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Pheasant opener

10K views 69 replies 23 participants last post by  Hackman 
#1 ·
#5 ·
One flush with 6 birds, two of which was Roosters. Too close to make it any challenge besides it was in the first 50 yards. Picked up a running Rooster that took the dog 100 yards to put up. The old dog was to worn out after that chase. It was her day anyway, she had fun. I only shoot two Roosters per year off my place so am in no hurry.
 
#9 ·
I work my ass off TRYING to convert my land to Pheasant heaven. The walk hunting I took yesterday was the first time I have been on that portion since last fall or maybe the year before. As I was walking one portion of a field the cover looked absolutely like ****. I have been thinking since yesterday as to how, when, cost and why to improve this area. I am hard ass clay so it is all about soil composition and compaction. I shake my head as I was walking thru chest high Goldenrod and seeing Sorghum stocks from two years ago still standing. I have come to realize after 30 years of development that you have to tackle one problem area at a time, do not look at it as one portion of a field every 3 or 4 years working it. Had another thin field I noticed and brushed hogged it this past late summer. As I was spraying it I saw the problem. The field was full of Quack Grass which means some careful processes to get rid of or control it. This field will be planted late next spring with the PF winter mix so it will be out of it for two years for nesting but next summer will have the pollinators. I brush hog before plowing and prefer fall rather than spring. To many times in the spring trying to prevent my three ton tractor becoming the SS Bismarck.
P.S. On the **** field yesterday I will plow it in opposite direction next fall, I hate plowing up Pheasant nests in the spring.
P.S.S. I only shoot a couple too not be greedy.
 
#10 ·
I work my ass off TRYING to convert my land to Pheasant heaven. The walk hunting I took yesterday was the first time I have been on that portion since last fall
P.S. On the **** field yesterday I will plow it in opposite direction next fall, I hate plowing up Pheasant nests in the spring.
P.S.S. I only shoot a couple too not be greedy.
You might get a little more bang with some predator suppression.
25 dog proof **** traps, and on a small parcel you can really help the hens for cheap.

I'm glad you aren't greedy, not many pheasant hunters think that way.
 
#13 ·
Flushed 4 roosters and 9 hens yesterday. I had one good opportunity at a rooster and missed both shots, Took a hail mary shot at another rooster, and missed.
This morning my dog flushed 5 hens and 4 roosters, no shots fired because I was too busy trying to mark where the first two out of range roosters went, while my dog was working a rooster that was holding tight, going to regret that mistake for a while. This was all public land.
All in a all a good day and half of hunting. Excited to get back out there, the weekend cant come soon enough.
 
#14 ·
My dog and I went out on the 20th on public land in the Thumb. Pointed 3-hens, worked 1-rooster that got up out of range. My observations:

* Standing corn,
* Cover on public is very good,
* Many guys out for a Tuesday opening day,
* Not a much shooting. Heard a couple shots at crack of dawn but that was it for the day,
* Met alot of very nice guys in the parking area and chatted a bit.

It was a beautiful day to be out and my dog had fun. Good luck to all - I wish October was 6-months long. Will get back at it again this weekend.

Frank
 
#19 ·
Finally have a chance to post my results.
1. Opening day, got my limit. Moved 23 birds on public land. Lots of hens. Not as many guys as previous years. Watched a group of guys unload on a HEN that I put up. Gave them some friendly advice on shooting hens and went about my day.
2. Wednesday. Had my limit in 15 minutes put the gun away and worked the dog for the next couple hours. Moved 17 birds on public land again. A lot more mixed between hens and roosters this day. Good start to the season. The dog has a rest day today before heading north for woodcock tomorrow.
 
#27 ·
Well I am a bad example I suppose. Dog and I got out tonight on some public dirt that we haven’t been to yet. Hunted from 5 until 6:45ish. I was shocked at how good the habitat was. I was also shocked that we didnt see a single bird. I did not know where to look. Had fun though and the dog got a good run. He spent half the time having to jump threw I switch grass. So thick he couldn’t run. Wore me out to. Need a little snow to knock that stuff down.
 
#28 ·
Well I am a bad example I suppose. Dog and I got out tonight on some public dirt that we haven’t been to yet. Hunted from 5 until 6:45ish. I was shocked at how good the habitat was. I was also shocked that we didnt see a single bird. I did not know where to look. Had fun though and the dog got a good run. He spent half the time having to jump threw I switch grass. So thick he couldn’t run. Wore me out to. Need a little snow to knock that stuff down.
Don't be too down on yourself.
It's all perspective. I have 57 years walking the field I walked yesterday.
Do you think my not seeing a single track in the mud is because I didn't know where to walk?
 
