Bob Peters
Well-known member
As I keep a journal, here are the birds I lost this past season, along with possible reasons why. I figure sharing might help other hunters. But I'm not being presumptuous, as I know there are others out there if in the same circumstances wouldn't have lost these birds depending on shooting discretion, ability, dogs, etc. etc. My previous seasons the lost bird numbers were lower.
Bird #1 This one is about the wildest thing I've ever seen. It would take too long to describe here. Sorry.
Bird #2 This was a longer going away shot than I should have taken, esp. on WPA shooting #5 bismuth. Not to say it was a 50 yard going away bird, or even 40. That said he was a touch over 35 and it was a split second decision. He dropped good but must have ran and never recovered.
Bird # 3 I was walking a fenceline on a WMA in MN with a thin strip of shoulder to head high forbes. Suddenly a bird flushed on my right from the forbes, it wasn't a long shot and his head/neck were out in a shallow quartering flight path. I pulled up and shot instantly, he dropped hard. I ran through the forbes into a 20 yard distance of matted canary grass before the cattails started. I've seen the dogs pull burrowed birds out of this stuff before but we never saw him again. #5 lead
Bird # 4 I was hunting a MN WPA with a buddy and his young 1 year old Brittany Spaniel. A bird flushed between me and him, closer to me. The dog had not sniffed him. I spun around and shot at a going away bird at 25-30 yards, it dropped instantly but we never found him. The dog was really green at the time. It might have been her first time on wild birds. She got a lot better by the end of the season. #5 bismuth.
Bird #5 I was in Iowa on an IHAP. This spot was loaded with birds (corn just came out, perfect timing). I let Skye out of the truck to chase two roosters we saw walk across the road. Those birds got away(flushed while I was going over fence), but she was almost instantly on another bird and started tracking him. She flushed him and he flew away from me going towards the road. I took a shot that was probably a little long, he dropped instantly and his momentum took him over the road and landed in the cut corn. I ran that way and had to stop the dog at the barbed fence, lift it for her, go down and up the ditch, then stop her again to cross the barb-wire fence into the private field. I left my gun behind and legally chased this bird on the private ag field, but we never found him. #5 bismuth
Bird #6 I was walking the edge of public ground in Iowa, a bird suddenly flushed on my right(not far), due to nervousness because the dogs were both out in front of me. I pulled up and shot instantly, and the bird dropped just as quick. This was a field of very thick and tall bluestem, we never found the bird. #5 bismuth
Bird #7 I was in Iowa, the season had wore on, and hunting was getting a little tough. I was walking a ditch on the other side of the road from a good public spot. I had a staggered double, the first one I shot dead in the air and the dogs both ran to him, meanwhile a second bird had flushed, I shot my second barrel and he dropped in the cut field. He was up and running in 2 seconds. In hindsight this bird was a candidate for a ground pound. Both dogs were at the first bird, this one had flushed much farther to the right, and it was a cut field. I did not shoot him on the ground, he ran into the grassy ditch, and was never seen again. #5 bismuth
Bird# 8 The last weekend of the Iowa season, hunting Union Slough federal refuge, hadn't seen squat all day. Not much time left at all we walked some low-ground and a rooster flushed. I mounted the gun and drew a bead on him, too far I said, and lowered my gun. Five seconds later a bird flushed much closer and I raised up and shot at a going away bird well within range. I saw his right wing blow up and bbs hit his back. Skye was in the truck due to a sore shoulder, but Roxy is a good scenting dog, especially on cripples. We ran up there and she got a scent and started tracking him, even ran into the large thicket for five minutes. We never found him. #5 bismuth
My takeaway on this. Bring enough gun and shoot the right shell. Any bismooth I order in the future will be #4. When it comes to lead I have a wide variety of shells. This is less by design and more by what I could get during the ammo shortage. I'm not afraid to spend $$$ on shells. That being said this doesn't always equate to better shells in my book. Look at prairie storm, high dollar misshapen shot pellets aren't worth a damn past short range. I have never patterned my pheasant guns with game loads. There is literally no place to legally do this where I live. I will ask a private landowner for permission to shoot some paper over the summer, and see what my chokes and loads do. (I have shot patterns with trap loads, as the gun club allows this).
More important than all the above is to be a good shot. A common cliche in shotgunning is chokes get you inches when you miss in feet. Whatever the level of truth in that, I am always working on my shooting, and this offseason will be no different. I miss birds or hit birds poorly for a multitude of reasons. Poor gun mount, hesitant to cover up the bird, excess barrel movement, rushed shots and the inverse, riding the bird too long. All the pattern testing in the world will never override a poor shot.
Final thoughts- I am not an old timer who is set in his ways. I am not a young buck just getting into the sport of upland hunting. I am somewhere in the middle, probably have hunted less than the person reading this. I'm a voracious learner on this wonderful endeavor of pheasant hunting. It means so much to me, I do not treat the subject lightly and think about it daily all the year 'round. Losing birds is a bummer, and I try to avoid it at all costs. The dogs have saved so many birds for me, and yet I still endeavor not to put them in a situation where they'll have to use all their innate abilities to find a poorly struck bird. In short, I care very much about these birds, finding everyone I possibly can, and learning to be better.
