Scouting Trip Summary

S

steelbull85

New member
The attached picture basically summarizes my scouting trip today.


Went to 19 farms, talked to 17 farmers and pretty much got the same response....they haven't seen pheasant for years and if the game commission is stocking their property, they don't know about it. Lack of cover was the biggest issue...once the corn comes off the birds would have no where to hide. These farmers did say that they used to see wild pheasants all the time while hunting, but they are pretty much all gone. Learned some lessons today, so back to the drawing board. I can see this is going to be more challenging than I initially thought.
 
I wouldn't let today discourage you. Success will come with the right approach. I remember talking to one farmer about pheasants and he stated he hadn't seen one in years..while driving I saw a rooster cross the road a half mile down the road from that very farmer. The one thing I learned doing this is that it's a process and your going to have days like this but isn't that what hunting is all about!
 
That's a VERY familiar story! Much of the State is void of any cover at all, I had to abandon pretty much the whole South East section of the State. This is where the highest concentrations of wild birds WERE and where we grew hunting them. It wasn't easy driving right past areas that we had hunted for decades.
You will see the difference when you get to areas that have the cover that you are looking for, it almost jumps out at you.
Don't despair we've had days just like that! Thanks for the report.
 
I've noticed that many of the farms in south central PA are either farmed pretty hard or sold off to be developed. Not much is left in place as far as cover goes. Did you look at any of the game lands? Maybe see if there are any farms close to the gamelands that may be able to hold some holdover birds.
 
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