engpointerman
New member
I would drive ya but guess im already here.
So who got out today?
- Thread starter slickrox
- Start date
Waterwolves
New member
How many days a season do you get out engpointerman? I guess it makes it easier when you live right in the middle of it all. Must be fun......
I have been out 6 times this year and I should have had my limit at least 3 of them so I am def doing somthing right....
I have been out 6 times this year and I should have had my limit at least 3 of them so I am def doing somthing right....
engpointerman
New member
I have hunted probly 10-12 days right now. Pretty much on the light side. If you like to hunt. Been busy with my work. I used to probly hunt 80 percent of season before I became a custom hay guy. I ran a preserve and had my outfitters license. So I was in the field most days. Got burnt out so couple days here or there is plenty for me. Hunting this weekend for sure but I hate hunting weekends.
engpointerman
New member
Cowdog sounds like you need some new friends.
engpointerman
New member
If your gonna get that drastic. I sure hope they are hot and in bikinis.
Waterwolves
New member
Cowdog I will def take you up on that.
The problem is i am already kind a booked up till some time in Jan. I am going out with my mom (believe it or not LOL) next Friday. My mom hasn't ever been and she is just going to see what it's like. Then on the 1st I am going with my wife and a buddy. You could tag along then but not sure how 4 dogs would do in my CR-V. 3 dogs is actually kinda fun..... After that though I am free Friday-Sunday anytime till the end of the season.....
We will have to hunt your spot if we go cuz i am the only one that is allowed to hunt the areas i hunt. I am sure it's not that big of a secret where I am hunting but I really don't want to say on this forum cuz I haven't really seen anybody out there and there is ton's of birds.
:cheers:
The problem is i am already kind a booked up till some time in Jan. I am going out with my mom (believe it or not LOL) next Friday. My mom hasn't ever been and she is just going to see what it's like. Then on the 1st I am going with my wife and a buddy. You could tag along then but not sure how 4 dogs would do in my CR-V. 3 dogs is actually kinda fun..... After that though I am free Friday-Sunday anytime till the end of the season.....
We will have to hunt your spot if we go cuz i am the only one that is allowed to hunt the areas i hunt. I am sure it's not that big of a secret where I am hunting but I really don't want to say on this forum cuz I haven't really seen anybody out there and there is ton's of birds.
:cheers:
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PairOfLabs
Active member
Hey Waterwolf,
Were your Golden and Lab hunting close to you when those birds flushed wild or did the dogs possibly get too far ahead? Was it in the morning or later in the day. It's my experience that the birds will sit tighter in the morning than once they've been out and about. As EPM and Cowdog stated, sometimes they just go and there's not much you can do-especially without help. Would it have been possible to come into the patch from the side in the middle rather than on either end? They still probably would have moved to an end to flush but that might have cut down the yardage to where you had a better shot. If you continue to get longer yardage flushes, are you geared for it--tighter choke, larger shot (5,4), faster speed shells, practice on the sporting clays course? I've never seen 100 birds boil out at once so consider that a real treat!!!
Were your Golden and Lab hunting close to you when those birds flushed wild or did the dogs possibly get too far ahead? Was it in the morning or later in the day. It's my experience that the birds will sit tighter in the morning than once they've been out and about. As EPM and Cowdog stated, sometimes they just go and there's not much you can do-especially without help. Would it have been possible to come into the patch from the side in the middle rather than on either end? They still probably would have moved to an end to flush but that might have cut down the yardage to where you had a better shot. If you continue to get longer yardage flushes, are you geared for it--tighter choke, larger shot (5,4), faster speed shells, practice on the sporting clays course? I've never seen 100 birds boil out at once so consider that a real treat!!!
Waterwolves
New member
I sometimes have to yell at my dogs cuz they just start running and I know that's not good but once they get a little work in I don't have to much of a problem keeping them with in 15-20yards. Which may be a little to far out still.
I can hit that patch from the side and I think I will next time I just have to walk into the corn field a ways. Good idea thanks.
I can hit clays pretty good but I am not doing it right. I have the gun shouldered, one eye already closed, and the safety off before i say pull. That's not how i walk in the field so I need a lot of work there. I am a terrible shot obviously but i am going to fix that. I had some very good shots today and didn't make it happen. I have been pheasant hunting 7 times in the last 5 years and 6 times this year. I have only hit (and found) one pheasant (this year). Knocked one down we couldn't find last year.
Will check into the faster loads and choke......
I still had a blast today it was insane! I think I went through 25 shells!
Thanks man great help/info
Oh and they 100 birds was absolute madness. I had birds everywhere. When i drove by they were running in front of my car they were on both sides of the road. they were all over the place and i didn't know if that was property i could hunt so i had to go all the way to the next road and check my map and then come back. Park the car 500 yards away and walk up. I know I totally screwed it up but whatever. I start walking around an old house and boom 40+ birds about 35 yards ahead of me and then boom another 40+ about 5 sec later 10 yards further away. This is not counting the birds on the other side of the road that i can't hunt that were running for there lives.......if they had known it was me they would have just gone about their business.
