It could be a good year for pheasants

[tlbradford]

Missed the general firearm season for deer, hopefully I'll get some time during late buck if work doesn't tie me up.  I did skip church this morning and took my old dog out for some pheasant hunting, but the Good Lord blessed us anyways.  We limited in the first area we hit.  I got a double, but lost the second bird in a fast moving creek.  We picked up a single about 15 minutes later.  I saw a good number of hens and watched a group get up about 20 birds and four or five roosters at a different location.  I saw three other roosters in the field I was hunting, but they were in the stubble and running for the hills.  There were three roosters in the group where I got a double, but I shoot an O/U, so there are at least four leftin that area.  I'll get a couple of pics up soon.  My golden is dead tired from bucking the 5 foot high grass, and most of his hearing is gone, but his nose is still working.  I'll hunt with him appreciating this season, since it may be his last, and if I get a bonus season or two, it will be great.

[Intruder]

Glad to hear you had such a good opener.  I had just the opposit experience.  There are definitely some birds around but we sure didn't see the numbers I'm used to seeing on the opener.  Maybe they're just really spread out in the area we were in.  Good job on the limit and keep posting your hunt results.

[T-Bone]

Yes, congratulations on your limit. I did O.K. on Tuesday in bagging a rooster and a couple of quail. I have to agree with Intruder in that I'm seeing fewer birds, locally.

 

[Intruder]

Well, my experience on the upland birds in the Palouse country is still holding true.  Very tough this year.  I have access to some really good properperty down around Colfax and Oaksdale and I'm just not seeing anything for numbers of birds like I'd expect.  I also completely stepped on my pecker when it came to the 2 shots I got.  Broke my cardinal rule about trusting the dog and didn't follow him when he got birdy.  Ended up w/ a 40 yard flush and a subsequent miss.  Later, I caught my stock in my vest.... same results.  All in all on Sat:  hunted about 7 1/2 hours saw 4 roosters, 5 hens and 1 covey of quail.  On an average year hunting the same ground I would expect to see 12 or more roosters 20 or more hens and 2 or 3 coveys of quail and a covey of huns. 

Hope all of you are doin better.  I picked a lousy year to decide to not go to MT for birds.

[missinmt]

Never too late for a hunt to big sky! 

[tlbradford]

Man you guys are bumming me out.  Maybe I was just in a pocket that was holding quite a few birds.  I guess I will see how it goes as the season progresses.  Here is my dog and his trophies.  And my girl helping me bring them into the house.

[ArtistNhunter2]

Great pics! Nice looking golden, I have one too. They are perfect pheasant hunters.
Also, looks like you have a pretty hunting partner for the future.

[Intruder]

Happy dog....

I also have a golden.  Been hunting them for about 15 years now.  I luv em.  Sometimes a challenge finding good breeders for hunting lines.... lots of show dogs out there.

[rbarchi]

Never hunted under a golden, but they are sweet dogs that seem to obey very well. My buddy and I went to ND for their opener (on private land). Two days saw 500 birds (yup that is two zeros). Tanked too many shots. headed west to Mt. saw about 150 birds in 2 hunts. Came to washington for the opener .... saw 15 birds in 3 hunts..... The only thought was Why... did.... I.... come..... back?... Actually the Wa. hunts were very fun. There were lots o quail.  We were hunting 1 GSP and 2 english setters. My setter was really learning how to hunt!. Kept thinking.. gosh I do not remember that training session with him..... good dog!. He started to retrieve birds by grabbing their heads.....

[sisu]

I've seen a ton of hens where we have been hunting, so maybe with some good weather this coming spring they'll have a good hatch. We were stopped by the game warden last time out and we told him of all the hens we were seeing. He was real happy to hear that and is hoping for what I stated above. He also said that if the conditions are good a hen will produce anywhere from one to three broods! Now that would be sweet.  Lets hope for a productive spring.

[tlbradford]

I have been out a few more times.  Skunked one afternoon outing, birds were spooky and probably had been hunted that morning.  Only the hens stayed in range.  Picked up two more roosters on a morning hunt, but left one nice 3-4 year old bird for seed.  Not on purpose, I just fired a couple of warning shots at it.  This past Sunday I got a limit.  I was surprised on the first rooster.  The dog was birdy, so I let him work out the scent for about a minute, hoping he would trail it through the foot high heavy brush.  With my shotgun over my shoulder waiting for him, he got up a rooster not ten feet from me.  I missed the first shot but broke a wing on the second.  We were off to the races and about 100 yards later we nabbed him and wrung its neck.  So for those scoring, that was 3 misses in a row.  Flushed 5 and 3 were roosters, two this years hatch and one last year.  It was a lot of fun, the cold weather had them holding tight so four out of the 5 flushed at my feet.  I could see them moving ahead of my dogs nose.  If he was a little younger he probably would have caught them himself.  I forgot my vest at home but luckily I keep ammo stored for all my guns in a box under my seat.  My back-up rounds were Remington #4 with 1-1/4 powder load.  These were not penetrating and providing nice clean kills on two out of three birds. 

My areas have been very hit and miss.  There have been a lot of birds in some areas and nothing in others that have produced birds in the past.  We'll see if any thing moves into some of those areas as the weather continues to get colder.

Good Luck All