Pheasant Hunt

[hunterlee]

Hey all,

 

I'm going pheasant hunting for the first time this coming weekend and just looking for some tips and a little advice. I'm using my 12 guage and wondering what choke and size shot would you all recommend? These are farmed birds so im sure they will be plump and slow so i'm hoping to come back with some great success pictures. Thanks ahead of time.

 

TC LEE

[DUG]

Most places will only let you use 7 1/2's. Try an improved cylinder, light modified or modified choke. Good luck and have fun.

[SteveKDC]

Up in South Dakota where I am from, we used mostly 4 1/2 or 5's. This was on wild birds that typically jump a little earlier. I am not the best bird shooter but when I did get some lead into a bird the bigger shot brought it down more often.

[Chef]

5 shot will do. I prefer a modified choke. 2 3/4" shells will suffice.

 

Save a few tail feathers from your first bird.

I always kick myself for not doing that on my first ever pheasant.

[tjhunt2]

I use a modified remington 870 and shot #6's last week on my very first pheasant hunt. I'ld call it more of a dog training session than a hunt though. I joined a pheasant & chukar preserve to keep my dog active during the off season. I had 5 birds put out and was able to kill all 5 with the help of Ted (aka jackshoe).

 

If you take Chef's advise, pick up an issue of this months Outdoor Life. They have an article on how to cut and preserve your pheasant hide. I'm going to try it on my next pheasant. Good luck and take some pictures to show us. Here is a picture of Lexie and I last Tuesday.

 

Lexie's first pheasant outing.

 

TJ

[hunterlee]

thanks for the great advice and thanks tj for the pictures. I'll be heading out sunday so I hope to get some pictures up on monday. And that is a great idea about keeping the tail feathers. I'll be sure to check out this months issue of outdoor life. Oh and tj, great looking lab.

 

TC

[tjhunt2]

hunterlee, how did your pheasant hunt go on Sunday/ I hope I didn't miss your post somewhere. Jackshoe and I took our dogs out before work today and got some good training in. Ted's dogs are awesome pointers and I couldn't be more pleased with Lexie's progress. Here is a picture of our morning session.

 

 

TJ

[hunterlee]

hunterlee, how did your pheasant hunt go on Sunday/ I hope I didn't miss your post somewhere. Jackshoe and I took our dogs out before work today and got some good training in. Ted's dogs are awesome pointers and I couldn't be more pleased with Lexie's progress. Here is a picture of our morning session.

 

 

TJ

Hey TJ,

 

The hunt went great, I will post pictures this afternoon. I appologize for the delay, this week has been a crazy one. We were up at the YMCA high desert hunt club and everyone up there is very personable, that was my first time up there and it seems like a "one-stop-shop" From bird hunting to fishing, horseback riding and clay shooting, they've got it all. The only issue we had was the skeet walk-through wasn't set-up with clays, so we had to find the clays and just set up one of the shooters ourselves. I'm guessing cause it's close to the end of the season for them so they were in the process of closing things down for the summer. But besides that i'm hooked. I loved watching those dogs stalk and point. I think the most amazing part is when one of the dogs would find a bird, the other dog would stop and honor the others point and sort of back him up. It's incredible. Like I said, I hope to have a couple pictures up this afternoon. Thanks for posting yours TJ.

 

Happy hunting,

TC

[SteveKDC]

Watching some great dogs on birds has got to be one of the best sights in the world. I know that I have missed more than one bird from watching the dogs, at least that's my story.