I can hit that patch from the side and I think I will next time I just have to walk into the corn field a ways. Good idea thanks.
I can hit clays pretty good but I am not doing it right. I have the gun shouldered, one eye already closed, and the safety off before i say pull. That's not how i walk in the field so I need a lot of work there. I am a terrible shot obviously but i am going to fix that. I had some very good shots today and didn't make it happen. I have been pheasant hunting 7 times in the last 5 years and 6 times this year. I have only hit (and found) one pheasant (this year). Knocked one down we couldn't find last year.
Will check into the faster loads and choke......
I still had a blast today it was insane! I think I went through 25 shells!
Thanks man great help/info
Oh and they 100 birds was absolute madness. I had birds everywhere. When i drove by they were running in front of my car they were on both sides of the road. they were all over the place and i didn't know if that was property i could hunt so i had to go all the way to the next road and check my map and then come back. Park the car 500 yards away and walk up. I know I totally screwed it up but whatever. I start walking around an old house and boom 40+ birds about 35 yards ahead of me and then boom another 40+ about 5 sec later 10 yards further away. This is not counting the birds on the other side of the road that i can't hunt that were running for there lives.......if they had known it was me they would have just gone about their business.
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HeavyC
Member
One eye closed? I was always told that is a no no on the scatter gun. :thumbsup: I do not close an eye when shooting a shotgun. Rifle yes, shotgun no.
Definately pratice on clays as if you are walking through a field, so you can practice shouldering it and removing safety in one smooth motion!
I like to enter a corner from the middle of the cut crop too. Walk in from between the corners, and go to the middle of the field, or far out enough as to not scare the birds and then cut in right in the middle and circle around to each of the narrower ends.
I think dogs out at 15-20 yards is perfect gun range!
Keep it up, it only gets easier!
Definately pratice on clays as if you are walking through a field, so you can practice shouldering it and removing safety in one smooth motion!
I like to enter a corner from the middle of the cut crop too. Walk in from between the corners, and go to the middle of the field, or far out enough as to not scare the birds and then cut in right in the middle and circle around to each of the narrower ends.
I think dogs out at 15-20 yards is perfect gun range!
Keep it up, it only gets easier!
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henhenROOSTER!!!
New member
Nice advice for approaching/attacking a corner HeavyC...Thx, I really like the sound/look/feel of that compared to other options tried or suggested - it will def be a fresh/new option in my bag of tricks the next time out! 
Waterwolves
New member
Got my butt kicked again today. lol I saw at least 80 birds total. Had about 6 good shots and didn't drop one bird. Hit one but it didn't go down. Feathers went flying so pretty sure I hit it. Still had a great time with a good friend.
When the pheasants get up and you miss them they fly a ways and then they land again. Do they just keep running forever? It seems like they just disappear sometimes.
One time today they flushed way in front of us out of a row of trees and we saw where they went across the street. There was nowhere for them to go around this spot. Old buildings with bare fields all around. When we got there they were no where to be found.
Totally hooked!!!!
Oh and I hit the spot I saw a ton of birds at last time and there were only a few hens there this time. So it must have been the snow/cold that made them load up in that spot last time.
When the pheasants get up and you miss them they fly a ways and then they land again. Do they just keep running forever? It seems like they just disappear sometimes.
One time today they flushed way in front of us out of a row of trees and we saw where they went across the street. There was nowhere for them to go around this spot. Old buildings with bare fields all around. When we got there they were no where to be found.
Totally hooked!!!!
Oh and I hit the spot I saw a ton of birds at last time and there were only a few hens there this time. So it must have been the snow/cold that made them load up in that spot last time.
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hey water,
From reading your posts I would say the biggest thing I see is one eye closed. For shot gun, providing you are right eye dominant, I was always taught both eyes open. When I shoot my rifle a lot, then go to my shotgun I close an eye and cant hit anything. literally...I cant even sniff a clay. Both eyes open I have shot 23,24, and 25 out of 25. This is my first year shooting clays too. Try both eyes open next time!
joe
henhenROOSTER!!!
New member
"free" falconry!!!
Three of us got out on Fri/Dec 18th & WOW were the little devils starting to get awful cagey-&-crafty at this point of the season!!! They were blowing out the sides and ends even as we stuck a silent toe into the front-edge of the grass and weeds!
Still managed to scratch out some birds, but had to work our butts off for every single one! The day was warm & sunny with a lot of wind - & what a difference/contrast from the snowy, sub-zero "duck shoot" with easy limits for all only a week before! Key word of the day was "DISPERSED" - with all those bunched-up birds from the week before scattered to the wind...
