The Biggest Mistakes Pheasant Hunters Make
Cutting down on mistakes in the field will result in more birds in your game bag. Photo by Anthony Hauck / Pheasants Forever
In my 44 years of pheasant hunting, I’ve made all the mistakes there are to make…or I’ve seen others make them.
The biggest – and most common – mistake I see is hunters walking too fast through cover, any cover, but especially thick cover. I’ve done it too, but did it more when I was younger. I understand it too: some folks just don’t know how to walk slow, but many just do it because they are so hyped up or their dogs are out of control and they try to keep up (this is hopeless…you will never keep up with a hard running dog). Train and get an e-collar to cure this.
Anyway, you should not only walk slow, but stop every 20 or so yards…especially in heavy cover. I can’t tell you how many roosters I’ve shot in cover when my feet were standing still …or birds I’ve killed that got up behind me from a dog that knows better than to hunt too fast. Rule #1: Trust the dog, follow the dog, and watch the dog…always.
Pheasants are nervous critters. They just freak out when they think you know where they are, which is what they think when you stop. I remember once in Minnesota, a buddy and I stopped at the end of a drive and were talking. After a few minutes, first one rooster got up to my right and then another to my left. I bagged both of them by just turning one way, then the other. Easy shots.
The second biggest mistake pheasant hunters make is making too much noise with car doors, talking, etc. Especially in late season, this just chases the birds off. I’ve seen them fly away many times. Save the yacking for the end of a drive.
Third, I’d say too many pheasant hunters shoot too soon. This results in a hit where the bird is destroyed and inedible or a miss because the pattern is too tight. Show a little confidence…let the bird get out a bit before shooting.
So folks, slow it down, be quiet and let those close in roosters take a few wing beats before shooting and you’ll put more pheasant on your dinner table. Yum. Can you think of other mistakes?
The Nomad is written by Mark Herwig, Editor of the Pheasants Forever Journal and Quail Forever Journal. Email Mark at mherwig@pheasantsforever.org.
Tags: pheasant hunting, pheasant hunting mistakes, Pheasants, pheasants forever
12 Responses to “The Biggest Mistakes Pheasant Hunters Make”
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If you are at the end of a drive and haven’t shot, give a blow on your “sound of an action opening” call to draw out wiley roosters.
but seriously, don’t forget to practice quickly and safely reloading – particularly break action guns – so you can be ready for another shot. The wise ones always jump when I’m reloading!!
Mark When my dogs loose a hot trail I stop dead in my tracks. Once I stop it calms my dogs down and they start making ever increasingly larger circles trying to pick up the scent. It took me a few years to figure out what they were doing but once we were on the same page the roosters were in trouble. My dogs were patient with me. Yes Mark slow down but especially when your dog gets birdy and seems to loose the scent. It is very gratifying when after taking the time to pick up the scent a second time to add another well earned pheasnt to the vest.
The birds hearing is excellent and less noise the better. I love to watch the dogs ears listening to the birds move or chirping. The best times are getting an old bird in Minnesota in December. It’s all about watching that dog work his heart out for you.
Go slow and truly enjoy your hunt.
After snow moving slow is especially important. They hold rock solid and dont have much of a scent stream and can easily be walked on by if the dogs are moving too fast.
Pheasants hear animals walking around all the time;deer , cows ,horses, bears etc. Unless you open your piehole and start jabbering they wont know it is a hunter. Hunting sparse wild Montana pheasants,we use hand signals, whistle softly, and use e collars. After a polite discussion, if someone insists on making lots of human noise(“good dog, nice shot, come back here” etc) we are not likely to hunt with that person again.
One mistake I see people do is on opening day not hunting a field where someone else just hunted. I have killed a lot of public land roosters after a group of guys literally just walked through it. Same goes for after walking through cover, walking back through it on the way back to the truck. Many people think if it has been hunted it isn’t good for a few days…not always the case.
I get the noise issue but you all make it sound as if once you take a shot you might as well head back to the truck and go somewhere else.
I wonder a lot about this slow walking vs. keeping up with the dog. I’ve hunted with GSPs most of my life, and they just don’t like to waste time if there’s no bird there…..and they always seem to go where the birds are and were they aren’t. This is my 5th year with my current dog, and I’ve yet to have a rooster get up behind him. Now that I’m 65, I’d rather walk slow, but I think I get more shots if I stick with my dog.
I agree walking too fast through cover is the number 1 reason for missing opportunities to shoot roosters especially early to mid season. Stealth is more important in the later portion of the season, than early on. Modern shotguns are great since you can adjust your chokes to the time of the season, but patience is always the best policy
On walking:
1. I often see too many hunters walking in a straight line, especially at the end of the day when they are tired. It is better to zig-zag your way across afield, in say, 10-15 yard fetches. This way you cover more ground and sometimes thwart the wily holding pheasant or one that tries to sneak behind you.
2. When hunting in a group, instead of a straight line abreast formation we use a slight semicircle or open “U” formation. This tends to force the birds into the center for shorter shots. We employ the zig-zag walking pattern within the U in short fetches in a coordinated way. We also place left handed shooters to the right and right handed shooters to the left in the U.
The scent follows the pheasant; the dog follows the scent; and I think its best if I follow the dog.
Great comments everybody. You are an experienced lot. Thanks David on the zig-zag comment — I certainly do this and it helps; also, when my dog is on a hot scent, I pick up the pace to stay in range, though I’ll call him back if he’s getting too far out — and he usually finds the bird when we catch up again.
Brian, a big 10-4…….I’ve shot birds off ground other hunters walked just minutes before because I zig-zagged, went slow and stopped off and on. AW,after shooting, some birds certainly run and even fly off, but some, especially younger birds early season, still think they can hide out and remain in play.
Comments sound mostly to be from gentleman hunting behind flushing dogs. I sure wouldn’t want to be following-up in a field my dog just ran. It would be a long and boring day. I am not saying he never misses a bird in a large cover field, but he finds most of them. Besides if most pointing breed pheasant hunters are like me, they would take 1 rooster originating from a solid point over ten (10) taken as wild flushers. When I was younger the number of birds was very important but I believe most hunters evolve with time. What can be better than have your buddy shoot a bird over your dogs point and retrieve, and besides he always brings the bird to me
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