Pheasant Hunting

derek said:
Im sure the old guys are stopping at 6
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Yeah, on some DAYS. I have talked to guys that have hit three or four areas with their dogs, always dropping off their earlier bag at one of their houses. Two guys I met last year said their best day was nine birds between them, all on WMA's in southeast MA.
 
Wowza. I don't care if someone shoots over my head, I just hope they don't sweep it in the process.

I'm heading out onto Sandy Neck around 8ish. Still have yet to bag my first pheasant.
 
OIFer said:
Witnessed some drama on the pheasant fields the other day that got me thinking that some of the stories we hear about 'reckless hunters' on the WMAs might not be so true, and the people telling these stories might not really know what the heck they are talking about and due to their inexperience or nervousness, are seeing 'danger' where it doesn't exist.

Case in point:

So I happened upon a local WMA the other day that had a few guys on it already. It's a small place, so as I imediately came upon a couple hunters (one of which is an experienced hunter in his 70s I've run into in the field and hunted w before). We talk and decide to work the area together instead of competing with each other. Great!

We put up a few birds, I get one, the old timer shoots one but has to shoot it again and it still flies a bit and then falls out of the sky about 100 yards away. Another new hunter comes out of the woods from that direction and is grumbling about the shooting near him. Now I was standing right there and know that the old timer didnt shoot anywhere near him or his direction. We continue hunting and as I work downhill from my party, my dog flushes a rooster up the hill and I call out the fact to the hunters. The rooster lands at the 'grouchy' guy's feet - but for whatever reason he never shoots. (He's standing there observing I guess?) The old timer tells him to get ready to shoot, walks over, kicks at the bird and flushes it for the guy. Again the guy chokes and the bird fly away from him. The old timer waits till bird clears the dude and shoots it as it's flying away. Now all hell breaks loose. This grouchy dude blows his top and starts calling this 70+ year old man every name in the book, F'in A hole , on and on and on, accusing him of shooting at him TWICE now! Screaming like a friggon lunatic for several minutes before he storms off the property still shouting curses and insults.

Now the more I think about it, the more it pisses me off that he treated an older guy like that, (mad at myself for not telling him to STFU) and even more mad due to the fact that the dude is dead wrong and was never put in ANY danger in the first place.

No one shot anywhere near him, but I am willing to bet he is ranting and raving to all his buddies that he was almost killed on the WMA, yada yada yada.
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Tell the dumb ****er there is a reason we wear orange hats and tell him to get his chicken shit ass back in his truck and go the hell home.
 
I didn't go out but by the lack of shooting I assume that they did not stock Westboro for Saturday hunting. Anyone in there this morning?

They usually put birds in Friday night.....Can't remember not hearing a bunch of shooting in there on a Saturday am.
 
OIFer said:
Witnessed some drama on the pheasant fields the other day that got me thinking that some of the stories we hear about 'reckless hunters' on the WMAs might not be so true, and the people telling these stories might not really know what the heck they are talking about and due to their inexperience or nervousness, are seeing 'danger' where it doesn't exist.

Case in point:

So I happened upon a local WMA the other day that had a few guys on it already. It's a small place, so as I imediately came upon a couple hunters (one of which is an experienced hunter in his 70s I've run into in the field and hunted w before). We talk and decide to work the area together instead of competing with each other. Great!

We put up a few birds, I get one, the old timer shoots one but has to shoot it again and it still flies a bit and then falls out of the sky about 100 yards away. Another new hunter comes out of the woods from that direction and is grumbling about the shooting near him. Now I was standing right there and know that the old timer didnt shoot anywhere near him or his direction. We continue hunting and as I work downhill from my party, my dog flushes a rooster up the hill and I call out the fact to the hunters. The rooster lands at the 'grouchy' guy's feet - but for whatever reason he never shoots. (He's standing there observing I guess?) The old timer tells him to get ready to shoot, walks over, kicks at the bird and flushes it for the guy. Again the guy chokes and the bird fly away from him. The old timer waits till bird clears the dude and shoots it as it's flying away. Now all hell breaks loose. This grouchy dude blows his top and starts calling this 70+ year old man every name in the book, F'in A hole , on and on and on, accusing him of shooting at him TWICE now! Screaming like a friggon lunatic for several minutes before he storms off the property still shouting curses and insults.

