Tail Length

In 2004 I shot one in Iowa that had a 29 inch tail. My dog was pointing and I was the 3rd guy to the left of him. The bird comes up and I saw that tail just waving back and forth. My two friends who were normally very good shots , both emptied on it. Never touched him, not even a little. So here I was the only one with a chance ,I grassed him , first shot. I ran to get him before my dog could get ahold of him. My friends both said "did you see how long that tail was" . Had 1/2 inch spurs. Never had been in that field before. We were a couple miles off the road. Can to this day, still see in my mind that beautiful bird coming up off the ground.
 
NDPheasant said:
This weekend my coworker’s son shot a rooster with tail feathers almost at the 28” mark. I have witnessed 100+ birds shot each of the the past three seasons and we have had only a handful reach that 24-25”. Are there thoughts about how long it takes a rooster to grow a tail that big? View attachment 572
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What's up with the concealed face, Wit Pro or pornstar?...
 
Ky Setter man said:
In 2004 I shot one in Iowa that had a 29 inch tail. My dog was pointing and I was the 3rd guy to the left of him. The bird comes up and I saw that tail just waving back and forth. My two friends who were normally very good shots , both emptied on it. Never touched him, not even a little. So here I was the only one with a chance ,I grassed him , first shot. I ran to get him before my dog could get ahold of him. My friends both said "did you see how long that tail was" . Had 1/2 inch spurs. Never had been in that field before. We were a couple miles off the road. Can to this day, still see in my mind that beautiful bird coming up off the ground.
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So you beat the dog to the bird, why didn't you get that bad boy mounted? You will not shoot one with that length again. 26" is pretty much like finding a 4 leafed clover. That one pictured is so long is doesn't seem real, more than impressive! Usually you just "hear" about long ones, not usually a pic of it on a metal ruler.
 
Actually I put it in a nylon stocking and then vacumed sealed it and put it in our freezer. Its still there. I intend to try and see if it can still be done but my taxidermist has long since retired and life has just got in the way. I know it sounds crazy but Ive seen birds from this area mounted and have never seen anyone that I would trust to do it. Crazy looking eyes and just generally shotty work on birds. Deer , oh we got good ones for that but none that specializes in birds. Might have to get another bird and attach tail to it ,I dont know. Or maybe just take it back out west with me and get someone to do it out there.
 
I can still vividly remember the rooster my dad and I got about 15 years ago that had 27-7/8" tail feathers. When the bird flushed its feathers were whipping back and forth like a loose rope. We fired simultaneously, looked at eachother and said 'did you see those tail feathers?' Ironically, my current vizsla got into my stash of tail feathers when he was a pup and destroyed every single one. Turns out he is by far the best bird dog we've had so we'll just have to find another long tail. Haven't had one over 26-1/2 since then, but every time we drive past the field corner my dad says 'remember that one bird....'
 
So, can a taxtidermist "reinstall" the tailfeathers after you measure them? I wouldn't pull them to measure them, if I had any thought about preserving the bird. When considedring mounting a pheasant, I look at the spurs and overall condition of the bird, but if you could tell the tailfeathers were unusally long, shot-hard/dog mauled, might be worth seeing what your taxidermist can do. I just rembered something my taxidermist said, I didn't know this, maybe others do, but I am pretty certain my guy said he "seperates the rear from the front of the bird" when skinning them. Any taxidermists here that can confirm or rebute this? If that is the case, could a shot-up (broken legs/wings etc.) or mauled bird with back-end intact, be mated with a different bird? Assuming an extreme tail feather length like some are finding.
 
A couple weeks ago on the way home from work I came across half a dozen roosters feeding in the ditch a mile or so south of the house. One of those had a tail considerably longer than the rest, and I would go so far as to say the longest of any rooster I saw alive or dead this year. I would confidently bet $20 that rudder was all of 27" and quite probably longer...
 
jmuller19 said:
NICE bird, WOW. My longest is 26" in 25 years of hunting them. nice job!!
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Yeah, 26 is very rare. Anything over 27 is some kind of released bird, or hybrid that escaped a pet situation, like a peacock. Those things can survive like a pheasant.
 
remy3424 said:
So, can a taxtidermist "reinstall" the tailfeathers after you measure them? I wouldn't pull them to measure them, if I had any thought about preserving the bird. When considedring mounting a pheasant, I look at the spurs and overall condition of the bird, but if you could tell the tailfeathers were unusally long, shot-hard/dog mauled, might be worth seeing what your taxidermist can do. I just rembered something my taxidermist said, I didn't know this, maybe others do, but I am pretty certain my guy said he "seperates the rear from the front of the bird" when skinning them. Any taxidermists here that can confirm or rebute this? If that is the case, could a shot-up (broken legs/wings etc.) or mauled bird with back-end intact, be mated with a different bird? Assuming an extreme tail feather length like some are finding.
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No.You can put tail feathers back in.I entered a tail feather in the miles city contest, and won a browning.Then I had the bird mounted.
 
Nugent, so they gave the feather back? If so, did they mark it some way, so that feather can't be re-entered in future contests? Guessing they clip the tip or something to prevent this? If not, your buddies should all be taking turns scoring new shotguns with that one!
 
I started a thread about tail length a few years ago in 2008:

Pheasant Tail Competition?

I made another post about my recent pheasant hunt with Tim Ballinger in Dumas, Texas. http://www.ultimatepheasanthunting.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1004 When I hunted with Tim last year I shot one really large rooster that had 24â?� tail feathers. Here are a couple shots of that bird...
forum.ultimatepheasanthunting.com forum.ultimatepheasanthunting.com

These were just over 24 inches and were the longest we saw over several years in the Texas panhandle and Kansas.

Cass
 
You know it's a good one when it's flying away and the last couple inches are waving "bye-bye" to you with every wing beat...

Got one yesterday that was 24-1/4"...
 
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That's a nice long tail.

I never really measure tails but if I got one unusually long I'd most likely put a tape on it. I give the tails to fly tiers, and my grandson to sword fight with :)
 
24+ is a good one here. Over the last 4 years or so, I have keep most tail feathers (1 or 2 from each, many none from the real short tailed ones) from my birds, I had one over 25 inches (kept that one seperate), there were 2 in my stashes of old feathers that were 24.25" (likely the same bird) and new feathers from this season (41 birds) 23" is as long as I have harvested. This was from maybe 200 feathers I have. NW IA looks to NOT be the home for long tail feathers! Have one on the wall, long spurs and 2 at the taxidermist, also long spured, that might have decent length, but over 25...I have seen pics of just 2 others locally around here, so pretty uncommon locally.
 
remy3424 said:
Nugent, so they gave the feather back? If so, did they mark it some way, so that feather can't be re-entered in future contests? Guessing they clip the tip or something to prevent this? If not, your buddies should all be taking turns scoring new shotguns with that one!
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You have to bring the whole bird in.They take the feather. They gave mine back to me.Another time, I won some shells.Anything over 26 inches is very long, in Montana, and might win.
 
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