Yellowtail WHMA Pheasant

[802flyfish]

Has anyone hunted the Yellowtail WHMA For pheasant? It appears the state stocks it bi-weekly.. Trying to get my one year old GSP on some birds.

My wife and I are considering making The trip from SW Montana if it’s worth while. We were planning on Central Montana but this location is just as close. Any feed back would be appreciated

 

[El Jason]

I’m always reluctant to hunt dogs in pen raised birds if you can find wild ones instead b

 

[Art Vandeley]

I’m always reluctant to hunt dogs in pen raised birds if you can find wild ones instead b

Why? It's a good training tool to help puppies/young dogs figure out what they're doing.

 

[Wild Bill]

Why? It's a good training tool to help puppies/young dogs figure out what they're doing.

I'd say the difference between pen raised birds and wild birds is like an Ivy League Ph.D vs. night school GED.
Puppies/young dogs on pen raised birds are more than likely going to develop poor habits that will not translate well to hunting wild birds.
(No disrespect to night school GED folks at all, it is just that big of a difference in my opinion.)

 

[Art Vandeley]

I'd say the difference between pen raised birds and wild birds is like an Ivy League Ph.D vs. night school GED.
Puppies/young dogs on pen raised birds are more than likely going to develop poor habits that will not translate well to hunting wild birds.
(No disrespect to night school GED folks at all, it is just that big of a difference in my opinion.)

What bad habits? Smelling birds and flushing birds? Retrieving them?

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

I hunted it once over 20 years ago. Didn't see a pheasant. Was my first time hunting pheasants. We didn't have a dog.

But I have been back to the area quite a few times for work and have seen pheasants running around almost every time.

 

[BirdManMike]

Totally agree with avoiding pen birds if one has other options. Do it to often, and the dog does learn bad habits, especially that the dog can get right up in a birds face and still get rewarded with a dead bird. Better for the dog to learn he/she put too much pressure on bird and sent them flying with no reward than for a reward of a dead pen bird shot with the dog on point 10' away. Maybe no reward for you - no dopamine because you didnt blast anything - but in the end much better for your dog.

Pen birds and too much pigeon work, etc. and youll end up with a dog that puts too much pressure on a covey and send its flying well before you are in a position to shoot, especially after the first month or so of the season when birds are more wary and better fliers. Then, youll start reigning in your dog, forcing him/her to work closer and closer so that you do have a better chance of getting a shot when the dog gets right up in the birds' faces. And now instead of a big running dog that covers 3x as much ground as you are walking, or more, and pins birds a quarter mile away, holding them for 10 minutes, youve got a dog running under foot, making you walk almost the same amount as the dog. Happens a lot with inexperienced guys that start in NAVHDA - I think the NAVHDA events are set up for and by control freaks and encourage this.

Antecdotally, of course.

And there is me stepping off my soap box.

 

[802flyfish]

Interesting. I guess I’ll try to get on some BMAs around Central MT. Trying find a viable option that’s not to far away from Gallatin County.

 

[El Jason]

Why? It's a good training tool to help puppies/young dogs figure out what they're doing.

Are you going to learn to be a better elk hunter by hunting wild elk or game
farm elk?

@BirdManMike summed it up pretty well.

 

[Art Vandeley]

Totally agree with avoiding pen birds if one has other options. Do it to often, and the dog does learn bad habits, especially that the dog can get right up in a birds face and still get rewarded with a dead bird. Better for the dog to learn he/she put too much pressure on bird and sent them flying with no reward than for a reward of a dead pen bird shot with the dog on point 10' away. Maybe no reward for you - no dopamine because you didnt blast anything - but in the end much better for your dog.

Pen birds and too much pigeon work, etc. and youll end up with a dog that puts too much pressure on a covey and send its flying well before you are in a position to shoot, especially after the first month or so of the season when birds are more wary and better fliers. Then, youll start reigning in your dog, forcing him/her to work closer and closer so that you do have a better chance of getting a shot when the dog gets right up in the birds' faces. And now instead of a big running dog that covers 3x as much ground as you are walking, or more, and pins birds a quarter mile away, holding them for 10 minutes, youve got a dog running under foot, making you walk almost the same amount as the dog. Happens a lot with inexperienced guys that start in NAVHDA - I think the NAVHDA events are set up for and by control freaks and encourage this.

Antecdotally, of course.

And there is me stepping off my soap box.

That makes sense to me if you do it more than once or twice. Once the Roosters are wiley you should be shooting ducks anyways.

 

[Wild Bill]

What bad habits? Smelling birds and flushing birds? Retrieving them?

BirdManMike beat me to it.

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

Admittedly I am somewhat of a novice when it comes to pheasant hunting. Is the main difference between pen raised and wild birds is that pen raised tend to sit tight more so than wild? Do wild birds tend to run more?

 

[Deleted member 18333]

Admittedly I am somewhat of a novice when it comes to pheasant hunting. Is the main difference between pen raised and wild birds is that pen raised tend to sit tight more so than wild? Do wild birds tend to run more?

Decent portion of pen birds wont even fly. Dog catch on pen birds can be high. I definitely improves my birds killed to shots fired ratio.

 

[rustneversleeps]

Admittedly I am somewhat of a novice when it comes to pheasant hunting. Is the main difference between pen raised and wild birds is that pen raised tend to sit tight more so than wild? Do wild birds tend to run more?

A wild bird and pen raised bird don't even seem to be the same species

 

[Ben Lamb]

Central MT is having a good bird year. Go hunt wild birds & enjoy watching your pup learn. Those stocked areas get hammered pretty hard, so it's not quite as fun of an experience, IMO.

 

[Carl 9.3x62]

Decent portion of pen birds wont even fly. Dog catch on pen birds can be high. I definitely improves my birds killed to shots fired ratio.

I have pretty much only hunted the Springer hunt by Torrington. Seems like plenty of those birds run. But definitely some that don't. The ones that don't run do not necessarily increase my kill to shot ratio either, haha.

 

[Deleted member 18333]

I have pretty much only hunted the Springer hunt by Torrington. Seems like plenty of those birds run. But definitely some that don't. The ones that don't run do not necessarily increase my kill to shot ratio either, haha.

I've never gone shooting at one of the WGF managed pheasant areas. About once every 2 years I take my dogs and go shooting at a local put and take pheasant place. Its a way to burn some shells but nothing compared to wild birds. When I was a kid, my father loved pheasant hunting more than anything. We would make a weeklong trip every year to SD, Iowa, Nebraska or Kansas. Those were some pretty great hunts. Today, I wont travel very far to hunt pheasants, so being in SW Wyo its been a long time since I hunted wild pheasants.

 

[wyoelkfan15]

Has anyone hunted the Yellowtail WHMA For pheasant? It appears the state stocks it bi-weekly.. Trying to get my one year old GSP on some birds.

My wife and I are considering making The trip from SW Montana if it’s worth while. We were planning on Central Montana but this location is just as close. Any feed back would be appreciated

Sadly, the stocking in this area gets abused by alot of guys with nothing else to do during the week. They know the days the GF stocks the area and literally sit on the highway and follow the bird truck until he dumps birds. Usually there are very few birds left on the weekend. I wouldn't make the drive for the experience.

 

[jtm307]

Now I know why my dogs excel on pheasants but struggle with grouse. To the OP, there are chukar and Huns in the Big Horn Basin. I’ve not hunted them there but I have a Friend who lives up there and has been having regular success. There are also wild pheasants along the Greybull River. The best hunting is on private land NOT enrolled as a walk-in area.

 

[802flyfish]

Thank you.