Desert Pheasant Recreation "HORRIBLE"

[AZbowhntr]

Well if I had known you were pheasant hunting you could have come over to my neighborhood. We had one running around loose the other day. Came to find out that one of our neighbors raises them and it go loose. Ran free for almost a week though.

[Swivelhead]

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. Thanks for a heads up on this operation as I had considered going there myself just to watch some good dog work (and bag a few pheasants).

Planted pen raised birds for local field trials a very long time ago. Hunting pen raised birds with dogs that are not broke to wing & shot is ugly. Pen raised birds that have not spent a few weeks in a flight pen about can't get off the ground. Birds from flight pens do OK but are only good for 1 or 2 flushes.

Too bad the handler didn't put the dogs on check cords. The dogs could have learned to hold a point and your group could have shot flushing birds you paid for.

[cactusjack]

I went back in 2001 or 2002 also. It sucked! I thought it was because I had just gotten out of the Air Force and had just moved back from Nebraska, I thought that I had set the bar too high. Nope apparently it just plain sucked. I had taken kids in Nebraska to a hunt club to get them ready to hunt wild birds, I had expected a similar experience. It wasn't. I will make the drive to Kansas or Neb or fly to the Dakotas before I give those guys another cent. Sorry you got burned.

[jonesface]

I went to the other place and i don't remember what it was called. It was a single guy who owned it and he used to work there, but has his own fields in Maricopa. It was alright, and I took my dad with me and the birds looked like in the same condition you were talking about. He hired some extreme red neck young couple to help them out. I notice the same thing when he said "once the bird flies and lands its a dead bird" so you shot at it anyways even if its a bad shot! Dogs kept pointing a dead feathers and one bird couldn't even fly. Once I plucked the feathers off I knew why! There was almost no meat on the breast. It didn't even have enough muscle to fly. I bagged out and my dad got two. Over all it was alright but nothing great. It was more of a "just to say we did it" kind of thing.

I went to this one as well. I believe its called "Arizona Pheasant and Chukar". I had a bad experience as well. The guy released the birds right in front of us and told us we can only hunt in this one specific field and only between these 3 corn rows. He said if the birds run into any of the other fields they get away.(But we still paid for them which is to be expected) He also laughed when I said I wont need any of his dogs help and that I will be using my Britt. My dog found every bird in the field we were allowed to hunt and held point very well on all of the birds. We didn't find 3 birds at the end of the hunt. He said: "You are missing 3 birds let me let my dogs out and get some exercise and see if we can find them." He let out about 6 dogs all at once and my dog was put back into the kennel. His dogs were running all over the place including the fields we were not allowed to hunt. All three birds had ran into fields we were not allowed to hunt. At the end of the day he said "Usually if you bring your own dog and I have to get mine out to find the rest of the birds I charge you more but Im just being a nice guy today."(He was fishing for a tip) I didn't give him one because I told him I didn't ask you to bring your dogs out that was his choice. If I did it again I would only buy the Chukars because they would hold real well.

Pen raised birds seem to always have short tail feathers. The only way to get really long tail feathers is to shoot wild pheasants. I went wild pheasant hunting a couple years ago and all the roosters had 20" tail feathers.

[Tac]

I,m just grateful to have a opportunity to fly to SD and hunt on private family land every year with my cousin. Pheasant hunting is a blast and they are a very sporting bird in the wild.

[Zeke-BE]

 

I went to the other place and i don't remember what it was called. It was a single guy who owned it and he used to work there, but has his own fields in Maricopa. It was alright, and I took my dad with me and the birds looked like in the same condition you were talking about. He hired some extreme red neck young couple to help them out. I notice the same thing when he said "once the bird flies and lands its a dead bird" so you shot at it anyways even if its a bad shot! Dogs kept pointing a dead feathers and one bird couldn't even fly. Once I plucked the feathers off I knew why! There was almost no meat on the breast. It didn't even have enough muscle to fly. I bagged out and my dad got two. Over all it was alright but nothing great. It was more of a "just to say we did it" kind of thing.

I went to this one as well. I believe its called "Arizona Pheasant and Chukar". I had a bad experience as well. The guy released the birds right in front of us and told us we can only hunt in this one specific field and only between these 3 corn rows. He said if the birds run into any of the other fields they get away.(But we still paid for them which is to be expected) He also laughed when I said I wont need any of his dogs help and that I will be using my Britt. My dog found every bird in the field we were allowed to hunt and held point very well on all of the birds. We didn't find 3 birds at the end of the hunt. He said: "You are missing 3 birds let me let my dogs out and get some exercise and see if we can find them." He let out about 6 dogs all at once and my dog was put back into the kennel. His dogs were running all over the place including the fields we were not allowed to hunt. All three birds had ran into fields we were not allowed to hunt. At the end of the day he said "Usually if you bring your own dog and I have to get mine out to find the rest of the birds I charge you more but Im just being a nice guy today."(He was fishing for a tip) I didn't give him one because I told him I didn't ask you to bring your dogs out that was his choice. If I did it again I would only buy the Chukars because they would hold real well.

Pen raised birds seem to always have short tail feathers. The only way to get really long tail feathers is to shoot wild pheasants. I went wild pheasant hunting a couple years ago and all the roosters had 20" tail feathers.

 

 

 

Funny how that happen! The Last bird I spotted and it took the dogs another min to find it.

[hoghntr]

I had similar exp there. The 1st bird the dog pointed on the guide walked in kicking his feet thru the green until he actually kicked the bird (he must have spun to hard when planting) guide picked up bird he had just booted 6 Or so yards snapped its neck and put in my vest and said congrats. 😡

[Yoshi]

Just an idea

 

High Desert Hunt Club. Org

 

They did the youth camp and was great!!!

