Wild Pheasant vs. Pen Raised/Released

[zachz]

If someone has never hunted wild pheasants, what will be some of the hard/quick lessons that will be learned in regards to dog control, being quiter, etc? Just wondering because all I have ever really hunted are released birds.

[big steve46]

Wild pheasants run more. You need to be more quiet. Get as quick a retrieve as possible,or the bird may not be there. You need to be able to quickly differentiate between hens and roosters. Big difference between pen-raised and wild.

[windswept]

Big Steve is right. I would add that they are much more easily spooked. If you are fortunate enought to get the rooster to hold for the point get your tail over there! He may not hold for long! This will vary with the weather conditions, of course.
Wild pheasant hunting is work but it's also alot of fun!

[mcbosco]

that's where a slower, quiet, stalking type pointer comes in handy

[slistoe]

Having hunted slower, quieter, stalking types in the same fields on the same birds as faster, bolder, hammerthem type dogs I have a definite preference in dogs for gunning pheasants. It is not the slow, quiet, stalking type.

[birddogger]

Having hunted slower, quieter, stalking types in the same fields on the same birds as faster, bolder, hammerthem type dogs I have a definite preference in dogs for gunning pheasants. It is not the slow, quiet, stalking type.

+1

Charlie

[hustonmc]

Having hunted slower, quieter, stalking types in the same fields on the same birds as faster, bolder, hammerthem type dogs I have a definite preference in dogs for gunning pheasants. It is not the slow, quiet, stalking type.

+1

Charlie

+2
I have also found that the dogs that scream in and slam the bird, will more then likely hold the bird vs the stalking slower dogs. For all birds, including pheasant.

[ElhewPointer]

+3

I live in the heart of wild pheasant country. Been chasing them my whole life. The dogs that are fast, quick, slam point with a good nose. You'll limit out in a hurry with that dog. A slower mythodical dog will dig one up every once in a while. But you'll see a lot of birds flying out the end of a field with that dog.

[slistoe]

You need to be more quiet.

I do agree that the handler/hunter needs to pay more attention to the noise they make when pursuing wild birds.

[Neil]

+ 4.

It is the hunters that flushes the birds most times, not the dogs.

Neil

[RayGubernat]

Wild phez tend to come out of the hole much faster than released birds and also tend to be a good bit harder to kill and recover than their released kin. If you only break a wing on a wild bird you and your dog are generally in for a heck of a chase.

I would recommend, unless you are a dead shot(which I am not) that you go one shot size larger. I typically use hard lead or plated shot in size #6 for released birds. If I were hunting wild phezs I would probably go to plated # 5's, even over points especially for the choke barrel. I typically have my barrels choked skeet and IC. I would seriously consider going to IC and Mod.

RayG

[Ditch__Parrot]

Just my opinion but I tend to think 5s bounce off. I'll stick to 71/2s high brass with as much powder behind them as I can find. Better penetration,less crippled runners.

[OhioVizsla]

The biggest thing about wild bird vs. released birds is you'll need to out think them. You are on their turf, & they know the boundaries better than you do. They know where every creek, tree line, slough, picked field, road, etc. is. They'll use this to their advantage to escape. Plus any time you make a noise, (close a car door or tailgate, take to your partner/dog, give commands, blow a whistle, put a bell or beeper on the dog), you're giving up your location to every bird in the field. When you do get a point, if there is anything that the bird can put between you & him on the flush, it will.
Good luck!

[Shadow]

+5- sometimes it appears that ole rooster is surprised to see a good one staring at it

[ezzy333]

that's where a slower, quiet, stalking type pointer comes in handy

I have found this to be exactly opposite of the way you need to work pheasants. A slow stalking type will flush them a high percentage of the time. If your dog has a little experience it will learn to get to them fast and hard, slam into a point that seems to convince the bird it better sit still and tight. The same principle works when hunting without a dog. Walking fast and you can walk past them as they sit tight but stop or dawdle and the birds will flush.

Pheasants are probably as hard for a dog to handle as any bird going and you need fast decisive work from you and your dog.

Ezzy

[zachz]

When you say fast working dogs, do you mean fast working within gun range with a controlled search pattern, or a dog that ranges big and fast out of gun range. With big range seems you would run the risk of bird busting out before you got there?

[Ditch__Parrot]

When you say fast working dogs, do you mean fast working within gun range with a controlled search pattern, or a dog that ranges big and fast out of gun range. With big range seems you would run the risk of bird busting out before you got there?

I don't think that range has much to do with a fast working dog. When I think of a fast moving dog, I'm not just thinking of one that is eating up ground, really searching quickly rather they are close in or skirting the horizon. But works the birds fast too . No doddling around about it. When they hit bird scent they know what to do with it and they do it fast.

As far as birds busting out of gun range with a big running dog. Sure birds are going to bust. Especially with a dog that doesn't have a lot of experience. You don't want to shoot those birds anyway though. Better that they bust out of gun range so that nobody's tempted to shoot them and turn your nice pointing dog into a flusher. The more wild birds your dog busts and you let him watch fly off the better he (or she) will be for it.

JMO

[slistoe]

When you say fast working dogs, do you mean fast working within gun range with a controlled search pattern, or a dog that ranges big and fast out of gun range. With big range seems you would run the risk of bird busting out before you got there?

That's the thing. When they force the bird into the "whoever moves first loses" standoff then the birds are still there when you get there, whenever that may be. For the most part anyway. Sometimes the dog may blink first.

[RayGubernat]

zachz -

A fast moving, bold, aggressive dog goes to its game decisively and slams on point.

It will do this whether it is fifty yards from you or a quarter mile.

Soooo, the range at which the dog hunts has very little to do with the "style" with which the dog hunts. To be sure, the slower, more methodical dog will, in all probability, never be a quarter mile from you unless you decide to make a pit stop.

However, the bold, aggressive dog that might tend to stretch out a bit can be conditioned to working laterally(bending) and thus will remain relatively near, while still hitting the cover hard.

Oh in case you could not guess...put me down for the dog that goes to its game with authority and assurance. I too believe that kind of approach will very often catch the bird between a fart and a you-know what.

I think the quick hit tends to short circuit the bird's little brain in some way. As long as the dog and the bird are eyeball to eyeball neither will want to make the first move.

RayG

[twofeathers]

Another quick lesson is to get some good walking shoes. You tend to put a lot more effort into wild vs. released. Some days you may see nothing at all but even that is tollerable to watch a good working dog all day.

[Neil]

This is the first time I can recall that we have had this discussion and the majority of the responses are from people that have actually hunted with bold, hard going, confident dogs that hit the pheasants hard and pin them.

Usually, we only hear from the point and creep crowd, which will work, too, but bores me to no end.

I would rather have a few birds flush wild, and some will even with an experienced dog, than have to watch a dog potter around on a two hour old track, me with we my gun at port arms, expecting a flush at any minute as we cover a half a mile.

I grant it is a personal choice, both styles work, and I have seen dogs that seem to combine them from time to time.

BTW, I kill a lot of wild pheasants with my flushing Boykins. Like most things, there is no one right way.

And I just got to say, there is no such thing as a wild North American pheasant, they are all released birds or the decendents of. So much depends on when and how the pen birds are released, and how flight conditioned. I have not hunted a pen pheasant in 20 years, but the last time I did, the guy kept them in narrow 75 foot high cylinder flight pens, and used a fice dog to keep them in the air. On the flush they flew straight up before leveling off and flying out of the county if not hit hard. They were not born in the wild birds, but they were a hoot.

Neil