tips for Pheasants

[jdbuckshot]

Im headed to Nebraska & SD hunting phesants and ducks nest week for 4 days. My lab has never pheasant hunted, but im pritty confident that she can do it. shes good and a whistle and all that jazz, and she got no problem hunting. so i figure im just gonna turn her loose, keep her out in front, and hit the sit whistle when she jumps one, and go from there.

Also, can anyone recomend some good dog boots, her feet are soft from the hardwood floor! ive been putting that blue crap on em to toughen up, but im gonna get her some boots before we go.

JD

[B3]

I just got back from shooting those ditch parrots in SD in the snow which was a blast. I've always just kept my dog non slip at heel while other dogs did the flushing. I do that because the other dogs are not steady to flush and it creates problems when yours is the only steady one. I usually only let mine retrieve the long sailing birds the other dogs didn't see go down.

If you use boots get them and let your dog get used to them before you go.

Have fun,

Bill

[DavidR]

I just got back from SD and some of the best Pheasant hunting I've ever been involved with. 20 minute limits. You will find like B3 said that most of the "local" dogs are not steady to the flush or shot. I kept my dog at heel the whole time. I did allow him to quarter while we were "cleaning up" after the final war at the end of the drive. You really should not need to do the doggie boots, and if you don't try them on the dog at least before going make sure and video it.

[taddy1340]

Hey guys. I just moved from ND. In case you were wondering, most labs up there aren't steady to wing and shot because a crippled rooster hitting the ground will be gone! I want my two labs to be on them ASAP for better retrieving. Nothing like a wily rooster on the run. Some of the best dog work I've seen was trailing a crippled rooster.

Good luck on your trip!

Mike

[jdbuckshot]

i'll guess i'll find out tomarrow,

we are heading out tomarrow mourning xo we can scout that afternoon and be ready for in the mourning. I think keeping you dog at heel is useless, unless you just want him to fetch birds.

JD

[hawkeye]

Best pheasant dogs are the experienced ones, that have figured out some of the tricks of a wily rooster. But you will need a heck of a retriever because wounded pheasants don't give up. Probably won't need boots that far north, now if you're quail hunting in OK or TX they would be needed. But like the guy said, get your dog used to them BEFORE you go.

[jdbuckshot]

the duck dogs are now dual purpose Dogs! after running across the first one or two cocks, the dogs figured out how to trial a rooster and it was on after that, wore the dogs slap out, hunted ducks in the mourning and pheasants till dark for 3 1/2 days. no breaks! we came home early because the dogs were wearing out. Ole Pace has been asleep all day!

Jd

[Dutch Dog]

Missy got her first taste of Kansas Pheasant hunting last week. We hunted 3 days straight. The 3rd day she wanted to go BAD. Left her in the kennel in the back of the truck. She went nuts...Could hear her whining and barking 300 yards away easy. I told the guys I'd let her out when we got back to the truck. Made 2 300 yard (give or take) passes and put her back up. There are no briars or sand burs or whatever, only CRP grass. Her feet were a little tender from 2 FULL days of tromping through it, but she was still ready to go. She slept all day Wednesday, then slept all day Thursday on the way home...10 hr drive. She did pretty good...quartered like a friggin champion...never got over 25-30 yds away, and never got over probably 30 degree angle to either side. The wind made it unbelievably hard to pick up scent....and you wouldn't believe the way those things can hide in the CRP grass. If a dog can lose a bird after pulling it's tail feathers out when chasing it...that ought to tell you something. I believe we killed 8 roosters, 1 prairie chicken, and 3 quail, the one day the weather cooperated.

[hawkeye]

Hey Dutch, it was EXTREMELY dry in KS when I was out there last weekend, made it very difficult for the dogs to smell anything. It is alot better when it rains on the birds, it causes them to have to preen, and stimulates the oil glands, thus producing scent. Also the moist air holds scent better. My shorthairs had a little trouble the first day, but realized that strong scent would not be a luxury and started trailing lighter scent, and found more birds. And yes, it is amazing how well they can hide, probably even hide in a solid green St. Augustine lawn.

[Dutch Dog]

Was wondering....I always thought wet conditions made it harder for a dog to smell stuff...but I couldn't remember. I saw it first hand that the dry conditions made it difficult to smell...only when we were up there I was thinking it was the wind, and not dry conditions...because the day we didn't have much wind we killed the birds. The place we were hunting was probably 500 acres of varying habitat, bordered on the east and west by LARGE cut milo fields...with large crp grass fields bordering those fields on this guy's property. The eastern-most field held the largest concentration of pheasants, probably because it was the thickest. The western-most field held more quail. We knocked down a couple of birds that looked as if they exploded when shot, and didn't find either bird...even though I was there within 5-7 seconds with the dog...and 3 of us searching as well. We also felt like we needed more people to cover the fields. We started zig-zagging the field to completely cover it...as we felt the birds were also holding very tight...several jumped up after we passed through. Wild pheasants could very easily be unhuntable if they wanted to.

[hawkeye]

You are exactly right, if they decide they don't want to be seen, then they just won't. I actually stepped on a hen while walking in stomach deep CRP, didn't know what it was at first, all I knew was it was squirming, and hitting the dead grass making a "rattle" sound, scared the chit out of me, I thought rattler, then she flushed. Windy conditions and 2 of us making passes through milo fields was pretty productive. Thick CRP is where the most birds are, but also is the hardest to hunt. We opted to stay in the thinner CRP patches and let my shorthairs work into the wind, also pretty productive. We were fortunate to not lose a bird, but we did come close a time or two. Shot a rooster down in a wheat field, that had a wing and a leg broken IN HALF, he only made it about 200 yards before the dogs and I caught up with him. Roosters are alot more elusive than the hens, they don't even try. They sit tight for the pointers, make for a fun hunt, but the roosters are anywhere from 20 to 500 yards away when the dogs lock up on where they WERE. Quail out there are basically the same as in TX and OK, they are very tough, and they love to run. Flushed several coveys wild, watched every single go down, and found maybe one or two singles off by themselves 150 yards away, all taking place within 3 or 4 minutes. If those same coveys would have flushed here at home, we could have possibly found every single within 25 feet of where they went down, it is strange how different they are, must be different sub species.

[Guns Up]

Hey Dutch to confirm the answer you want it damp to wet out there, the birds will produce more sent thus leaving more sent on the crp or what ever cover they are in. I see this is an old post but field experience is where it is at. Now you let them dogs flush and get a taste of those chickens and they will catch on fast but just remember keep them close and if you can while you are walking change directions from straight to left to right, like you are quatering and the dogs will pick up on that some later then sooner but hey you are killing 2 birds with one round just my 2c...

[hawkeye]

Another thing I do when I get in the really thick stuff is to stop for 20 or 30 seconds every 15 to 20 yards. As long as the birds hear you walking, they know where you are, but when you quit walking, they get nervous, thus causing them to flush out of fright.

[Super Black Eagle]

Gonna have to agree with hawkeye.

Saturday we flushed LOTS of birds standing still. With the highs in the low 30's the birds held TIGHT all weekend. It seemed that when we stopped for a minute to let the dogs work, to birds would get nervous and flush after a minute or so.

[Super Black Eagle]

new tip learned this weekend.

do not shoot a rooster at less than 15 yards with #6's and a modified choke.

it looked like a pillow exploded.