Pheasant Hunting

[BigRed]

Got to get a couple of the dogs out today to try out a new CZ Bobwhite on some birds.

It has been a while since I've bird hunted with a SxS.....forgot how fun it can be!

It's tough to beat a winter afternoon in the woods with good dogs bringing in birds.

 

[BigRed]

 

[baboon]

The last pheasants I shot I made smoked pheasant quesadillas.

 

[Army 1911]

I thought the title said peasant hunting and was getting nervous.

 

[BigRed]

I thought the title said peasant hunting and was getting nervous.

Shoot back, send the rounds well, kill the target.

 

[Fishkiller]

Have not been pheasant or peasant hunting in years. Wild birds are hard to find and I have no dog anymore

 

[Lonesome Dove]

Always wanted to go shoot some Pheasant in the Dakotas but only made it to a pay to shoot place for raised birds. Had fun shooting em with an old Humpback 20 and 7 1/2s.

 

[rotor]

Pheasant hunting once in Nebraska. Tremendous fun. Had a brittany spaniel and was a natural hunter but otherwise worthless dog. A pheasant can land in a fresh plowed field with nothing but one tiny bush and become invisible except to a dog. I learned a lot.

 

[cbp210]

One of the things I do miss about California was their pheasant hunts in the Central Valley. I used to go every weekend with my dad and brother hunting pheasant in Tracy and Lodi area. Since coming to Texas never did hunt any birds with the exception of dove.

 

[Brassguy]

View attachment 363314

Love seeing britts work a field

 

[gll]

I've never been anywhere to hunt pheasant except Iowa in the late 80's when I was working at UIHC in Iowa City.

As a Texan used to private land and leases, I was shocked to learn that I could pull up tp most any farm house and be allowed to hunt some field usually on some drainage. I had no dog, but walk hunted and was shocked again at just how many birds there were and how close they would wait to flush.

My first couple hunts I had a hard time bringing my 30" Rem 1100 to bear quick enough, but a change to a 21" barrel did the trick. Was a lot of fun, so long ago now that I hadn't thought about it for years.

Thanks for the thread that spurred my memories!

 

[BigRed]

Signs of getting old....


You spend a Saturday evening brushing, waxing, and oiling "tin pan" chaps.

Another hint...you've done it long enough that the "tin pan" has patina.

Of course, I am not yet dead...just enjoying a piece of being alive.

 

[baboon]

I grew up in a pheasant paradise. I would walk my Brittany Spaniel on a check cord along I-80 & jump birds to no end. Any undeveloped land held birds. As kids we shot them with Wrist Rocket Sling Shots with great success.

On one trip home after many years in Texas I was surprised to hear the pheasant were all gone. Whipped out by coyotes was what I told. Never even heard a coyote while growing up. I heard Turkey took up where the pheasants no longer were, never seen wild turkeys growing up.

 

[lightflyer1]

IIRC there used to be some pheasants out by Granger Lake. Stocked I think. But if IIRC they couldn't make a go of it due to fire ants eating the babies.

 

[justmax]

I grew up in a pheasant paradise. I would walk my Brittany Spaniel on a check cord along I-80 & jump birds to no end. Any undeveloped land held birds. As kids we shot them with Wrist Rocket Sling Shots with great success.

On one trip home after many years in Texas I was surprised to hear the pheasant were all gone. Whipped out by coyotes was what I told. Never even heard a coyote while growing up. I heard Turkey took up where the pheasants no longer were, never seen wild turkeys growing up.

I grew up in that area (I-80 / Midwest) during the late 60s and early 70s. Pheasant and quail both were in short numbers then. We were told that the decline was from the road crews spreading the salt in the winter and the birds eating it, along with the roadside gravel, for their gizzards and dying.

In 1968 my father sold off his poultry business that involved three farms that represented over half a million chickens. The buyers of the largest one started raising pheasant, quail, chuckers, and grouse for the hunting clubs around the region.

 

[Mowingmaniac 24/7]

Do they taste like...chicken?

 

[BigRed]

Do they taste like...chicken?

Pretty close...bit more lean that commercial chicken

 

[Mowingmaniac 24/7]

BR,

Thanks!

 

[PinnedandRecessed]

Do they taste like...chicken?

Pheasant has less fat than chicken so it dries out easily. Still tasty though. It's been a long while since my last pheasant hunt. Coyotes and newer farming practices have decimated pheasant populations where I used to hunt. Sad.

 

[BigRed]

Pheasant has less fat than chicken so it dries out easily. Still tasty though. It's been a long while since my last pheasant hunt. Coyotes and newer farming practices have decimated pheasant populations where I used to hunt. Sad.

View attachment 366985

Well...that looks pretty damn good!

General recipe?