Cooke canyon?

[Bmcox86]

Going on a free hunt the first weekend of January. Not sure if I can bring my dog yet, but just wondering how there pheasants there fly. Are they runners or they fly good?  Do they have nice flight pens?

Thanks

[lokidog]

I hunted there once, I think it depends how long after they release them you wait to hunt.  Ours stuck tight and just wanted to get my dog on a couple of birds.

[GrampasGuns]

The place is nice, and certainly good fun but I will say that the birds dont fly for crap. I missed 2 out of 5 and they only flew for about 50 yards then landed, which would never happen in the wild. Not good for a young pointing dog, he tried to chase every one after that. Lots of work to be done now.

[Stilly bay]

The place is nice, and certainly good fun but I will say that the birds dont fly for crap. I missed 2 out of 5 and they only flew for about 50 yards then landed, which would never happen in the wild. Not good for a young pointing dog, he tried to chase every one after that. Lots of work to be done now.

I don't know about cooke canyon. but I always keep a check cord on young dogs when working with pen raised birds, just not worth the set back. even at the release sites its a good idea to keep a check cord on a pup, there are always cripples that will temp a dog.

[gasman]

Late in the season they normally hold tight. We had to darn near kick a few birds out last March when we there last but know earlyier in the season they fry great, or at least thats what I have heard from guys that went before I normally hit there.


I love the place and so does my Lab 

[jplmyers]

Great place, great people, I've always had a great time.

The place is nice, and certainly good fun but I will say that the birds dont fly for crap. I missed 2 out of 5 and they only flew for about 50 yards then landed, which would never happen in the wild. Not good for a young pointing dog, he tried to chase every one after that. Lots of work to be done now.

If you want to shoot birds that act wild, shoot wild birds.  If you can accept that they aren't wild, and all the behaviors that mark pen-raised birds, then you won't be disappointed.  Young pups shouldn't be put in a situation that lends itself to high risk of failure or confusion anyway, 9 times out of 10 it will create more problems. 

I have done 4-5 iterations there, never an issue with flyers.  On the contrary, two of the five birds typically move before I get there.

[wildweeds]

Went to the Acme club yesterday for a chukar bonanaza,the chukars got up and went and when they did  they went with purpose.As soon as the dog moved a step towards them they were on the go getting out of dodge.The phez he had there in the pen were real quality looking birds as well.

[jetjockey]

I hunt in PA every year on a 500-600 acre farm that is all released birds.  The flight pen is on property and its 5 acres and 14 ft tall.  They raise 14-20 thousand birds a year for released hunts and springer trials.  The flight pen has crops grown inside it (milo/sorghum) and supplemental feed is used without human interaction. They release 500 birds on the farm 30 days before the start of the season and then they release birds throughout the season to supplement the farm.  You get charged by how many birds you kill, and not how many are released because they are constantly releasing birds.  The birds run, hold, and fly exactly like early season SD pheasants.  If I didn't know they were released birds, I wouldn't know the difference from wild birds.  If you miss, the birds fly, and fly, and fly.  We watched one rooster fly well over 600 yards right off the farm, and I don't remember seeing any bird fly off less than a couple hundred.  Poor flying released birds are a result of poor breeding and raising practices.  I had no idea what all went into a good pheasant operation until I started going to PA.  The owner is very picky about his pens, breeding, feed, and keeping human interaction away from his birds, and it shows. He also plants sorghum, and other crops to keep the birds coming back to his farm.  If done properly, released birds can be just as wild as early season wild birds. It's too bad nobody in WA has a good released bird program that truly mimics  wild birds, but it can be done.

[singleshot12]

  That's great to hear jetjockey, I always knew it was possible with a little more effort to create QUALITY Pheasant release hunting. Thanks for posting your POSITIVE experience in PA and hopefully Washington will learn and follow.

[huntingfool7]

Have no experience with Cooke Canyon. 

Pheasants run, it's part of hunting pheasants both wild and pen reared.  Poor quality sickly pheasants are the ones that don't run or fly. 
If you want birds that will almost always stay put, use chukars or pigeons.

[ctwiggs1]

what the heck is chukar bonanza??

[wildweeds]

Chukar Bonanaza is what I call it, turn out 12-16 chuks let em set awhile for the scent to get spreading   while shooting the bull and drinking coffee with the owner and then get the yearlings out and hammer away at them,point em or knock em.Best part was there wasn't any knocking going on and all four did a bang up job.

what the heck is chukar bonanza??

[Navajo97]

My dad won a year membership to Cooke Canyon last year. He received a free hunt and we bought extra birds. This was in January 2012 and birds ran and flew on us. Out of 12 birds I think we got 7. The five that we didn't get were runners that would not hold still for the dogs and flushed way out of range. We were surprised to say the least.

[WCTaxidermy]

What do they charge for Pheasants there? 

[cem3434]

Go to Whiskey Dick in between Ellensburg and Vantage.  Their birds are cheaper, fly better and you can bring your own dog if you want to or hunt over one of their dogs for a fee. They have roosters, hens and chuckars, which I think they are charging $20-$30 a bird.  The last time I called Cooke Canyon, he was charging the same prices, but you also had to buy an $85 a year membership. 

I might be a little bias because one of the partners of Wiskey Dick is one of my Superintendents. His name is Colby, so give him a shout at 253-405-7503 to set up a hunt.