Pheasant hunting tips

quanah labs

quanah labs

New member
I thought it would be fun to start a pheasant hunting tip thread. It could be both benificial to newbies an veterans.

So what do you guys look at when trying to decide what tactic to employ? How does weather conditions affect your strategies, and what cover do you key on in realtion to various other observations? How do you attempt to maximize the effectiveness of your bird dog? I would also like to know what a regular day hunting pheasants is like, such as what time do you hit the fields in the morning and when do you go in and when do you hunt again in the evening?

I realize that some of these questions probably seem insanely obvious and not worthy of even answering but I , like I'm sure some others on this forum, are new to pheasant hunting and would find your responses extremely benificial.

So come on guys lets here your tips, tricks, an top secret go to tactics!
 
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I'll give you a good one I figured out a few years ago. When hunting near lakes always push the birds towards the water regardless of wind. If you have 2 guys spread apart a hundred or so yards and pinch towards each other to a point. Birds will usually not fly across the water. They really don't want anything to do with it. Although the will fly across a couple hundred yards of it, they real don't like a 1/4 mile or more of it. They still will usually avoid it even after freeze. Reason is in the warm weather months it's not an option to run across, so it is avoided as an escape route. This can be repeated over and over around the lake. I have had great success with this throughout the years, especially in SD.
 
We enter the field at sunrise, quit about 11:30 for a long lunch, reenter the field around 2 p.m. and hunt till sundown. Before lunch we are usually in stalks looking for feeding birds. After lunch we hunt CRP or other roosting/loafing cover near feeding areas and maybe transition back into a feeding area just before sundown. If there is fresh snow on the ground, we might start on a roosting area in the morning. Our dogs usually stay pretty close, but both are pointing breeds so we let them go out of gun range. If I am alone, I sometimes let my dog go as far as I can see him.
 
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Pushing to the open water is a great tactic - I agree. I try to push to any pinch points with heavier cover than surrounding area, then push the pinch point into the wind with blocker or two at the end. In large CRP, I push into wind and let the dogs lead the way on scent.

RR and roadside cover is good for small group hunting.
 
If you have a flushing dog that is on the trail of a running bird in thick cover, try to watch ahead of the dog for any overhead opening or clear space in the cover. Its my experience that running birds very rarely flush in thick cover, but will almost always flush as soon as they get to an opening.

If a bird flushes and you can't get a shot at it (or miss) and you see the bird land, the bird will always run a little ways after it does land. They usually, but not always, run in the same direction that they were flying.

Not really a hunting tip, but always, always, always bring water with you into the field. Its almost amazing how much my dogs drink when in the field even on cool, damp days. I bought one of those collapsible fabric water bowls and it works great.
 
519vx said:
Not really a hunting tip, but always, always, always bring water with you into the field. Its almost amazing how much my dogs drink when in the field even on cool, damp days. I bought one of those collapsible fabric water bowls and it works great.
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Amen! Water, water, water your dog. I carry 1.5 liters of water and small plastic bowl into every field.
 
Stop every once in a while seems to make the birds nervous and more apt to flush at close range especially when walking a large crp field or heavier cover
 
These are not secrets, but good reminders anyway.

Once I have the end of the field or draw in gun range, I like to stop and stand for several minutes. It is amazing how tight roosters will sit at the end of the field. I see it all the time where we will reach the end of the field or draw and the dog will finally get the bird he has been working. The natural tendency is to walk out of the field, but there is almost always another bird or two hiding near the end. They are the clever old birds, and will not flush unless you or the dog is practically on top of them. So I give the dog plenty of time to thoroughly work and re-work the last bit of the field.

Another thing I always try to remember is that sometimes those dinky little pockets of cover hold a bunch of birds. I have seen a pile of tumbleweeds no bigger than a car hide a limit of roosters, especially in the snow. Stuff you would normally just drive by and think it is a waste of time to walk it...
 
When you get to the end of the drive, pause a couple of minutes as somebody else said...then if there is any "cover" just fifty feet or so out front, go ahead and walk to it. I have killed a lot of cocks that way. Sometimes they would cross a short open patch and hide in a spot so tiny it was unbeliveable. I one watched a cock that was shot by another member of our hunt, light near me in drilled wheat that was just coming up. He took a couple of strides and hunkered down in (I swear a foot print) and there he expired in an upright position. He flattened himself and spread his wings enough to get his body flat, and died as I approached at the ready. I had my eyes on him all the time and almost couldn't see him as I got closer. It was quite amazing to see how he disappeared in nothing!
 
When we are hunting crp with several guys, we will push our guys on the edges out 10-20 yards to block any birds trying to get out on the edges. When we get to the last 1/8th mile of a section we slow way down, let the dogs work and get the birds nervous. Our blockers will hold the end, and our edge guys hold our edges. This keeps the birds held tight so the dogs can work well.

