dougdelite: pheasants without a dog? is it possible?

[DouglasR]

Long story short, my cat checked the search history on my new personal at home computer and caught me looking at beagles and Brittanys and threatened to move out if I brought one home so it looks like if I want to become a gentlemanly smallgamesman I'm gonna have to do it without a dog for at least this season.

Have any of you guys ever had success doing this?
I don't think our pheasant hunting's all that great here in Il, but there's a few killed in the public hunting areas every year according to the stats sheets so it's gotta be possible.
They also do these controlled hunts that you have to apply for where I think they release the birds before you go out?
Maybe they just stock it once a year like a pond? Not really sure.
I've never seen pheasant on any of my previous hunting endeavors over the past few years, but last year while pursuing deer I stumbled into some area that looked like they could be pheasant/rabbit habitat and when I went back and checked the stats, sure enough some birds and rabbits had been harvested there.

Does anybody have any tips for the hunter without a dog they'd like to share.
I guess my first plan is to find some public hunting areas that have a lot of tall grass/prairie and just start walking.
I guess through YouTube I've learned about "linear habitat" ie. narrow strips of grass that haven't been mowed and finding those seems like it would be a good bet for a guy without a dog because the dumbass bird is more likely to run out the side or the end into the open as opposed to a big prairie where they can just run or hide anywhere.
I think I saw an area that was mowed like this on my last deer hunting trip last fall.

If I go to one of the controlled hunts without a dog will I look like a horses ass?

Have any of y'all ever been on a trip somewhere just to bird hunt?

Do any factors such as weather or mating season effect the best time to hunt pheasants?
Like do they move more on colder days or anything like that or does that not matter because you're just trying to jump them?

as always, thanks for any tips or help!

 

[Treeshark]

Snow helps for obvious reasons. The birds you’re hunting down there will mainly be planted birds I would assume, which should make things a little easier -they tend to run a lot less.

I do know that road hunting is a very successful (and fun if I’m being honest) method in SD, can’t imagine it would work nearly as well where you are though.

 

[jejack26]

You can walk up pheasants without a dog. Especially multiple folks working together. The problem is any bird hunt without a dog , is just killing birds. Nothing wrong with it, it just not the whole experience. I won't kill a bird without a dog anymore.

Sorry, life without a hunting dog is only half a life.

 

[BuzzH]

I've shot a ton of them without a dog. I'm sure you walk by a lot of them, but I never had trouble killing birds.

 

[kwyeewyk]

Probably less of a problem with pheasant since they're bigger but I stopped hunting chuckar and quail without a dog because I was losing too many after the shot, tough little suckers will crawl in the brush and hide if first shot didn't kill them.

 

[ammo]

I own a hard charging ski dog but she is not a bird dog. My dad and I do a guided pheasant hunt every year in SD with a large group of guys that own a combo of brittanys, labs, etc. plus we hunt with guides who raise dogs. We also grouse hunt with bows (lol) with our pup since she's gun shy. You do not need a dog to pheasant hunt, but if you make friends and are a good teammate with dog people usually pheasant hunting is good with a dog!

 

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[Treeshark]

My dad and I do a guided pheasant hunt every year in SD

It’s been a number of years, but we’ve done the same thing. A guided pheasant hunt in SD isn’t terribly expensive and it is unreal if bird hunting is your thing.

 

[jpcoll01]

Do you have a kid? Some years I was the dog when hunting with Dad and Grandpa

 

[OntarioHunter]

Doug, it might work for released birds. They are sometimes so dumb they have to be kicked in the air. In fact, hunting them with a flushing dog sometimes isn't much fun as the dog will catch a limit without a shot fired.

The big problem will be finding birds you knock down. As gaudy as they are, a dead rooster can still blend into tall grass. I remember a few years ago I found a great new place to hunt with a frozen creek. Ellie pointed a pair of roosters under a cutbank and after missing the first shot I folded one with the follow up. The other bird didn't go far before landing in a patch of wild roses and snowberries on the other side. We hunted up the creek and found a beaver dam to cross. That second bird didn't go far and Ellie found him quickly. The birds in that remote section were incredibly stupid, especially for so late in the season (first week in December). She held it on point for quite a while before it busted. I whacked him good but he glided on for a couple hundred yards before going down. I worked Ellie in that spot for over a half hour but she never even got hot. There was a dry horseshoe slough to our right and I figured we may as well check out the edge. Nothing. So I called her back. It was late and very cold. As she was returning she suddenly locked up not five yards away. She was looking right at my feet. What the ...? I searched the ground between us. Nothing. "Come on, let's get outta here. I'm freezing." Ellie didn't move. "What's wrong with you, dog?" I looked again where she was looking. And then I saw its eye blink. I was almost standing on that rooster's tail. I bent over to pick him up and the damn thing busted right in my face. And right into Ellie's mouth. That dog can jump vertically almost four feet. The rooster was hit low in the back and couldn't use its rudder. That filled the bag and almost my possession limit. The motel room had a kitchenette and I stuffed myself eating two pheasants that night so I could hunt the spot one more day. Anyway, the moral of the story is you can be looking right at a neon rooster in the grass and still not see it.

If the rooster is crippled you will not get it even if you shoot a tire out. With both legs they can give my long legged Lab a run for her money. Several years ago I watched a crippled rooster give my three dogs the run around in a big patch of wet tall yellow clover for more than an hour. Opal finally caught it. Turns out the damn thing was missing one foot plus half the foreleg and the other side was deformed clubfoot. Somewhere I have photos. Not sure what happened. Possibly birth defects or frozen feet. The way that bird was moving I'd never have guessed it was "handicapped." Unless they can be ground pounded with a followup shot, crippled pheasants or Huns are lost without a dog. That is a given.

