Went to Sandy Neck before work this morning. Walked a long way through the hilly dunes/ marshes/ cattails/ reed grass etc... It's really good exercise out there especially if you don't have a dog and you need to work all the thick stuff yourself. Well that's exactly what I've been doing for several years now trying to get my first pheasant. I just want to cook one up and try it before I decide if I want to get a dog and get serious about it.
Anyhow, I'd like some opinions on what happened: I'm finally starting to learn where the birds like to hide. I made my way into a thick area of scrub pines/ thickets and started moving in a back and forth pattern. When I got to about the middle of the area I heard a guy and his dog approaching me from my right. For the first time ever, on my own without the help of a dog, I spotted a hen sitting under a bush. I could have just shot her right there but I didn't wanna be shitty about it. Plus the guy and his dog would have been somewhere behind it. So I just jumped at her, she burst up and flew to my left and I fired two rounds. First one looked like it winged her, second produced a puff of feathers and she started to go down, just outside the edge of the clearing. I hear the guy shout a command to his dog, I hear the bell ringing as he runs, and before I can make my way out of the thick stuff towards the bird the guy and his dog are already on their way off with the bird I just shot.
So WTF, is it first come, first serve on birds no matter who shoots it? As long as you get to it first? I was pretty pissed about it and I thought of chasing the guy down but at that point I had to start heading back to the parking lot and head to work.
Looking on the bright side, I got a nice picture of the sunrise from the top of one of the dunes. I at least shot my first pheasant even if I didn't get to keep it.
And I got a pretty good workout.
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ETA: Here's a diagram, LOL
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