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Pheasant season opener

x-force hunter said:
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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Ugh...

Those are the type of wasteful @ssholes that ruin it for others. Yep, your dog grabs one- it's part of your bag limit. You blow one to a mix of feathers and gunk? Also part of your bag limit. That's some serious poaching on the part of those two old douches. If someone wants to blast a bunch of birds on the same day, buck up for a private hunt. Did that yesterday on a special permit at my club and our group of 3 hunters / 2 dogs bagged a total of 12 pheasants.

E-collar sucks for the dog, but better than having a completely out of control dog for others to 'enjoy'.
 
Nice! So much water this season, having a retriever along is a great way to stay dry.

Hunted dog-less yesterday. Was able to follow fresh tracks in the soft snow and kicked up a nice rooster from some brush at the edge of the woods. Another one bites the dust...
 
Paper City Firearms said:
We did a hunt at peacable hill farm in shoreham VT last friday....what a great place!
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I used to buy pheasant chicks (on behalf of our club) from Glenn! I didn't realize they were still making a go of Peaceable Hill as his full time job was taking him away from home more, granted this was years ago. Glad to hear they are still around!!
 
Al-Jim19 said:
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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Not necessarily the same person. I have seen groups of folks leaving multiple birds to a dedicated spot next to the parking, so others can take them home.
Some just like to hunt, but don't like the after work.
 
Sometimes hunting pheasant without a dog is fun! I worked hard for this one bird on this bitter cold morning. Glad I made it out. I was having second thoughts once I opened the front door at 5:30am.

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That’s it for upland birds for me this year. I would like to try for rabbit before that season ends in February. Never shot me a wasscly wabbit.
 
Al-Jim19 said:
Hoping to get out either today or tomorrow for a last hurrah. I’ve harvested my first two pheasant ever and a third would be icing on the cake.
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Congrats! Good luck if you go out again.

My club should have its last stocked regular season hunt tomorrow. I wasn't planning on attending and didn't sign up for it, but I may swing by in the late afternoon for a clean up sweep. I'm usually pretty good at finding birds, especially with some snow cover.

The leftovers are usually the smart, wily ones that are already jumpy so it takes some work to flush them without a dog. Often they will be roosters that like to run. I'll usually position myself to push them towards an open area (more desirable) or a ridge (less so) and once close enough, I'll rush them.
 
Everyone slamming them the last few days at my private club. Not many people showing up cause of the cold, last few days have taken a lot of birds.
Limited out in late October on state birds. It's been a good year, ton of action. Going to do a clean up hunt tomorrow morning for the leftovers, and put everything away for the season for the most part.

Dont' really like the snow, birds run as they don't have good field cover, dogs tend to break and run, but still we are very much successfull, as most shots are close.

If we get some decent weather Ill do Addieville Jan to March once deer season is over.

If its really nice, then I'll do some January CT bowhunting as well, but unlikely the way this weather is lately.
 
Went to Southwick today with my pup but we didn't find any birds. I asked the 7-10 hunters I ran into and no one had gotten a bird. One guy said they were chasing a hen. I wonder when the last time they stocked it was.

Also - I know it's public land but what's up with non-hunters having no regard for hunters? I saw 3 different people with dogs off leash and no orange on walking and cutting through the fields. People are idiots.
 
swagelin said:
Went to Southwick today with my pup but we didn't find any birds. I asked the 7-10 hunters I ran into and no one had gotten a bird. One guy said they were chasing a hen. I wonder when the last time they stocked it was.

Also - I know it's public land but what's up with non-hunters having no regard for hunters? I saw 3 different people with dogs off leash and no orange on walking and cutting through the fields. People are idiots.
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Exactly that’s people who have no interest in hunting have no interest in being respectful of those of us that do. Or they are just ignorant to what is going on. I run into many people in the woods who legitimately have no idea but it’s deer season.
 
swagelin said:
Went to Southwick today with my pup but we didn't find any birds. I asked the 7-10 hunters I ran into and no one had gotten a bird. One guy said they were chasing a hen. I wonder when the last time they stocked it was.
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They stocked Southwick on Wed afternoon... I was there. Most of the WMAs gets stocked the day before Thanksgiving and it’s pretty much the final stocking. I bet that place was pretty busy Thursday AM.

Here’s our last two MA birds... CTs season still runs till Feb so we’ll keep hunting there.
B830EF6B-4012-4356-8F1E-EA2E413571DF.jpeg
 
swagelin said:
Went to Southwick today with my pup but we didn't find any birds. I asked the 7-10 hunters I ran into and no one had gotten a bird. One guy said they were chasing a hen. I wonder when the last time they stocked it was.

Also - I know it's public land but what's up with non-hunters having no regard for hunters? I saw 3 different people with dogs off leash and no orange on walking and cutting through the fields. People are idiots.
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Yeah, the non-hunters are probably just clueless. Possible they know and are arrogant DGAF types.
 
