Pheasant season opener

They taste like bloody nose.

But..In my opinion, the small breast meat tastes bad and chewy. You have to marinade the hell out of them and you need 3-4 for a decent serving.
My dog will work them and flush them but he wont touch them when their dead.......Timber Doodles.......Stinky little mud drillers.

Mmmmm... they sound delicious! LOL [puke]
 
This is the time of year especially when I miss my dog.

Get another?
My wife had two dogs before we met so now they're our dogs of course. One of them is a 5 year old lab mix who I have been toying with the idea of training her to be a bird dog. She's very smart and I think would take well to training but I've never trained a dog, so have no idea what to expect.
 
I finally got a rooster yesterday! :) If you look close, you'll notice that it was a VERY close shot with the bird flushing about 5 yards away! :eek: The good thing was there were NO pellets in the breast and legs! ;)

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For a shot that close, I'm betting you don't have a dog. I've decapitated a few at close range - I think it's better if you can take a breath and let them get a little distance. Nice shot though
 
Get another?
My wife had two dogs before we met so now they're our dogs of course. One of them is a 5 year old lab mix who I have been toying with the idea of training her to be a bird dog. She's very smart and I think would take well to training but I've never trained a dog, so have no idea what to expect.

I got spoiled with my dog. He was a Springer Spaniel who was a natural on birds. Never really did any training at all.
 
For a shot that close, I'm betting you don't have a dog. I've decapitated a few at close range - I think it's better if you can take a breath and let them get a little distance. Nice shot though
Shotgun hunting takes good knowledge of your gun and how it patterns. My brother in law literally vaporized the first snow shoe hare he ever shot. He was sitting under a hemlock tree when the hare came out from the dense undergrowth under his left arm and turned to the right and stopped in the open! He fired on it when it was 10 yards away. All that was left was a back leg and a head......the rest was a hairy bloody mess on top of the snow. Shotgun hunting takes patience.......sometimes you need to let your target get away from you a bit to be in the sweet spot where there is enough pellets in the pattern to kill but not so much you don't have any meat for the table.
 
Shotgun hunting takes good knowledge of your gun and how it patterns. My brother in law literally vaporized the first snow shoe hare he ever shot. He was sitting under a hemlock tree when the hare came out from the dense undergrowth under his left arm and turned to the right and stopped in the open! He fired on it when it was 10 yards away. All that was left was a back leg and a head......the rest was a hairy bloody mess on top of the snow. Shotgun hunting takes patience.......sometimes you need to let your target get away from you a bit to be in the sweet spot where there is enough pellets in the pattern to kill but not so much you don't have any meat for the table.

Close up works pretty good on snakes. Of course I just let them go these days but as a teen on my Grandparents' farm I took out some copperheads. One of them at a close enough distance that the only thing left was a loop of the snake's body that fell outside the pattern.
 
For a shot that close, I'm betting you don't have a dog. I've decapitated a few at close range - I think it's better if you can take a breath and let them get a little distance. Nice shot though

Give that man a cigar! ;) No dog for me! YES, I should have given a bit of distance before the shot! But hey, it's a bird in the 'fridge now! :)
 
Finally broke the ice today with a hen. Flushed 2 others but couldn't get shots.
A couple woodcock too; seems to be plenty of those around this year.

Shit ton of woodcock out this year. I have put up over 25 of them. Many just taking the dog for a walk. I generally don't shoot them or grouse. I get enough pheasants,quail, huns and chukars to fill the freezer. I take it easy on the wild birds that are losing habitat. Though, I think the woodcock are generally doing better than the native MA grouse, and really aren't in any peril, at least from the numbers i'm seeing.

I was out this morning in the storm. Some birds were just soaking wet and couldnt fly. The each dog caught 1. The dogs also had to put the tag team on them to make them fly. We got our share but got soaking ass wet. It wasn't really that bad though, just mostly windy, rain was off and on.

Dog is down and out next to the woodstove, as I will be soon too.
 
Got my first one ever tonight!!!

A friend of mine and I went out after work with his dog. We were basically just walking through some high grass when I flushed one on my right about 2 feet away, where my friend and the dog were. It took off behind me, so I dropped my muzzle and wheeled 180 degrees. It was going away, about the same as high house 1 if you’re into skeet. Took the shot at about 15-20 yards and it was dead before it fell into the grass.

Friend taught me how to clean it, but, how do I cook it??? Recipes appreciated!

So fun and I’m totally hooked.
 

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Got my first one ever tonight!!!

A friend of mine and I went out after work with his dog. We were basically just walking through some high grass when I flushed one on my right about 2 feet away, where my friend and the dog were. It took off behind me, so I dropped my muzzle and wheeled 180 degrees. It was going away, about the same as high house 1 if you’re into skeet. Took the shot at about 15-20 yards and it was dead before it fell into the grass.

