I hope you are wrong! Want to get one last good hunt in.
Likely at Berlin or Westborough tomorrow.
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Pheasant Hunting
- Thread starter hermes2069
- Start date
I hope you are wrong! Want to get one last good hunt in.
Likely at Berlin or Westborough tomorrow.
ccm75
NES Member
QUOTE=pupchow;3581559]I've not seen stocking done after turkey day
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I think you are right but I plan to go out in the morning just to get out.
Went out in Westboro this afternoon for the last 1.5 hours of day light and managed to dig 2 roosters out of the thick stuff.
It was a nice afternoon with the sun setting and only saw one other hunter; just the way I like it.
Scout will be sad the season is over. He was really getting the hang of it....
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Sent from my XT897 using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]
I think you are right but I plan to go out in the morning just to get out.
Went out in Westboro this afternoon for the last 1.5 hours of day light and managed to dig 2 roosters out of the thick stuff.
It was a nice afternoon with the sun setting and only saw one other hunter; just the way I like it.
Scout will be sad the season is over. He was really getting the hang of it....
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Bagged our last bird, the last day of last season, during the last 15 minutes of shooting time. The bird was in some tall, thick grass in a swampy area, where many avoided getting their feet wet.
ccm75
NES Member
Walking the dogs in the Westborough WMA the other morning.
Heard a rooster squawking in the brush lot below us.........
It's been a long cold winter with lots of yotes and fox back there.
That bird must be the lone survivor....
Heard a rooster squawking in the brush lot below us.........
It's been a long cold winter with lots of yotes and fox back there.
That bird must be the lone survivor....
ccm75
NES Member
I know.
He was there again this morning crowing his head off as the sun came up.
Dog started in after him but I called him off as I was afraid rooster couldn't fly and dog would catch and kill bird....
Tough bird. Things have thawed out back there quite a bit so maybe he'll have an easier time getting by if the predators don't get him.
It's a good sound to wake up to at least.
45collector
NES Member
Wow that's one survivalist bird.
boilermaker
NES Member
Today a few friends and I took advantage of a DFW program where you have access to a WMA for the day to hunt. You have to provide your own pheasant. We hunted the Winnimusset in New Braintree and I took my 8 month old pup on her first hunt. I am a proud papa, lots to work on though, but hey, she is 8 months.
ccm75
NES Member
He's still in there...! Enjoying the sun and big melt off this am.
He moved across the road into a lower thicker brush lot but we hear him during our morning walk like clock work.
He crows and my dog locks up and looks at me....I let him go look the other morning but ended up calling him back.
The main part of that WMA is about a 350-400 acre square and I'd bet good money that this bird is the only living pheasant in there.
I have seen hold overs before but this was a tough winter......The Lone Survivor.....
He moved across the road into a lower thicker brush lot but we hear him during our morning walk like clock work.
He crows and my dog locks up and looks at me....I let him go look the other morning but ended up calling him back.
The main part of that WMA is about a 350-400 acre square and I'd bet good money that this bird is the only living pheasant in there.
I have seen hold overs before but this was a tough winter......The Lone Survivor.....
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It goes to show that even the dumb pen birds still have some instinct. I used to be a member at a pheasant club in Wisconsin. There was one year that a number of birds survived the winter and the club owner had chicks on his property mid-summer!
While this may have been a tough winter for New England, this would be nothing for real wild pheasants. Spend a couple days in the Dakotas in Jan/Fed. THAT's a tough winter.
While this may have been a tough winter for New England, this would be nothing for real wild pheasants. Spend a couple days in the Dakotas in Jan/Fed. THAT's a tough winter.
If New England had the fields and crops that the midwest does there would be a native pheasant population. The weather is the least of their concern.
45collector
NES Member
I am determined to bag my first pheasant this year. I have no hunting dogs.
Have faith I bagged two and flushed 3 more (and missed em) last season with no dog........just crisscross the field ......having 3 or 4 guys helps but one of the hens I flushed was just me alone. Problem is the hens wait till you almost step on em to fly......I had a hen beat her wins in my face when she went up........scared the piss out of me and I whiffed.......