[AZ_Native]

I went to this place earlier this year. My experience wasn't altogether bad. I took a coworker in from out of town and we each got 5 chukar and 5 pheasant. I would not call the bird handler a conversationalist, bu any stretch. The dog handler was pretty nice. I set my expectations appropriately. It's a canned hunt. Some birds may fly off and get away. We had two birds jump fields but we were ale to take the time to get them. Her dogs did pretty good, and yes, she had to "kick" a couple up. That was my ethical dilemma of this hunt. But, like I said, I knew where to set my expectations. Later in the season they run specials with leftover birds, so we each got 10 birds pretty cheap. I have a less than two year old Chocolate Lab that has turned out to be 100% naturally gifted at hunting. I plan on taking him out early season to see if he picks up on this type of hunting as he has only been a duck and dove pup so far. He seems to have the nose for it, so this is where I see this scenario working out to "place" the birds nearby and let him have some success finding them, then see if it translates to him developing the nose for it. Sucks to hear someone have such a horrible story at this place. I am not defending them, but even though my experience wasn't terrible (I would call it average at best) it's a bummer to hear someone paid that much money and get a raw deal/experience. But, I can easily see how this place could make a bad hunt for someone else. I have heard a lot of great things about the place up North and definitely plan on getting up there with the dog. I'll hit the place in Coolidge just for a quicker road trip to get my pup some experience.

[Tres]

I went to this place earlier this year. My experience wasn't altogether bad. I took a coworker in from out of town and we each got 5 chukar and 5 pheasant. I would not call the bird handler a conversationalist, bu any stretch. The dog handler was pretty nice. I set my expectations appropriately. It's a canned hunt. Some birds may fly off and get away. We had two birds jump fields but we were ale to take the time to get them. Her dogs did pretty good, and yes, she had to "kick" a couple up. That was my ethical dilemma of this hunt. But, like I said, I knew where to set my expectations. Later in the season they run specials with leftover birds, so we each got 10 birds pretty cheap. I have a less than two year old Chocolate Lab that has turned out to be 100% naturally gifted at hunting. I plan on taking him out early season to see if he picks up on this type of hunting as he has only been a duck and dove pup so far. He seems to have the nose for it, so this is where I see this scenario working out to "place" the birds nearby and let him have some success finding them, then see if it translates to him developing the nose for it. Sucks to hear someone have such a horrible story at this place. I am not defending them, but even though my experience wasn't terrible (I would call it average at best) it's a bummer to hear someone paid that much money and get a raw deal/experience. But, I can easily see how this place could make a bad hunt for someone else. I have heard a lot of great things about the place up North and definitely plan on getting up there with the dog. I'll hit the place in Coolidge just for a quicker road trip to get my pup some experience.

The place up north shut down this year. I haven't had a bad experience at DPR. People have to remember that they are pen raised birds, They don't fly or flush like wild birds do. If you miss the bird and you go chase it again it won't fly as well as it did on the first flush, heck, they may not fly at all.

I can see how an handler can get frustrated when their dogs work hard to find birds and the shooter can't hit a dang thing.

I'm happy to hear that your experience wasn't bad.

[azruger]

I am going to take my 2 boys and daughter there this year. I will back them up. Went there a few years ago with my uncle cousin and 2 nephews had a blast. It's not wild hunting but still a blast for the kids.

[AZ_Native]

 

I went to this place earlier this year. My experience wasn't altogether bad. I took a coworker in from out of town and we each got 5 chukar and 5 pheasant. I would not call the bird handler a conversationalist, bu any stretch. The dog handler was pretty nice. I set my expectations appropriately. It's a canned hunt. Some birds may fly off and get away. We had two birds jump fields but we were ale to take the time to get them. Her dogs did pretty good, and yes, she had to "kick" a couple up. That was my ethical dilemma of this hunt. But, like I said, I knew where to set my expectations. Later in the season they run specials with leftover birds, so we each got 10 birds pretty cheap. I have a less than two year old Chocolate Lab that has turned out to be 100% naturally gifted at hunting. I plan on taking him out early season to see if he picks up on this type of hunting as he has only been a duck and dove pup so far. He seems to have the nose for it, so this is where I see this scenario working out to "place" the birds nearby and let him have some success finding them, then see if it translates to him developing the nose for it. Sucks to hear someone have such a horrible story at this place. I am not defending them, but even though my experience wasn't terrible (I would call it average at best) it's a bummer to hear someone paid that much money and get a raw deal/experience. But, I can easily see how this place could make a bad hunt for someone else. I have heard a lot of great things about the place up North and definitely plan on getting up there with the dog. I'll hit the place in Coolidge just for a quicker road trip to get my pup some experience.

The place up north shut down this year. I haven't had a bad experience at DPR. People have to remember that they are pen raised birds, They don't fly or flush like wild birds do. If you miss the bird and you go chase it again it won't fly as well as it did on the first flush, heck, they may not fly at all.

I can see how an handler can get frustrated when their dogs work hard to find birds and the shooter can't hit a dang thing.

I'm happy to hear that your experience wasn't bad.

 

 

I agree. If you miss the first chance, then it just makes things harder. My buddy and I are both good shots. Out of the 20 there was only one bird that really got away, and we were able to find him and whack him anyways. For those that are going to take kids I would be very clear with DPR what "your" expectation is for what a successful hunt looks like (being realistic of what this really is). The customer should be able to express that and have it met. There were a couple times the first shot was missed and the backup shot got it. That certainly helps! I am looking forward to getting out there this year and testing my dog out. I am holding high hopes he does well!!!

[wildwoody]

Sounds like a puppy broker, when your ready to find az diamonds and clams let me no and I promise I won't charge you and you will be successful