I wish I got up there but the wife signed me up for Garth tonight. So it was Grizzly. Saw 2 hens and one rooster flushed on the other side of a big bush and didn't give me a shot and I couldn't see where he went. Sucks. At noon the check station said the total take so far was a whopping 4. Dismal. Can't wait to make it north!
One Week Till Pheasant Opener
- Thread starter NewmanCA
- Start date
Four St Grizzly? ,That is bad. How many people where there? We had a total of 40 people and that wasn't entirely pheasant
Howard Slough near Gridley was packed with pheasant hunters. So packed that although I could have gotten in, I couldn't bring myself to do it and fight the crowd and their dog packs. I left and drove North and saw a guy planting pheasants at the Butte City Gun Club. He spun a rooster and threw it in the tall grass on a check at 7:40 AM. Well, at least they are good eating.
Three years ago there were only 6 roosters shot on the opener at Howard Slough. I don't know what has happened since and for some reason have pretty much lost all interest in it. I hope I'm the only one to feel this way.
Three years ago there were only 6 roosters shot on the opener at Howard Slough. I don't know what has happened since and for some reason have pretty much lost all interest in it. I hope I'm the only one to feel this way.
quail hound
Moderator
Saw birds, had chances but only ended up with this in the game bag.
Every year I see more Jack Russells hunting pheasants. Makes great sense to me especially the way you take them hunting.
I ran into a guy decades ago that was hunting pheasants with a Siamese cat at Gray Lodge. He'd pack it out like you do the JR and then turn it loose in a black berry patch. He said you wouldn't believe what happened next. He had to be careful where he did it so nobody shot his cat he said.
I ran into another guy at G. L. that was hunting with his grand kids. They were getting the only shooting in the middle of the day and got it by him beating on the berry patches with a long tree limb and then poking it into the patch. He was P.O.'d because the kids were almost out of ammo and only had 3 birds for all the shooting. Back when there were big black berry patches and pheasants.
quail hound
Moderator
I'm waiting for her to have her "ah ha" monent, as of now she just thinks it's an extra fun walk. She was having trouble keeping up in the thick stuff on the last walk of the day so I stopped to pick her up and just as I was loading her in my game bag JP flushed a rooster.
That's how it goes some days.:cheers:
She did think it was pretty fun chasing that jack rabbit a quarter mile though.
That's how it goes some days.:cheers:She did think it was pretty fun chasing that jack rabbit a quarter mile though.
I'm not exactly sure how many. My guess is around 30-40 people in the 3 fields total. In our parking lot there was probably about a dozen people. I'm sure the same in the other lots. They only let 10 cars in each of the pheasant lots. It wasn't crowded at all. Plenty of room for everyone to work. No stepping on each others toes. I rolled in at 6:45 and got the last pass. Guys had been there since Friday afternoon to get that lot! Needless to say it's not like it once was. When I turned in my card they had me fill out a questionnaire about what I saw. Pretty grim. I might just start duck hunting in the AM and go do the club field cleanup in the PM.
quail hound
Moderator
Cold and rainy this morning then the wind picked up and we headed in to dry off. The rain turned to snow and my brother got two roosters.
My view from the lodge.
Just a light snow but with the wind howling the birds were holding extra tight.
My view from the lodge.
Just a light snow but with the wind howling the birds were holding extra tight.
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Not bad at all. When I was there years ago it looked like a nightmare there were so many people.
quail hound
Moderator
Well, despite missed opportunities this weekend was great. We brought home three roosters but it could have been six or eight just as easily. All in all it was a beautiful, fun trip.
Can't really tell but this was a nice, young three point buck.
Sorry, pics are fixed now.
Can't really tell but this was a nice, young three point buck.
Sorry, pics are fixed now.
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I see that they have made it much more upland hunter friendly in the last two years. They have gotten rid of a lot of the retrieval zones which were just huge linear refuges for pheasants. Nothing more frustrating than having a flock of 10 roosters fly out of a retrieval zone and across an uncrossable canal into an area you can hunt. You'd have to park a mile away and walk back to where they are only to have them fly back across the canal into the original retrieval zone.
And they have a brain the size of an almond.
And they have a brain the size of an almond.