Now the more I think about it, the more it pisses me off that he treated an older guy like that, (mad at myself for not telling him to STFU) and even more mad due to the fact that the dude is dead wrong and was never put in ANY danger in the first place.

No one shot anywhere near him, but I am willing to bet he is ranting and raving to all his buddies that he was almost killed on the WMA, yada yada yada.
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Me and three other guys got sprayed when a guy(in his twenties) swept us. Pulled a pellet out of my neck that AM.always wear eye protection at WMA's.
 
I know a guy thay lost his eye at the swift river WMA. Guy across the top field on the hill shot down towards the entrance as he was walking in with his dog. Pellet went in over the top of his glasses and damaged the optic nerve. Only place I'll hunt is Northfield on a weekday at sunrise.
 
westboro_wma.jpg

ccm75 was nice enough to take me out with him and his dog Scout this morning. Managed only one hen, Scout kicked up a couple more but we couldn't get shots on them. Nice being able to bang some before going in to work, it was a fun morning. [grin]
 
derek said:
View attachment 118854

ccm75 was nice enough to take me out with him and his dog Scout this morning. Managed only one hen, Scout kicked up a couple more but we couldn't get shots on them. Nice being able to bang some before going in to work, it was a fun morning. [grin]
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It was a pleasure to spend the morning fighting through the thorn bushes with Derek!
I enjoyed watching him shoot the head clean off that hen at 40 yards in high winds. Bird was going high and away and I saw the head pop right off!
No pellets in the meat; just a clean decapitated bird...[smile] He says that's the way he always does it...
 
JWPaolilliJr said:
Daily limit is two and season limit is six. Season limit is Totally unenforceable. I know of a guy that told my dad at work how he took thirty birds in a season, I had no reason to disbelieve him, but being hearsay there was nothing I could do. He did have a good dog and he took vacation time off to hunt week days at the WMA's, but when ever he came out he would only have two birds. So unless I kept a log every time he was checked and did that for everyone, there was no way to prove that he violated the law.
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Just like the guys that take part in the annual "trout circus" as I like to call it. take two.....go home and drop em off......go to another lake take two more rinse and repeat.

Funniest thing I ever saw at the trout circus was at plugs in Haverhill. I had the day off with my son.....he was like 4 at the time. I happened to be driving by plugs and saw the stocking truck pulling in. So I though my son would think it would be cool to watch em dump the trout in. So we followed the truck. We said hi to the kid and shot the breaze with him......he let my son look in the tank and all that good stuff. I didn't even notice the "flotilla" of canoes and john boats swarming to where the truck was backed in. Before the kid even started dumping there were about 5 or 6 boats waiting within 50 feet of the ramp.........fish are still being dumped into the lake and these "anglers" were reeling in trout. whatever. [rolleyes]
 
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Below is a link to some pics from today. The circumstances being, I missed a rooster the dogs put up. The dogs located the bird again, but it was hanging up in a tree (first pic). They then pondered the situation (second pic). The larger dog then took action -- grabbing a tree with her mouth, and shaking the tree, seemingly attempting to get the bird to ditch its new roost (third pic). The rooster hung tough. We moved on, and then got a hen just before sunset.

http://imgur.com/a/nw1VN
 
Here's a few pics from last Saturday before it started to rain.
Drake the lab, put both birds up. Millie was just tagging along for the fun and posing for a couple photo ops. Basically just brought her along to look pretty.

DRAKE.jpg
MIL.jpg
MILLIE.jpg
 
pupchow said:
Below is a link to some pics from today. The circumstances being, I missed a rooster the dogs put up. The dogs located the bird again, but it was hanging up in a tree (first pic). They then pondered the situation (second pic). The larger dog then took action -- grabbing a tree with her mouth, and shaking the tree, seemingly attempting to get the bird to ditch its new roost (third pic). The rooster hung tough. We moved on, and then got a hen just before sunset.

You sure you didnt nick it with your shot. seems weird that a bird would hold tight in an open tree only 10 feet off the ground like that unless it were hurt. in any event, I probably would of shot it out of that tree/ threw something at it to get it to fly and then shot it, so good on you for sticking with your morals.
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ace7644 said:
pupchow said:
Below is a link to some pics from today. The circumstances being, I missed a rooster the dogs put up. The dogs located the bird again, but it was hanging up in a tree (first pic). They then pondered the situation (second pic). The larger dog then took action -- grabbing a tree with her mouth, and shaking the tree, seemingly attempting to get the bird to ditch its new roost (third pic). The rooster hung tough. We moved on, and then got a hen just before sunset.