#29 ·
Oh no, had a great evening. If it was easy it wouldn’t be as fun and the reward wouldn’t be quite as sweet. Didnt see any other hunters which I was happy about, probably because it was wet from the all day rain. The dog and I still have a lot to learn and we are looking forward to it. I am curious if there are any birds out there. I will keep trying until I find out.
 
#31 ·
Hunted hard on Wednesday. Took two days off of work to hunt but the rain shut down that down.

Wednesday we moved 6 roosters and 0 hens which we found odd. 2 roosters ended up coming home with us after some solid dog work. Had three bail out of some private corn and the last one played dirty after beautiful track and point by my dog. Ran right to the edge of gun range and got up going into the sun.

Everything we hunted was public. Birds are there, just have to be willing to walk.
 
#36 ·
Thanks for the heads up I've been doing research was reading they did some work out there with improvements on the grasslands maybe several years ago I'm heading that way Sunday or Monday depending on the weather also looking at a place called sharonville
 
#40 ·
Hunted my dads place today. Had a great day moving about a dozen birds total. Only got shots at 3 of them, Hank quartered and flushed really good today, this was only his 3rd hunt. He didn’t mark and retrieve today though. I dont think he could see the bird go down due to the heavy tall cover. Any suggestions? View attachment 592367
That’s not uncommon in heavy cover with a flushing dog.

Part of it depends on how close the dog is to the flush.

If you knock a bird down and the unsteady dog doesn’t rush immediately to the area of the fall, he doesn’t have it marked. So, take the dog over there where you think you hit it and then start the “hunt dead” chant sooner or later they’ll pick up on the scent or you’ll find feathers and the dog will be able to run down the bird. That’s particularly valuable with pheasants.
Essential in dry conditions.
You don’t want to give a wounded bird too much of a Headstart. If you knock it down head to the area of the fall right now. Pronto.

If the head didn’t snap back when you shot it, it’s probably going to hit the ground with track shoes on.

I don’t presume that most people have their retriever trained to a “sit to flush“ level, so what I typed was just for the average hunting dog.
i’m gonna add this at the end, because, it’s actually the thing that’s running through my mind before I ever squeeze the trigger.

Is the bird going to be recoverable. People shoot ducks out in the marsh without thinking about that, and make no effort to retrieve them. Pheasants are almost as hard, because they can be flying out over a marsh where you can’t possibly retrieve the bird, and you have to choose not to shoot even though it’s a pop shot.
 
#42 ·
I spent Saturday in the thumb on our old family farm (80 acres). A group of us put up 7 roosters and 2 hens in the morning, no shots fired. Went back out midday to a part of the farm we didnt hit in the morning, dog worked a running bird for about 10 minutes, bird finally flushed and I missed twice. I was pretty dejected and just started walking back, looked back and my pup was giving me the hey not so fast eyes. So I turned around and up goes a young bird, I dropped in on the second shot. Very happy to see it fall as I have feel I should have at least 3 birds in the bag so far, but my shotgun skills have been brutal. Hunted a different part of the state on Sunday, saw 2 hens and 2 roosters, 2 shots fired and more of the same (Misses).
 
#43 ·
Glad to hear this at least I'm hearing there's a population of a few birds here and there I'm headed up towards bad ax some public land heard a few positive info on this area the weather is supposed to be looking good tomorrow Wednesday a long drive to go up there when I'm from the Milford area not here in promising news about west of Milford Eaton county so on so I'm going to go up to this new area and Snoop around kick the grass odds are against me I don't have a dog but I got a young son 23 years old trying to show him the ropes I myself hadn't having fun peasant 25-30 years I'll post it in the information after I do this hunt
 
#45 ·
I found 50 Christmas eve and new year's day last year in about a four hourchunt.I average over a dozen every time last year with some days in the 20's leading up to the last week.One day my dog recovered two cripples and I never fired a round.
It can be good if you have an idea on where they like to be to get away from the pressure.A strong dog with stamina is very helpful In the thick cover.They need to cover a lot of ground speedy.
Dude, you are like a bird god or guru or something. the other thread on woodcock you said you put up 100-150 average on a 3 day weekends. 150 flushes would be an INCREDIBLE SEASON for me. you got some mad bird skills.
 
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