We almost always hunt into the wind. It is harder for the birds to get out fast that way

When pushing birds through crp, slow down and work the leeward sides of hills. Most of the time the birds wont crest the hill but will get up and out.

Hit the corners! Corners of circle irrigated fields are always productive, especialy with an irrigation pond somewhere on the corner. Food, cover, and water are all close by.


In the 20 years I have been pheasant hunting, I have never hunted corn. Always crp, so take my advice for what it is worth.
 
1.Trust your dog he has the nose, follow where he goes.
2. Hunt late season public birds with the wind to your back. Your dog will get out in front and work the wind back towards you pinching the birds between you and him.
3. Be quiet! nothing worse than a bunch of yelling. pheasants have exceptional hearing.
4.Remain positive not negative your dog feeds off of your energy.
5. Don't be afraid to knock on someone's door and politely ask for permission to hunt. you might be surprised.
 
After parking at your hunting spot, do everything you can to minimize noise. Don't slam the car or truck doors; instead, gently press the door closed until it latches. No loud talking with your hunt partners; no loud slamming shut of your autoloader's bolt when chambering a round. No yelling or whistling at the dog. Don't eat beans for lunch the day before.

When walking through cover, increase your chance of flushing birds by taking a zig-zag route at all times. What this tactic does is greatly expand the "flush zone" (the area of cover near you where the noise of your passing spooks holding birds into the air).

When approaching the end of a patch of cover where pushed birds could be holding -- but really anytime you're walking through bird cover -- avoid the street pedestrian's habit of looking down at where you're placing your feet. To the extent possible, rely on vertical peripheral vision for safe foot placement. The reason you're walking through this field is to shoot pheasants on the wing, so do everything possible to keep your gaze in the air slightly above the horizon around you. Let your gaze alternate easily left and right, but never let your eyes linger on any one thing very long. This keeps your head up, in which position your lateral peripheral vision gets utilized to the fullest; your eyes will instantly lock on any moving object that rises up from cover. You'll get onto rising birds two or three seconds faster and thereby enjoy more close range "first shots" that are easier to accomplish (with an open choked gun).
 
When downing a bird, don't take your eyes off the spot where it went down. Place your orange hat at the spot and then look for the bird. You will be surprised how many "dead" birds are cripples and run and hide.
When multiple roosters are in the air, pick out one bird and concentrate on it. If lucky enough to shoot that one, then focus on the second bird.
When hunting standing corn, zig zag and look down the rows ahead. Birds will run and will try and escape out the sides. If you are zig zagging it may keep more birds in the corn longer to the end of the field where the blockers are waiting.

Bob
 
As others have said - be quiet. I sometimes stop a mile or so down the road from where I want to hunt. I get my gear on; shotgun shells into my vest, water the dogs, put water into bottles, get my gun out of the case, let the dogs run for a few minutes, then drive to the field to hunt. Then I get out, grab my gun, press the door closed and don't say a peep except for "good boy" after we have downed a bird.

Always trust your dog. Get to know your dog and know when it is getting "birdy" and about to go on point. Also, follow your dog ... they have the tools ... they know where the birds are! Every rooster that I shot last year was always in front of my dog! ;) I gave up on going where I thought that they might be, and simply followed my dog. We work as a team. The more we hunt together the better we get as a team.
 
CO_Weimar said:
As others have said - be quiet. I sometimes stop a mile or so down the road from where I want to hunt. I get my gear on; shotgun shells into my vest, water the dogs, put water into bottles, get my gun out of the case, let the dogs run for a few minutes, then drive to the field to hunt. Then I get out, grab my gun, press the door closed and don't say a peep except for "good boy" after we have downed a bird.

Always trust your dog. Get to know your dog and know when it is getting "birdy" and about to go on point. Also, follow your dog ... they have the tools ... they know where the birds are! Every rooster that I shot last year was always in front of my dog! ;) I gave up on going where I thought that they might be, and simply followed my dog. We work as a team. The more we hunt together the better we get as a team.
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thats the best advice ive seen on here weimar i do the same thing heres a little trick to use as well when you have a couple other guys or dropping a blocker off have him sit on the tailgate and as your slowly drivin by your field have him jump off that way they think the vehicle hasnt stopped and there focus is still on the moving truck :thumbsup:
 
CO_Weimar said:
As others have said - be quiet. I sometimes stop a mile or so down the road from where I want to hunt. I get my gear on; shotgun shells into my vest, water the dogs, put water into bottles, get my gun out of the case, let the dogs run for a few minutes, then drive to the field to hunt. Then I get out, grab my gun, press the door closed and don't say a peep except for "good boy" after we have downed a bird.

Always trust your dog. Get to know your dog and know when it is getting "birdy" and about to go on point. Also, follow your dog ... they have the tools ... they know where the birds are! Every rooster that I shot last year was always in front of my dog! ;) I gave up on going where I thought that they might be, and simply followed my dog. We work as a team. The more we hunt together the better we get as a team.
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So... it looks like you have done this before :thumbsup:
 
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