Do You Hunt Upland Birds?

[blipelt]

My wife and daughter don't eat pheasant so I quit hunting them about five years ago. Which is a shame since I have access to lots and lots of land for them.


Brent

 

[7mm Eclipse]

Yes. I enjoy Upland Bird Hunting with my Brittany. This will be her 3rd hunting season. She points, honors, retrieves and loves to hunt. We hunt quail, ruffed grouse, pheasant, chukkar and woodcock(aka: snipe, not the kind you get with a gunnysack.)

I have been hunting the Georgia woods and fields with Brittany Spaniels since the mid-70ies when it was very easy to find wild Bobwhite Quail in just about every fence line and bayberry patch. Those days are long gone. Most of the quail hunting is now commercial on plantations or private shooting/hunting reserves. There are still a lot of wild Ruffed Grouse here in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. You can still find a few wild Bobwhite Quail but that is more in the central and southern part of the state, and the quail are sparse.

There are a lot of quail restoration projects that are showing varing amounts of success. Pen raised birds that are conditioned using long flyway pens develope very large, strong flight musles and higher stamina levels. These birds provide a hunting experience that is very close to the wild Bobs of the past. Many of these pen raised birds are released back into the wild. There is about a 25% survival rate from these domestically raised birds to a surviving wild bird. We have a lot of fat foxes, coyotes and snakes.

Looking forward to the season opening this year.

 

[BigSkyGP]

Does shooting squab (pidgeons) out of the neighbor's barn, count?

I've been phesant/sharptail hunting a few times in the past. I didn't put in much effort.

Popped off a couple of blue grouse heads, while hunting big game in the Bitterroot range when I was a younger kid. Those were good eating, not much to them.

Other than that not a very good bird hunter.

 

[tangodown]

This is North Carolina... We don't hunt just any old bird, We hunt Sir Bob!! An opponent of worthy respect.

 

[jflester]

As a kid growing up in NE Ohio I use to bust the heck out of them. But that was in the 60's. Urban growth sucked up the farm land and bird hunting went with the farms. Having lived in Va for the last 25 yrs its been mostly deer and turkey.

However during the 80's waterfowl became the ticket as the winters in the mid 70's in Ohio pretty much wiped out small game. I miss the birds, looking to come to SD for some pheasent there some time.

But after years of busting birds, I got into watching my dogs work em and that became a real joy.

 

[sniper1958]

I travel to Colorado, Kansas or Pennsylvania for these critters.

 

[big_bullseye]

Pheasants, Chukkar and quail every fall in Arapahoe, Nebraska.

It's part of my job of entertaining clients.

 

[ntg]

Pheasants mostly, some huns...

 

[Cthemfly25]

It's actually my favorite hunting so I can never get enough of it. The best part for me is working my dogs---a savvy english cocker, and a rough and tumble young boykin....it's a blast.

 

[WildRose]

Funny you should as. Yes, yes I do. I hunt them as much as 190 days per year.

Often my season starts in September in the Dakotas, head over to Idaho, Montana, occasionally Washington state and then work my way back down through Nebraska, Kansas, and finish the season here in Texas up on the last day of February.

We hit a few field trials in between.

Duke pictured above is one of our younger shining stars.

His father Bullett (above) was our first Field Champion, and he has utterly mastered 11 species of upland birds across 13 states.

We've had German Shorthairs constantly since 1969 and in all that time I've only missed 4 bird seasons and those were due to overseas deployments.

Whenever I could though I'd always take leave during bird season as it was a great "mind wash" and a chance to just relax and have some fun.

 

[buckfynn]

Yep! I hunt chuckers and huns. I get a lot of funny looks about my bird dog...she is a border collie. I figured if she was smart enough to be trained to herd cattle and sheep she was smart enough to learn how to be a bird dog. The only major problem I had with her when she first started retrieving birds was she didn't want to give them to me. She gave me the look like,"This is my bird. I found it. You go find your own bird." But she never did that again after the first year of hunting. Now when I get my hunting vest and shotgun she about turns inside out she gets so excited.

 

[ajacinto]

Really wish I did and had the know how... well one day at a time right?? Sure I'll get there before the end of my days. looks hella fun.

 

[buckfynn]

Ajacinto,

Welcome to Long Range Hunting Forum. How the heck are they treating you down in El Paso?

Buck

 

[buckfynn]

Wild Rose,

After looking at your dog, no wonder I get funny looks when I take my border collie out bird hunting with me.