Pheasant Camp!

Pheasant Camp 2014

We had another awesome trip and are just truly blessed to be able share experiences like the these! We started the trip going for broke. We decided to hunt for wild birds. We didn't know if we would see birds but we didn't care, we were just happy to be hunting. We hunted most of the morning, about 4 hours and to our surprise saw two pheasants a rooster and a hen! I saw the hen flush wild in the distance into a safety zone. The rooster we heard cackle in the distance, we worked toward where we heard the noise and Dugan got birdy and just zeroed in on him and and the rooster took him to the left of us and into another safety zone where he eventually flushed him! Those were the only two times Dugan acted birdy. It was a hard hunt and Dugan did awesome and was just on his game!

Here are some pictures of the habitat.



We then decided to go to area that we knew would have a better chance holding birds. The state releases birds in the area but we are unsure in the frequency and we tend to stay away from areas that look to have high hunting pressure. We hunted the whole rest of the day and it was definitely tough, the weather was nasty and we logged a lot of miles on our boots but it was a blast!

More pictures to follow!
 
We were working some really nice cover when it began to snow lightly and up comes a hen.



We continue hunting when the weather starts to turn..the winds pick up and the snow squall started to move in.



At this point we are all wet, have been so since the morning, and now with the snow and wind we are starting to get cold but we continue hunting because it's what we do and we love it. That's when it happened, Dugan get's some scent in the air and starts tracking, he opened it up and started working back to us and then about 6-7 pheasants flushed, because of the conditions I am not sure on sex but they took off like jets, they caught the wind and were gone, we both had shots and missed but in all fairness difficult shots. Going back to the truck Dugan flushed another hen, it flushed low so no shot. Dugan got on a couple more birds on the way back but because his legs started to lock up we had to call him off, he just wouldn't quit..he hunted his heart out!
 
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We enjoyed ourselves Friday night at the cabin!



Today, we decided to hunt for some grouse and woodcock..we didn't hunt long because we didn't want to push Dugan, we didn't see anything. After we set up some stands for deer season!
 
Sounds like a good time. Nice looking cover up there but the conditions were tough for you.

Cook up one of those burgers for Dugan! You can have the drink.
 
It was a special couple of days for sure! We were really happy to move a couple of birds in an area that doesn't get stocked and we believe holds wild ringnecks. After 4 hours of non stop hunting we were able to make birds, felt a lot like the old days. HollowWatcher described the hunt well, so no need for me to go over it again. By the time we got to the second area, the temps dropped and the winds were over 45MPH. It was tough, but also one of those special kind of hunts when good things happen because of hard work.
It sure made the burgers taste good and of course Dugan got a piece of each!
 
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That sounds like an outstanding hunt. I love the pictures and story, Ultimate Pheasant Hunting has become my favorite forum. Thanks for sharing! :10sign:
 
Again, love the pictures and stories, do you have any tips on trying to locate a wild pheasant population? We love the cover in some of your photos and can see why it holds the birds. Please remember I am NOT looking for an exact spot. But the idea of hunting wild pheasants has got a hold over me. Thanks!
 
parooster said:
Again, love the pictures and stories, do you have any tips on trying to locate a wild pheasant population? We love the cover in some of your photos and can see why it holds the birds. Please remember I am NOT looking for an exact spot. But the idea of hunting wild pheasants has got a hold over me. Thanks!
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PaRooster,

Did you also see that we hunted for 4 hours with a well seasoned bird dog before we hit any scent! lol. Seriously there are some isolated pockets of wild Ringnecks in Pa. and there always have been. Is there an area where the average bird hunter can drive to and expect to connect on wild birds consistantly, no, nor are there single farms that you could flush over 70 wild birds like inside some of the WPRAs. But there some locations in different parts of the state that if you do the leg work you can still find a FEW birds.
Now let me see if I can help a little. First do your search for the right habitat, simply stated there are No wild populations in marginal habitat, period. We look for the larger wetlands that are located in farming areas, these wetlands don't change every year.Then we want farms that butt up to these wetlands, think Ducks Unlimted! This is just one tool, Ill PM you a couple of others. It's a lot of work, but when you hunt these birds it's very rewarding!
 
fldbred,

Thanks for the tip and PM! We were given a location not to far from our new property that supposedly has some wild birds, you guys probably already know about it. Thanks again, I can think of no where else that we could have such a discussion.
 