Mating season for pheasants is spring and season is closed then.

I suggest trying to be friendly with other hunters in the area who have dogs. Who knows, maybe you'll find a grumpy old fart who hunts alone and doesn't mind company once in a while. I know one of those guys.

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

Make friends with a dog owner....

In all seriousness, I think it depends on the cover. Pheasants are great at burying themselves, so that recovery without a dog can be a challenge if you are hunting thick matted grass or cattails. I think another factor is the length of the bird fools people eye and they don't give them as much lead as they should; which equals less hits to the central nervous system, and more work for the dog. If you can get out in front of the bird more you are more likely to stone them, or miss them clean.

 

[WNC2500]

When I have hunted in MT, I have always done it without a dog. I hunt areas and walk areas that I think would be where I would hide if I was a pheasant. That includes ditches, fence rows, rows of bushes, arounds pounds and sloughs, etc. I have shot my limit over the years thinking like the bird.

I do agree that hunting with a dog is about the whole experience. My family and I have hunted in the low country of SC and loved the experience and watching the dogs lock down on a bird.

 

[Irrelevant]

Yes you can do it. Yes it can be fun, one of the best perks is fewer birds to clean. When you're in a likely covert stop and just wait, if they're holding tight eventually they get nervous and bust out.

Plan on losing more birds than you think you will.

Hunting birds with a shitty dog < hunting birds without a dog < hunting birds with a good dog

 

[Deleted member 18333]

I've killed far more pheasants without a dog than with a dog. Hunting without a dog is easy. Finding shot birds without a dog is tougher but not impossible.

 

[MNElkNut]

I have taken trips to MT, SD, ND, and KS. All can be great hunting.

Zig zag. stop. repeat a lot. Go slow, then slower.

Right after a new snow, you can be the dog and track them.

If you knock a bird down, never let your eyes leave the spot it landed and get there as fast as you safely can. Read the previous sentence again!

Good luck and October is a great time to just enjoy a walk!

 

[fulldraw]

I have killed a ton of birds without a dog. Just walk slow and stop ever so often. Hunting behind a dog is great if you have a good one but a poorly trained dog can ruin a good day of hunting.

 

[cedahm]

EDIT: I should have read all the other replies since all of the below has already been said. So consider it reinforcement:


i think I mentioned the other month that I had 1 season after I lost my last two Brits in short order where I hunted solo/dog-less for a whole CO pheasant season. I had some success, including a limit (in CO, a dog-less solo limit on walk in ground is equivalent to a 300” OTC bull, IMO). but it’s pretty difficult with low to medium bird population numbers.

I did learn more about pheasant behavior that one season than in many others combined. You really need to plan and hunt differently. Find small pockets of cover where you can corral birds and go slower than you believe to be humanly possible.

I am a big, fast walker (as you know from following me at ski area bases ) and have fast agile Brits for that reason, I hate to go slow. But solo pheasant hunting almost demands you treat it something like still hunting deer. 25-50 steps and stop. Count to 5, repeat. Pheasants get extremely nervous when the people sounds stop and the ones that would normally let you walk on past while they hide will be more inclined to flush than run or hide if you do this.

Don’t walk straight lines, do a lot of zig zagging, and in larger fields with any kind of terrain or vegetation feature, make big spirals into the feature (whether a dip in the topography, a stand of plums, a thicker piece of cover)

if you hunt in a place with cattail sloughs, that’s where I’d target first (we don’t really have those in CO or most of SW Nebraska) and concur with @Treeshark on ditch hunting (which I’m not sure is legal except SD. Maybe ND)

Probably less of a problem with pheasant since they're bigger but I stopped hunting chuckar and quail without a dog because I was losing too many after the shot, tough little suckers will crawl in the brush and hide if first shot didn't kill them.

this is a real concern hunting dogless. Pheasants are very tough. We lose several a year even with good dogs.

Happy to have you come out and hunt this coming season. CO numbers are way down, but we’ll make our standard two trips to SD. Bring some Triptych IPA’s again and we can call it even.

 

[BoomerUSAF]

you’re going to miss the best part, watching your dog work! The name of your game will be location. Location as where the birds are and after you drop one!! Make sure to have fun!!

 

[ammo]

It’s been a number of years, but we’ve done the same thing. A guided pheasant hunt in SD isn’t terribly expensive and it is unreal if bird hunting is your thing.

Guided in SODAK really doesn't break the bank comparatively to what investing in a hunting dog would cost and it's such a good time. We have a lot of fun every year and still get to see dogs work. The key is having a good crew and awesome guides.

I don't want to dissuade you from getting a hunting dog though. I think folks that have the time/money/energy should go for it! Just know that it's a big commitment.

 

[huntnpack]

As others have said. Zig zag stop start etc. I hunted them a fair amount without a dog after I’d hunted with dogs and had a fair amount of experience. I remember kind of thinking I wouldn’t have been nearly as successful while dogless without the previous experience.

Without a dog you will definitely lose a lot of birds you knock down. But that’s the price of gaining experience.

I used being solo as an advantage. I moved stealthily and tried to kind of sneak up on key peices of habitat and then rushed into them at a brisk walk. That worked.

Rabbits are a lot of fun. They stage in transition zones along thick bits of fenceline etc at the edges of the day. Find multi flora rose in the winter next to an open area and you can spot them standing still in it. They’ll feel secure enough you can pick them off.

You may have better luck finding bobwhites to hunt than pheasants as well.