You sure you didnt nick it with your shot. seems weird that a bird would hold tight in an open tree only 10 feet off the ground like that unless it were hurt. in any event, I probably would of shot it out of that tree/ threw something at it to get it to fly and then shot it, so good on you for sticking with your morals.
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These stocked birds are weird. Perfectly possible that that bird was fine and held tight. I've walked up to stocked pheasant......picked em up.....petted them on the back and put them back down on the ground. I'm not joking.
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If they're freshly stocked they'll do that. Just flush, go a short distance and go into a tree. I assume it has to do with all the time they spend in the truck from the time they get picked up to the time they get released.
 
After building a friendship with a man I've come to call "Extended Family" and trading hunts with for several years, I've reaffirmed my decision that hunts are not quantified by bag limits of any type - we hunt, we sometimes shoot at out quarry and always have a great hunt. Like many, we forget those birds we bag easily, cherish those we work hard for and revel in those that got away...

I'm privileged to work over his dogs that work so hard to bring us to the shot - And equally ashamed when I miss such "chip shots" when they turn back and look at me with "Dude, Really!?" eyes.

In my younger days I was all about bagging birds - I'm older than that now and appreciate working with talented dogs that repeatedly bring me to birds when everyone we talk to on the way in says, "There's no birds here." Our best days are often when there are no birds.

On the flip side, I trade duck hunts - teaching him what I know about hunting ducks - not chasing them. Wing shooting, spots and even more subtle aspects such as tide and wind are some of the things we trade. How to retrieve downed birds can be more of a challenge than dropping them - anyone on a tidal marsh knows what I mean - especially on the incoming...

Then there's the moments - like today - after romping woods for hours we come into some really birdy areas and the dogs tune up - we all tune up. Flushing a couple wild birds is far better than any canned hunt any day. The seconds of explosive action by a bird followed by the hours of reliving the tale from our perspectives is worth every hour of foot busting romp. Sometimes I wish the dogs would tell their side...

Every ounce of table-fare is only made better by those I shared the hunt with - and like the Rockettes, the more legs, the better. Thank you dogs, owners and n00bs of all sizes - you make hunting worth more than the sum of the parts. I am a better hunter for sharing what I know, and I've never had better hunting experiences for sharing what I know.

To all you Grumpy Ole Bastids - find a guy you trust and pass it on down. If you're a young guy, earn the trust of s Grumpy Ole Bastid. and honor those that taught you...

Shooting and Hunting are two very different things.
 
By reading some of the posts from early on in the season it seemed that folks were having a hard time finding birds. Is this still the case for a lot of folks? My friends and I have had a very hard time finding birds and everyone we run into at the WMAs is saying the same thing, so that was some sort of consolation. What is the sentiment out there in other parts of the state?
 
boilermaker said:
By reading some of the posts from early on in the season it seemed that folks were having a hard time finding birds. Is this still the case for a lot of folks? My friends and I have had a very hard time finding birds and everyone we run into at the WMAs is saying the same thing, so that was some sort of consolation. What is the sentiment out there in other parts of the state?
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Took my boy squirrel hunting at crane pond wma saturday morning.....opposite side of the road from the pheasant stocked power lines. There were like 5 cars parked in the lot for the pheasant field when we got there. Hunted for about 3 hours.....only heard 2 sessions of shotgun fire the whole time. Left at about 1030 parking lot was already empty. Not looking good IMO.
 
In my opinion, once the state started publishing when stocking takes place, the pheasant hunting went to shit. For guys that can only get out on Saturdays, you lose. Try taking an afternoon off on a stocking day and watch the shit show that goes on. Absolutely ridiculous.
 
dixidawg said:
In my opinion, once the state started publishing when stocking takes place, the pheasant hunting went to shit. For guys that can only get out on Saturdays, you lose. Try taking an afternoon off on a stocking day and watch the shit show that goes on. Absolutely ridiculous.
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Yup..........pretty sad state of affiars when the main topic of discussion in the parking lot between hunters is the stocking schedule.
 

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