No birds at crane today. I didn't even hear any gun shots. Could be us or maybe their last release was like Wednesday.
 
x-force hunter said:
Thats typically what they do but Martin Burns was marked as closed for stocking at 4pm on friday, used to be 4pm the wednesday before thanksgiving.
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They close it for stocking? Really?
How do they announce it? Do they just put up a sign at the entrance or something?
Southwick WMA doesn’t close for stocking?
 
RDG said:
They close it for stocking? Really?
How do they announce it? Do they just put up a sign at the entrance or something?
Southwick WMA doesn’t close for stocking?
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They post a sign that list what dates the wma will close at 4pm for stocking, usually every friday. All the other days they just stock whenever
 
Does anyone have any tips on the Rhode Island Game management areas? They stop releasing birds at the end of December and the season runs to the end of February. Tips for hunting with a dog and without one would be appreciated.
 
x-force hunter said:
They post a sign that list what dates the wma will close at 4pm for stocking, usually every friday. All the other days they just stock whenever
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Most WMA don't close to stock, most don't also post stocking times or days. If they post that they stock at 4pm they likely have to close because hunting time is til 5 and there are idiots that will wait there and shoot the birds out of the guys hands.

There are also people that follow the stocking truck around. I've talked to guys from the state that stock. One time I was at a WMA and the guy was stocking birds. I told him I'll come back in an hour after lunch so as not to bother him. He told me to hang on a minute...., and looked over at this other car that had driven in behind him and the guy was sitting in the drivers seat. He said, I'm going to turn around and when I drive outta here, get in front of that other car, That guy has been following me all morning.....when I leave, please get right behind me and let me turn out and get gone before you go out into the road. I'm like, no problem, I'm going to fake a car issue and you'll have plenty of time.

I pulled out and let the stocking truck go first,got behind it, and sure enough that guy went behind me. The stocking truck took off and I basically stopped and shut the car off. The guy came up behind me and was PISSED!
He's like what's going on? Why aren't you moving? I'm like....don't know, car stalled, might be the starter....opened the hood, screwed around for a few minutes, and was like should be good now. Sat in there looked at my phone another minute or two...he came up again.....WHAT NOW? I'm like Oh sorry....had an important text.....don't want to text and drive! Finally after 10 minutes I let him go....Hilarious.
 
Mark from MA said:
Most WMA don't close to stock, most don't also post stocking times or days. If they post that they stock at 4pm they likely have to close because hunting time is til 5 and there are idiots that will wait there and shoot the birds out of the guys hands.

There are also people that follow the stocking truck around. I've talked to guys from the state that stock. One time I was at a WMA and the guy was stocking birds. I told him I'll come back in an hour after lunch so as not to bother him. He told me to hang on a minute...., and looked over at this other car that had driven in behind him and the guy was sitting in the drivers seat. He said, I'm going to turn around and when I drive outta here, get in front of that other car, That guy has been following me all morning.....when I leave, please get right behind me and let me turn out and get gone before you go out into the road. I'm like, no problem, I'm going to fake a car issue and you'll have plenty of time.

I pulled out and let the stocking truck go first,got behind it, and sure enough that guy went behind me. The stocking truck took off and I basically stopped and shut the car off. The guy came up behind me and was PISSED!
He's like what's going on? Why aren't you moving? I'm like....don't know, car stalled, might be the starter....opened the hood, screwed around for a few minutes, and was like should be good now. Sat in there looked at my phone another minute or two...he came up again.....WHAT NOW? I'm like Oh sorry....had an important text.....don't want to text and drive! Finally after 10 minutes I let him go....Hilarious.
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That's a classic.
 
OK guys here is an update since I didn't see any posts on NES on Pheasant Hunting in Rhode Island. I went to Buck Hill yesterday. I am told that RI stocks every weekend in December and stops stocking in January but the season runs until the end of February.

Overall, it's a nice wildlife area. Good cover. There was no snow on the ground so there was still some thick areas whereas by the end of the season at Crane Pond I felt like the cover was gone. We did not find any birds but we heard 5-10 shots. We found a bunch of feathers and even a rooster head. I am certainly not an expert on the area so I am sure locals would have a better idea but it did seem birdy. There were probably 10-15 cars there at 8AM but we only ran into a few guys in the woods. I want to try Black Hut next time but I would definitely go back to Buck Hill. It also seems like it would be a great area for woodcock during woodcock season. I hope that helps.
 
It rained pretty hard yesterday afternoon and last night... which lead to a good morning today with Emmit.
We got these two birds down in CT, which although are some state stocked birds, it’s been a while since they stopped stocking.
The leftovers are crafty little runners but Emmits catching on to their tricks. It’s amazing how fair he’s come in his second season.
Becuae they stopped stocking, we basically have the WMA to ourselves. Makes for a nice peaceful hunt.
Even got the “new to me” 16G M37 out today. Connected with both birds on the first shot. I like this gun

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