FLDBRED said:
PaRooster,

Did you also see that we hunted for 4 hours with a well seasoned bird dog before we hit any scent! lol. Seriously there are some isolated pockets of wild Ringnecks in Pa. and there always have been. Is there an area where the average bird hunter can drive to and expect to connect on wild birds consistantly, no, nor are there single farms that you could flush over 70 wild birds like inside some of the WPRAs. But there some locations in different parts of the state that if you do the leg work you can still find a FEW birds.
Now let me see if I can help a little. First do your search for the right habitat, simply stated there are No wild populations in marginal habitat, period. We look for the larger wetlands that are located in farming areas, these wetlands don't change every year.Then we want farms that butt up to these wetlands, think Ducks Unlimted! This is just one tool, Ill PM you a couple of others. It's a lot of work, but when you hunt these birds it's very rewarding!
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Hey FLDBRD and HW, I really have to thank you guys ! You've opened up a whole new chapter for us when it comes to pheasant hunting in Pa.. We've been spending a lot of time using the tips you have given us, and I gotta tell ya it's been great fun. We have located one area that shows a lot of promise for wild birds. I'm pretty sure you guys know about it already. Thanks again and I'm really happy I found this site. :cheers:
 
We were out doing some work at our property and talking pheasant hunting and camps and of course this Thread came to mind. It is one of my all time favorite anywhere, and I just went through the whole thing again...awesome.
I think it's time for you guys to give us some updates! :D
 
parooster said:
We were out doing some work at our property and talking pheasant hunting and camps and of course this Thread came to mind. It is one of my all time favorite anywhere, and I just went through the whole thing again...awesome.
I think it's time for you guys to give us some updates! :D
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Yeah. I like the way "pheasant camp" sounds too. Heard of deer camp and duck camp. Pheasant camp is something new. It has a nice ring too it doesn't it?

Nick
 
It does sound good..Things seem to be looking up from last year..the hardest part is figuring out where to go and when. We have two spots that we need to still look at before the season but we are settled with rest of our spots..just need to figure out when we will go. Of course things can change but to have this much of the game plan figured out before August is something new. We are ready to just enjoy this season because it may be Dugan's last hunting along with us..we will see how he is in the next few months and take it from there.

How is everyone else's planning going? Anyone checking new spots?
 
Hollow,

We plan to hunt mostly in Bradford County, we have a spot that we no has at least holdover birds and maybe some reproduction going on. We like what we saw in Somerset County, but its pretty far away. We've been seeing a good number of grouse this year at the SGL, so we can't wait to get at it!
 
parooster said:
We were out doing some work at our property and talking pheasant hunting and camps and of course this Thread came to mind. It is one of my all time favorite anywhere, and I just went through the whole thing again...awesome.
I think it's time for you guys to give us some updates! :D
Click to expand...


Well...we were up a couple of weeks ago cutting grass and doing chores. The area around camp keeps getting better, many of the dairy farms have really cut back on their operations due to the gas boom. Add the fact that Bradford County is one of the leading counties for C.R.E.P. and you can understand why we are excited. But what it really needs is to be in a WPRA, this way it could receive some wild birds, I think they could really take off here.
We didn't see any grouse, but to be honest we weren't really looking.I would expect the grouse and woodcock hunting to be about like last year.
We plan on doing quite a bit of hunting using camp as our base this year. The area has a lot to offer and is even getting better. Summer just needs to move along!
 
1pheas4 said:
Yeah. I like the way "pheasant camp" sounds too. Heard of deer camp and duck camp. Pheasant camp is something new. It has a nice ring too it doesn't it?

Nick
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Nick,

You're right, I remember as a young boy when someone mentioned deer camp, visions would pop into my head. Reading Outdoor Life and other magazines about deer camp would drive us crazy!
My brother and I were lucky enough to purchase our own camp and many of our dreams came true. The area was excellent for deer, turkey, grouse, and woodcock. The only thing missing was ole Mr. Ringneck. Well...things started to change, the area has a very high percentage of land in C.R.E.P. and wouldn't you know the State decided to increase the amount of released birds in this county DRAMATICALLY!!. Talk about a dream come true..."Pheasant Camp".

We will still trek across the state too some of our special spots, but Pheasant Camp is our little piece of heaven.
 
parooster said:
Hollow,

We plan to hunt mostly in Bradford County, we have a spot that we no has at least holdover birds and maybe some reproduction going on. We like what we saw in Somerset County, but its pretty far away. We've been seeing a good number of grouse this year at the SGL, so we can't wait to get at it!
Click to expand...

Are we going to see some pictures this year?
 
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