Bird #1 This one is about the wildest thing I've ever seen. It would take too long to describe here. Sorry.
Bird #2 This was a longer going away shot than I should have taken, esp. on WPA shooting #5 bismuth. Not to say it was a 50 yard going away bird, or even 40. That said he was a touch over 35 and it was a split second decision. He dropped good but must have ran and never recovered.
Bird # 3 I was walking a fenceline on a WMA in MN with a thin strip of shoulder to head high forbes. Suddenly a bird flushed on my right from the forbes, it wasn't a long shot and his head/neck were out in a shallow quartering flight path. I pulled up and shot instantly, he dropped hard. I ran through the forbes into a 20 yard distance of matted canary grass before the cattails started. I've seen the dogs pull burrowed birds out of this stuff before but we never saw him again. #5 lead
Bird # 4 I was hunting a MN WPA with a buddy and his young 1 year old Brittany Spaniel. A bird flushed between me and him, closer to me. The dog had not sniffed him. I spun around and shot at a going away bird at 25-30 yards, it dropped instantly but we never found him. The dog was really green at the time. It might have been her first time on wild birds. She got a lot better by the end of the season. #5 bismuth.
Bird #5 I was in Iowa on an IHAP. This spot was loaded with birds (corn just came out, perfect timing). I let Skye out of the truck to chase two roosters we saw walk across the road. Those birds got away(flushed while I was going over fence), but she was almost instantly on another bird and started tracking him. She flushed him and he flew away from me going towards the road. I took a shot that was probably a little long, he dropped instantly and his momentum took him over the road and landed in the cut corn. I ran that way and had to stop the dog at the barbed fence, lift it for her, go down and up the ditch, then stop her again to cross the barb-wire fence into the private field. I left my gun behind and legally chased this bird on the private ag field, but we never found him. #5 bismuth
Bird #6 I was walking the edge of public ground in Iowa, a bird suddenly flushed on my right(not far), due to nervousness because the dogs were both out in front of me. I pulled up and shot instantly, and the bird dropped just as quick. This was a field of very thick and tall bluestem, we never found the bird. #5 bismuth
Bird #7 I was in Iowa, the season had wore on, and hunting was getting a little tough. I was walking a ditch on the other side of the road from a good public spot. I had a staggered double, the first one I shot dead in the air and the dogs both ran to him, meanwhile a second bird had flushed, I shot my second barrel and he dropped in the cut field. He was up and running in 2 seconds. In hindsight this bird was a candidate for a ground pound. Both dogs were at the first bird, this one had flushed much farther to the right, and it was a cut field. I did not shoot him on the ground, he ran into the grassy ditch, and was never seen again. #5 bismuth
Bird# 8 The last weekend of the Iowa season, hunting Union Slough federal refuge, hadn't seen squat all day. Not much time left at all we walked some low-ground and a rooster flushed. I mounted the gun and drew a bead on him, too far I said, and lowered my gun. Five seconds later a bird flushed much closer and I raised up and shot at a going away bird well within range. I saw his right wing blow up and bbs hit his back. Skye was in the truck due to a sore shoulder, but Roxy is a good scenting dog, especially on cripples. We ran up there and she got a scent and started tracking him, even ran into the large thicket for five minutes. We never found him. #5 bismuth
My takeaway on this. Bring enough gun and shoot the right shell. Any bismooth I order in the future will be #4. When it comes to lead I have a wide variety of shells. This is less by design and more by what I could get during the ammo shortage. I'm not afraid to spend $$$ on shells. That being said this doesn't always equate to better shells in my book. Look at prairie storm, high dollar misshapen shot pellets aren't worth a damn past short range. I have never patterned my pheasant guns with game loads. There is literally no place to legally do this where I live. I will ask a private landowner for permission to shoot some paper over the summer, and see what my chokes and loads do. (I have shot patterns with trap loads, as the gun club allows this).
More important than all the above is to be a good shot. A common cliche in shotgunning is chokes get you inches when you miss in feet. Whatever the level of truth in that, I am always working on my shooting, and this offseason will be no different. I miss birds or hit birds poorly for a multitude of reasons. Poor gun mount, hesitant to cover up the bird, excess barrel movement, rushed shots and the inverse, riding the bird too long. All the pattern testing in the world will never override a poor shot.
Final thoughts- I am not an old timer who is set in his ways. I am not a young buck just getting into the sport of upland hunting. I am somewhere in the middle, probably have hunted less than the person reading this. I'm a voracious learner on this wonderful endeavor of pheasant hunting. It means so much to me, I do not treat the subject lightly and think about it daily all the year 'round. Losing birds is a bummer, and I try to avoid it at all costs. The dogs have saved so many birds for me, and yet I still endeavor not to put them in a situation where they'll have to use all their innate abilities to find a poorly struck bird. In short, I care very much about these birds, finding everyone I possibly can, and learning to be better.
