PA Pheasant Season

I have a chance to get out Wednesday, but it'll be without a dog and I haven't seen much lately, but still should be fun.
 
Well I got a chance to get out today and it felt good. I walked miles and didn't see any pheasant. I did flush and miss two grouse. Going back out Sat.

Anybody else get out?
 
Doesn't look like I'll get out till Saturday unless the bird flu hits me! At least you got out and had some action. Finding birds now without a dog is going to be tough, so you did well.:thumbsup:
 
Two grouse flushes sounds good to me.

I may get out Friday afternoon and then I'll be out Saturday morning for a little. Then next week I'll be able to get out a good bit and will try for grouse at some point. Good luck everybody.
 
My wife came home early since she didn't feel well. The dogs were running and jumping around and she said I could take them out if I wanted to. I grabbed the gun and went to the co-op close to home. The dogs had a point right away in a safety zone that was a hen. We continued on with my plan to work the far edge of the property and work in a circular motion until we covered most of the area. As soon as we started down the field the dogs started getting birdy. Blitz had a point and then a hen flushed out of the switchgrass. Then another and another. This continued until about 10-12 hens flushed from the same area. What a scene but I didn't bring the camera. We kept moving and as we were working the opposite side of the field the dogs had another point in the switchgrass. I was expecting a hen but it turned out to be a rooster. I shot and he dropped in the field. The dogs didn't come back with the bird and then I saw them in the swampy woods. I called Blitz back to look for the bird where it dropped but he couldn't find it. Then I see Nittany come out of the woods with the bird. I shot his right wing off but he was still able to run. After this I wanted to hunt the swampy area. I had two choices on where to enter and I picked the back door. We worked our way though and when the dogs were at the end I heard and saw a rooster flush. I should have went through the front door. The dogs did pick up the bird's scent back out in the fields and tracked it up the edge of the grass and then across the field before I heard it flush and cackle off in the distance. That was the last bird I heard or saw but it was a great hunt for one hour after work.

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That sounds like a great hunt with a lot of action!:thumbsup: I'll bet it felt great to get back out with the dogs. WTG
 
Today was the last day I would take a bird in the area I hunt close to home. The dogs had a find in a safety zone that I let fly off after it flushed. Shortly after this I saw two roosters flush ahead of the dogs but didn't shoot since they didn't point them. I did hear other people shoot at them who were further down the field and on the opposite side of me. Blitz finally had a solid point on a rooster and I took this bird. Blitz chased him down and brought him back to me. I continued on and that's when I saw the other two guys who were hunting. I saw a rooster flush out of the safety zone and the one guy shot and missed. I don't like shooting at game that comes from a safety zone. But the worse part was he shot over the neighbors horses and barn from less than 50 yards away. I yelled at him about it and he said he was sorry. He never hunted here before. There was no excuse for the shot new to the area or not. Then he asked if he could shoot hens. I said "you don't know if you can shoot hens? The rules are the same here as everywhere else in the area, roosters only". I stayed clear of them from that point on. I heard them shoot about 10 times on the day and I think they got one bird. Guys like this will end up getting the area shut down for hunting or some type of changes made.

The bird and dogs:

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Looks like something found a bird last night. It was frozen solid with the back eaten off.
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Good luck to everybody else. Hopefully the weather cooperates and I'll get to travel upstate for grouse.
 
I wanted to try a different area today and went to a gamelands I haven't hunted before. It was wetlands surrounded by some grasses, crops and hedgerows. It was all on Blitz today since Nittany has been limping since Saturday's hunt. Blitz hunted hard and got birdy a time or two but we didn't produce anything. We even hit some of the cattails.
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The cold rain started to pick up a little and after an hour I decided to head home. I thought if the rain slowed down I would try the local honey hole. The rain slowed down enough and things looked good from the start.
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There were actually six roosters in this group. One flushed to the left and the other 5 ran to the woods.
I got Blitz out and after about 10 minutes he started tracking a bird in the grass that ended up flushing wild. A few minutes later I turn the corner and I see Blitz.
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Video of flush


I did see one hen sneaking off along the edge of the field just before Blitz found this rooster.
Tomorrow the plan is to drive north and try and find some grouse. Not sure how that will go but I'll give it a try.

Anybody else have plans for the remainder of 2014?
 
Nice story and love the pictures! Some of those harder hunts can be very rewarding even if you don't score.
Hope Nittany is feeling better, I'll bet he didn't like being left behind, give him a little special attention tonight.

We'll be back out, but the kill becomes less and less important as we get deeper into the weather and winter.

Good luck on the grouse hunt!
 
It was foggy, wet, cold and icy where I went looking for grouse. The dogs worked hard for several hours but we didn't move any birds. In fact, the only thing we saw was 1 squirell. All the other creatures had the good sense to stay out of the bad weather.
 
Well at least you had a chance to get out! Was Nittaney able to get out with you guys?
 
Yes, Nittany went along and he did well. He covered the ground without any issues and is doing fine at home. We might be back out Friday but I'm not sure. Merry Christmas!
 
bauerline said:
It was foggy, wet, cold and icy where I went looking for grouse. The dogs worked hard for several hours but we didn't move any birds. In fact, the only thing we saw was 1 squirell. All the other creatures had the good sense to stay out of the bad weather.
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Sometimes I wonder why I even hunt in some of the conditions I do!
 
I was asked to guide for a group of guys today at a preserve. They are all deer hunters and never hunted birds or with dogs. The good news is they were safe. The bad news is they only shot 2 out of 10 birds found. At least it was a beautiful morning to be out.
 
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