We try to go as fast as we can in the pickup while still being able to spot heads, pickup movement and hear them which is about 25-30mph. If you go slower, birds are not used to that and will bolt and keep running much of the time if you slow roll next to them at 10-15mph. I wear ear muffs with sound amplification due to pressure issues and have hearing loss due to that at age 50 but I am no where near as good as my brother 10 years younger with just bare ears. Best technique is your head out the passenger side window which is closer to the ditch. It seems the backseat is better as well since they seem to scoot around just as you pass by them. It's a distinctive swish-swish sound that you pick up on. The wind and gravel noise makes a constant whir or slower whoosh for blowing wind. Even with those sound the furtive movement and sound of a bird is there. The more times you stop and get out on those hunches, the better you get and start to believe in it. The birds held so tight this year in the wind and snow that we saw/heard movement on 75% of the birds we jumped in the ditch while driving. of the 45 birds we got, about 25 of them where taken this way.
The movement of the grass is also distinctive. When you spend a lot of time road hunting the change in motion a moving bird makes catches your eye. The wind causes grass to continually bend one direction or wave slowly as it comes and goes. Bird movement is often against the grain of movement and bends the grass too far or snaps out of place. It's the visual compliment to the swish-swish sound. The snow this year clumped to the grass and made movements so out of the norm that I was too distracted by them and gave up on visual spotting. However the grass seemed more compact and amplified the sound.
As for dogs in the truck, we also spent time with a jack russel that would perch on the front seat arm rest. They are ratters, not retrievers but that just makes their eye sight naturally sharp for small movements. He would whine/yip at the site of birds stirring up ahead in the ditch. We would also turn him lose on downed birds and he would pin them most times and allow me to catch up. A few times he got hold of the backbone of a big rooster that was winged and ended up riding it down the corn row like pony until I lassoed them both.
If you ever get a chance to go out road hunting with a local farmer who grew up hunting pheasants it is, no joke, like and indian guide from a TV western. They hear and see 10x the hidden birds in the ditch that we do and make every short and long shot imaginable. It's the kind of thing that comes naturally when you are born into it and do it all your life. 25 years of riding around with them is an education in a style of hunting that is very different than standing behind a dog. Like the difference between stalking a deer and taking a buffalo on horseback. Both a thrilling experience but unique in their own ways.
). You drive real slow, listening. Very little wind is helpful. Although I don't spend my time doing this anymore, I've heard them. Not very many, but I've heard them. My ears just aren't very good either. Too many years of shotguns, drums & guitars back in the day when nobody considered hearing protection. I have a cousin who hears way more than he sees in ditches. He can usually tell how many birds are in the ditch by listening. Pretty close anyway. It's amazing. This same cousin can sense when a walleye is contemplating sucking on the bait. When they're biting so incredibly light nobody can feel it.....he can feel 'em. It's like ESP. It's really annoying.