Friend taught me how to clean it, but, how do I cook it??? Recipes appreciated!

So fun and I’m totally hooked.
I wrap the bird in pepper and bacon and into the oven.
 
Yesterday was my birthday but thanks to this awesome state, I couldn’t celebrate with a hunt.
So instead I shot a couple rounds of trap and then took the dog for a easy hike, just the two of us.
Today after a nice breakfast out with my wife and in laws, Emmit and I hit up a WMA in CT around 11.
15 minutes into the hunt, he got birdy and flushed a rooster. Was an easy shot and the bird was retrieved to hand.
No sooner did I bag the bird, reload the shotgun and take two steps forward... he flushed number two. I let this one fly away. Didn’t want to limit out so soon. About 10 minutes later we flushed a hen which we bagged. We ended up hiking around just relaxing while he continued to flush another 2-3 birds. He’s having a great year.
Made a nice pheasant schnitzel for lunch.... was a good day

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I had a good day last week...got a rooster..and a guy with a dog (on point) called me over to shoot another bird (he had limited out). I got in position.. he called for the dog to 'gettum'..but the dog CAUGHT the bird! He offered me the birdl I accepted...and got my limit! ;^)\\
 
Where did you get him?
Meadows, Northampton. I’ve seen lots of birds there this year but he’s been my only one. Saturdays have been tough with the rain and high water there.

Seen a lot at Southampton WMA too but haven’t had a chance to shoot one there myself.
 
Went to Medfield Charles River WMA yesterday (11/15). Walked around for a couple of hours with a buddy but didn't kick any up. A guy with a dog came in when we were getting ready to head out. They did a couple of laps around the main field but didn't drum up anything either.

We did find a ton of feathers and remains that other hunters left behind though. Plus a ton of empty casings. Is that a thing? Do people not pick up their casings after taking a bird?
 
Went to Medfield Charles River WMA yesterday (11/15). Walked around for a couple of hours with a buddy but didn't kick any up. A guy with a dog came in when we were getting ready to head out. They did a couple of laps around the main field but didn't drum up anything either.

We did find a ton of feathers and remains that other hunters left behind though. Plus a ton of empty casings. Is that a thing? Do people not pick up their casings after taking a bird?
I pick mine up if I can find em easily enough but I don't hunt for them.
 
Discovered at Southampton WMA by my friend yesterday: somebody shot five birds and then just left them there. Did not make me feel good during my first year hunting there.

Do we have a wanton waste law here in mass? He reported it to EPOs but I doubt anything can be done.
 

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As for cleaning; I stand on the wings, grab the legs and stand up to pull it apart. Simple.
I’ve gotten two this year. The first I used that method and it worked well. The second I plucked and it took forever and I’m still finding feathers in my pockets. Unless the skin is the best bird skin I’ve ever had I’m going back to the skinning route.

Here are the two my friend and I got in Southampton on Friday.
 

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Discovered at Southampton WMA by my friend yesterday: somebody shot five birds and then just left them there. Did not make me feel good during my first year hunting there.

Do we have a wanton waste law here in mass? He reported it to EPOs but I doubt anything can be done.

My dog often finds downed birds left by others that I assumed failed to locate them. Also, some dogs will "trap" birds that haven't been shot, and leave them on the ground. If my dog retrieves a bird I haven't shot, most times I'll leave the bird along a trail, if nearby. And then there's the people who can't just accept that it's a 2 bird/day limit.
 
Discovered at Southampton WMA by my friend yesterday: somebody shot five birds and then just left them there. Did not make me feel good during my first year hunting there.

Do we have a wanton waste law here in mass? He reported it to EPOs but I doubt anything can be done.

I ran into something similar last week. Two older guys with a dog, only other guys there and as I'm walking in I hear them shoot and seeing them putting a bird in a bag, strange but ok. As we're working the area my dog picked up a fresh kill and I asked if it was theirs, they say no. As I'm working through the area a little ways off I hear them going crazy shooting for a period of time and when I get up there my dog finds a rooster that's been destroyed and left there.

When I got to the truck I mentioned something to them and they start telling me how they shot it out of the tree and there was nothing left then about how the dog catches them and kills them then they just leave the birds since they didn't shoot them.
A. If you have a pointer and it's catching birds, you have a bad pointer.
B. As far as I'm concerned if your dog catches a bird, it's part of your bag. Both of my dogs have done it and I've always kept them.

Then one of them starts asking me about bag limits and possession limits and talking about the possession limit being 4 per person. Now I'm thinking they shot 2 birds, went back to their cars and came back in for another 2.

Also kept on hearing their dog yelping as they zapped it with the e-collar, a lot, then they commented how the dog didn't listen so they had to shock it. Hate to see people replace training with an e-collar.

End Rant
 
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