Anyway......you can be successful in stocked fields with no dog.
If it weren't for my dogs, I wouldn't bother with pheasants. It's put & take, but the dogs go bonkers over them. If you don't have dogs, maybe see if you can hookup with someone who does? Watching the dogs work is why I go.
hv55maxx
NES Member
Also kick brush piles. They hide like rabbits sometimes.
45collector
NES Member
I've been reading up on strategies for pheasant hunting with no dogs. There are different ways to do it, with or without other hunters.
There was one old guy who wrote an article in... Field and Stream maybe, not sure. But he said when his last pointer passed away he never wanted to get another dog just out of respect or sentimental reasons. Whatever his thinking was, he said that after a while of hunting solo he learned to flush pheasants by basically acting like a looney in the field. He'd walk up to a large shrub area or a fence/ tree line, then sprint up to it shouting as loud as he could and it would freak the birds enough to make them flush. Or he'd carry a handful of rocks in his vest and chuck them into a mass of shrubs while barking like a dog, and the birds would flush.
![[laugh]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/012.gif "Laugh [laugh]")
I wish I could find the article now. It was pretty funny. It ended with something like "I miss my ol' buddy, but I continue on and bag birds in his honor."
hv55maxx
NES Member
I've been reading up on strategies for pheasant hunting with no dogs. There are different ways to do it, with or without other hunters.
There was one old guy who wrote an article in... Field and Stream maybe, not sure. But he said when his last pointer passed away he never wanted to get another dog just out of respect or sentimental reasons. Whatever his thinking was, he said that after a while of hunting solo he learned to flush pheasants by basically acting like a looney in the field. He'd walk up to a large shrub area or a fence/ tree line, then sprint up to it shouting as loud as he could and it would freak the birds enough to make them flush. Or he'd carry a handful of rocks in his vest and chuck them into a mass of shrubs while barking like a dog, and the birds would flush.
I wish I could find the article now. It was pretty funny. It ended with something like "I miss my ol' buddy, but I continue on and bag birds in his honor."
I've done the rock thing also. Even carrying a stick around and whacking piles and shrubs. Anything to spook em
I hunt pheasant without a dog and I still manage to bag 4-6 a season. This year I was thinking of strapping a dog bell to my vest just to make extra noise and imitate the sound of an approaching dog. Honest opinion, would you guys think I was crazy if you saw me doing this?
hv55maxx
NES Member
If it was during shotgun deer season absolutely not crazy
45collector
NES Member
Oh please I'm gonna be absolutely silly looking out in the fields come October.
Barking, shouting, running around and crashing through shrubs. It's gonna be a blast.
I'm a new member on this forum. I'm originally from Southeastern Massachusetts, but have been living in Chicago for the past three years. I've recently moved back to Massachusetts and am living in Boston. I'm very interested in hunting pheasant here, but don't know the best places to go. I've read up on the WMAs and the frequency with which they are stocked, but I wanted to know if anyone on this forum had specific experience with some areas being better than others. Thanks for your help! Looking forward to getting out there this year.
tuna
NES Member
I don't use a dog - and have had pretty good luck. The thing to remember is that birds don't have subscriptions to Field and Stream. All the pictures you ever see of bird hunting is in big open fields - ignore the pictures. Get a pair of waterproof boots and hunt the swampiest area you find.
Also, I've found going slow lets you hear the birds running or moving. By going slow and listening hard, be prepared for the ground to explode at your feet when the bird kicks up.
Also, hunting piney woods in the rain has been productive for me.
It takes a while to find "birdy" areas by experience, and it's tough to describe in words. It's "something different in the sameness". You'll get the hang of it soon enough.
Good luck.
Also, I've found going slow lets you hear the birds running or moving. By going slow and listening hard, be prepared for the ground to explode at your feet when the bird kicks up.
Also, hunting piney woods in the rain has been productive for me.
It takes a while to find "birdy" areas by experience, and it's tough to describe in words. It's "something different in the sameness". You'll get the hang of it soon enough.
Good luck.
ccm75
NES Member
I can recommend Westborough on week days. Avoid on Saturdays....
