Strategy questions

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Pheasantphan

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Had a great trip to SD in Dec. Will share some pics later, but had some questions about the birds and our encounters. We managed to get about 20 to migrate back south with us, a successful hunt for the two of us. Just some curious questions:

We found birds one morning crossing the road from public area (about 300 acres) to a cut corn field. It was about 9:15. When we drove past we slowed, the birds - about 25 with 8 to 10 roosters - became nervous and flushed and flew back into the public area. The area was a frozen cattail marsh ringed with some thick grass that thinned toward the edges. We waited till the proper time and entered the public area. We were able to find and flush about 8 to 10 hens but no roosters. Where do these birds go in this situation? Are they still in the field and not flushing or have they ran out?

How much snow is too much to hunt effectively? We had about 4 inches and happy with the results. We can only come out late so at what point does it become difficult with deep snow?

What is the best approach when you see roosters go down in a general area of cover? Approach quickly or approach slowly and quietly?

Enjoyed SD,

Chuck
 
Did you have dogs?

Even with dogs if the slough is big enough and there is enough scent in it the dogs might not be able to tract'em down. They might be running circles around you also.

If I was hunting a bigger slough with just two guys I would probable hit the edge and try to catch birds transitioning out of there roosting areas.

And then I would look to the sky and try to shoot down the space ship doing the teleporting and get the mother load.
 
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Approach quietly, but they know you are coming. Your best bet is to send one guy on a flanking manuvere and hope he can get ahead of the birds. Push towards one another and hope someone gets a shot.
 
Lots of good advice here. I assume dogs, otherwise you should not be out hunting pheasants. Quiet is a must: no bells, beepers, or whistles. No talking. The human voice is anathema to pheasants. (if pheasant addict can throw out flanking maneuver I can drop anathema) Speaking of that flanking maneuver, when you get separated from your buddy you will not be able to communicate and all those military tactics the you drew up in the snow will be lost in the fog of war. Just keep trudging through the snow like Napolean's army in Russia, dogged determination and dumb luck are the key. Sometimes getting back to the truck is a victory.
 
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Thanks guys, we had dogs and it did seem as if they were "confused" at times by the scent. We spread out to cover more ground, next time we will work more toward each other. I cannot wait to get back up there next year.
 
I've had this happen to, quite often. My dogs are experienced pheasant hunters.

I think what happens in this case. Most of the pheasants you saw fly into the cattails landed and did not move. Stopped still leaving no trail and minimal scent. Some of the pheasants ran around or away a bit leaving much more scent. Your dogs got on the scent passing by the still birds. When you see pheasants flush into heavy cover like this it takes a lot of persistence from the hunter and the dog to get them up.
 
Re: snow depth.

From a younger MN guy in great shape: approx. 8" has been the upper end of my comfort level the past few years. I'd almost rather have 3-4" over any other conditions. 10"+ and you're in for a day of sweat...but can still be done till about a foot. After that, bring snowshoes and expect a lot of strange looks from your dog.

Now drifts, blowing snow, amounts varying drastically every 30 miles, dry vs. wet snow, etc. makes planning a trip a real challenge. Online snow cover maps can help a bit, but seem to change a lot once you actually get there as well as not being the most accurate surprisingly with the amounts that are reported.
 
To me there are three ways pheasants evade hunters and predators.

They will bury themselves in the middle of a big piece of cover, hunker down and hide until the threat passes. Pointing dog guys love roosters who use this tactic. Birds who exhibit this kind of behavior start to disappear rapidly after the first two or three weeks of the season.

Some are more treacherous and will use their legs and the available geography to out manuever and avoid becoming dinner. These roosters will zig-zag back and forth hoping to shake the dog or circle back around behind dog/hunter. Maybe work there way towards some willows or a shelter belt and then flush from the protection of the cover. As a flusher guy getting in the middle of this ground game and successfully putting on enough pressure to force a flush in open space is the ultimate pheasant hunting experience. I find by late season many of these roosters are either harvested or have adapted to level three.

Level three roosters are those who have no tolerance whatsoever for human or canine presence. The instant they sense any degree of hunting pressure they are flushing wild or on the run. The purpose being to put as much distance bewteen them and you as possible as quickly as possible. I wouldn't be surprised if the birds you flushed into the slough were exactly this kind rooster. The minute they hit the ground they were off and running. Sure they left some scent but when mixed with old scent and hens roosting in the same area its pretty tough for any dog to get a bead on them. Especially in the thick challenging cover presented by a large SD cattail patch.
 
Iâ??m no expert on Pheasant or Pheasant hunting, but I try to pick up as much knowledge as I can, wherever I can.

This past Nov. I went down the road from my house to try and observe some birds and their behavior. The attached picture (not a good one) shows two roosters standing/running in a playa lake with very little cover.

When I first pulled up, there were three but the third bolted straight out to the right towards the heavier cover about 75 yards away. The other two in the picture started a very consistent zigzag pattern towards the heavier cover, but at about a 45 degree angle from where the first one bolted. When I say consistent, I mean they would separate from each other, and then run in a V pattern until they were about 30 feet apart. At that point, they would run an upside down V pattern until they crossed each other again, almost making a diamond. Once they closed the diamond, they would start the process all over again until they got to the heavy cover at the edge of the playa. They probably did this about four times before hitting the cover.

What does this mean to me? I have no idea, but itâ??s something Iâ??ll keep stored in my head and maybe be able to draw from it.
 
When I first pulled up, there were three but the third bolted straight out to the right towards the heavier cover about 75 yards away. The other two in the picture started a very consistent zigzag pattern towards the heavier cover, but at about a 45 degree angle from where the first one bolted. When I say consistent, I mean they would separate from each other, and then run in a V pattern until they were about 30 feet apart. At that point, they would run an upside down V pattern until they crossed each other again, almost making a diamond. Once they closed the diamond, they would start the process all over again until they got to the heavy cover at the edge of the playa. They probably did this about four times before hitting the cover.
Click to expand...

Good photo capture and, especially, observation on behavior.
 
Again, thanks guys. I think we missed several birds that landed and then buried up in thick cover. My dogs are young and inexperienced and the hen scent in the area probably got their attention and distracted them from the roosters. I figure some of them also ran. We really tried to hunt with lots of patience and will try to do that even more next year.
 
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