As some of you know, I'm a springer guy. A flusher. I'm in my 23rd season of owning a springer, & up until then, the vast majority of my hunting was sans dog. Since owning a dog, not only have my number of shot opportunities increased greatly (of course), but the variety of shot types has too. I get a little bit of everything. Straight-aways, quartering shots, high ones, birds that almost skim the top of the cover, hard crossers (some more behind me than in front), even the occasional oncoming overhead.
What's your shot variety like? For you pointer guys (ones that actually allow you to approach a rooster fairly close), how many of your shots are straight-away or nearly straight-away? For those who partake in both wild & pen-reared pheasants, is there a difference?
Great question. Believe it or not, I often think about this when watching your videos.
When the birds are holding tight, I have a lot more straight away shots than I did when hunting with my flushers (I currently hunt behind a pointer). Until a change I made in December of this season, those low, away, often short tailed roosters really gave me problems. That's why I pondered this question previously.
Later in the season, and depending on weather and cover, the birds that don't allow us to get as close (either flushing wild well ahead of us, flushing as we approach, or running and flushing) provide a lot more variety. Likewise, where I am positioned relative to the dog increases the variety with birds that don't hold tight. As you have already surmised, it is much more like hunting with a flusher if you aren't right behind the dog when the birds flush as the dog approaches.
Although, on the whole, I would say hunting with a flusher is more challenging than hunting with a pointer, there is one other challenge with pointers and birds that sit tight. If you walk up behind the dog to flush the bird yourself, it can flush behind you if it is off to the side a bit. Or even if it flushes in front of you, if it curves to around behind you, it is doing so in a small radius, making for a difficult shot. If you approach from the front of the dog, you risk the bird being further in front of the dog than you realize, or that it had moved, and now you've messed with the scent the dog will use to track that bird. I rarely approach from the front.
I also try not to walk up and flush the bird, most of the time. Not always, but most of the time. Especially if there are bushes or trees or other cover that might put me at a disadvantage if the bird puts that cover between itself and the end of my shotgun.
Right or wrong, I try to coax Honey into flushing the bird. She is extremely staunch on a point. She won't release on command. However, if I kick the brush, it can sometimes fool her into thinking the bird is moving, and she'll jump across the line of scrimmage. It may also really get the bird to move a little bit, even if it doesn't flush. She doesn't put up with birds moving into optimal flush positioning or running. If they are moving or starting to flush, she lets them have it. By giving myself a little distance between the bird when it flushes, I feel I'm in a better position to make a successful shot.
Back to what I think is your main question, yes, for me anyway, I see many more straight away shots or slightly quartering away shots when I am right up by the on point dog when the bird flushes. It is like standing on the north pole. Any direction you walk is south.
