out. Seems like this season I battled many days with poor scenting conditions…many. If someone didn’t lose a Sharptail, I wouldn’t be surprised…much more fragile than a pheasant, much shorter and lighter cover, etc. I can conceive of not losing any pheasants if shot choices were robotic…never past a certain distance, never at straight aways, never shoot a second or third until the first bird down is recovered, etc. For those that are recovering 97%+, Cheers to you!
Statistics comes into play here, as the more shots are fired the more chances of a wounded bird occurs. But at the same time, anyone who shoots 100 pheasants a season is a good enough shot and has their gun/load dialed in that they should be getting far less cripples than the guy who shoots 15 birds a year and just grabs his IC choke buys a random box of shells on sale before each season and goes hunting. All the cripplers i know are the latter, and most of those 15 are retrieved alive or lost. I know one guy who has crippled almost every bird I have seen him pull up on, and i just don't understand it... But to him the dog chasing the wounded bird is part of hunting and its only his job to knock them down.