Best moment of the day--watching a pair of hawks double-teaming on birds, chasing them from a cut-corn field into some nearby long wheat stubble - one of them buzzed high-speed at ground-level like an F-16 & put the hens and roosters to flight, while the other one hovered high above for the kill-shot dive, and then they traded places back-n-forth - it was quite an impressive sight to see!
But it gets even better...After our watching the show for several minutes, with all of the birds somehow managing to fly away completely unscathed, the hawks finally pinned a rooster & had him hunkered down in the wheat a couple hundred yards away from us - that's when I decided to make a move! Since we had a newbie with us trying to get his first bird, I asked him "Wanna see if we can get that rooster while the hawks have him pinned down?" - which was followed immediately by "Yeah" & "Well, let's move quick then"! Since I wanted him to get the bird, I almost didn't even take a gun along - but opted at the last second to take one dog along and grabbed the over-&-under with only the two shells in the chambers...
As we neared where the rooster was & the dog got really birdy, that's when all hell broke loose!!!...Up went the rooster & a couple of hens, and down came the rooster really hard in a crumpled heap! After the shot and retrieve, the dog was birdier than ever & so we continued following him thru the wheat rows all the way to the narrow point at the end of the corner...Initially looking for what we had assumed was one lone rooster, we wound up flushing at least 15 birds (4-5 of them roosters) & all of them held tight-as-a-drum like quail right underneath our feet out in the middle of what normally should have been very "runner"-prone wheat rows! We came away with not just one, but two roosters! It was almost like a planned combo of "for-free" falconry & good dog work all rolled into one!!!
Knowing the drill fairly well now & having already done this very same song-&-dance a couple of times before with one hawk and a lone rooster involved - HAWKS ARE NOW MY NEW BEST FRIENDS!!! :cheers:
Three of us got out on Fri/Dec 18th & WOW were the little devils starting to get awful cagey-&-crafty at this point of the season!!! They were blowing out the sides and ends even as we stuck a silent toe into the front-edge of the grass and weeds!
Still managed to scratch out some birds, but had to work our butts off for every single one! The day was warm & sunny with a lot of wind - & what a difference/contrast from the snowy, sub-zero "duck shoot" with easy limits for all only a week before! Key word of the day was "DISPERSED" - with all those bunched-up birds from the week before scattered to the wind...
Best moment of the day--watching a pair of hawks double-teaming on birds, chasing them from a cut-corn field into some nearby long wheat stubble - one of them buzzed high-speed at ground-level like an F-16 & put the hens and roosters to flight, while the other one hovered high above for the kill-shot dive, and then they traded places back-n-forth - it was quite an impressive sight to see!
But it gets even better...After our watching the show for several minutes, with all of the birds somehow managing to fly away completely unscathed, the hawks finally pinned a rooster & had him hunkered down in the wheat a couple hundred yards away from us - that's when I decided to make a move! Since we had a newbie with us trying to get his first bird, I asked him "Wanna see if we can get that rooster while the hawks have him pinned down?" - which was followed immediately by "Yeah" & "Well, let's move quick then"! Since I wanted him to get the bird, I almost didn't even take a gun along - but opted at the last second to take one dog along and grabbed the over-&-under with only the two shells in the chambers...
As we neared where the rooster was & the dog got really birdy, that's when all hell broke loose!!!...Up went the rooster & a couple of hens, and down came the rooster really hard in a crumpled heap!
After the shot and retrieve, the dog was birdier than ever & so we continued following him thru the wheat rows all the way to the narrow point at the end of the corner...Initially looking for what we had assumed was one lone rooster, we wound up flushing at least 15 birds (4-5 of them roosters) & all of them held tight-as-a-drum like quail right underneath our feet out in the middle of what normally should have been very "runner"-prone wheat rows! We came away with not just one, but two roosters! It was almost like a planned combo of "for-free" falconry & good dog work all rolled into one!!! Knowing the drill fairly well now & having already done this very same song-&-dance a couple of times before with one hawk and a lone rooster involved - HAWKS ARE NOW MY NEW BEST FRIENDS!!! :cheers:
Waterwolves
New member
Nice story hen hen. It looks like you had a good time and that's what it's all about.
Would love to get another snow storm before the end of the season.
Would love to get another snow storm before the end of the season.
Invisable blocker
My pop taught me this one which I think has been passed down numerous times. If birds are real flighty the next time you hunt a field try to get to the other side. Make all kinds of noise as you get out of the car. Take a quick stretch and then get back in the car and head to the other side. Quietly slip in the field and start hunting. Birds now think they are surrounded and may hold a little better.
My pop taught me this one which I think has been passed down numerous times. If birds are real flighty the next time you hunt a field try to get to the other side. Make all kinds of noise as you get out of the car. Take a quick stretch and then get back in the car and head to the other side. Quietly slip in the field and start hunting. Birds now think they are surrounded and may hold a little better.