New Lessons Learned from Day 1 of 2008 Pheasant Hunting

After much anticipation, the 2008 pheasant hunting season finally arrived in Connecticut. My group was out there first thing Saturday morning. The season started off well with many birds flushed and taken. There were many shots heard throughout the area, so one can assume that others were also having success.

While shaking off the rust, I made two observations that may be useful on the next pheasant hunt.

1) Consider using different shot gun loads depending on whether you are hunting with the assistance of a dog.

Without a dog I typically use a #7.5 as my first load and a #6 as my second load. I hunt with a double-barrel over-under, so I put the #7.5 in the top barrel and the #6 in the bottom barrel. My thinking is that when a bird first flushes the #7.5 is good for a close shot, but for the second shot the bird will be farther away so you need something with some extra distance, hence the #6 shot. This strategy is ok when working without a dog. Without a dog, you need to do the work of flushing, so you generally need to be relatively close to the bird to kick it up. In that instance, the #7.5 is fine.

However, I have found that #7.5 is not the best pheasant load when working with a dog. Yesterday was the first time I have ever hunted with a dog. I observed that since the dog tends to work out in front of the hunter, the bird is generally flushed at a distance a little farther away than it would be flushed out by a hunter without a dog. Therefore, you need a load with a little more distance. I would consider hunting with two #6 loads, or perhaps a #6 for the first shot and maybe even a #4 for the second shot.

2) Be prepared for a bird at all times. This seems obvious, but it is something that has cost me a bird more than once. It cost me one again yesterday. It was mid-day, and I was hunting alone without a dog. I had been walking around for a couple of hours unsuccessfully looking for birds. I had not heard any shots from other hunters. I came to a river. As I was walking the edge of the river trying to find a decent place to cross, a bird flushed right in front of me. However, I was paying more attention to the river. By the time I got my body and gun in position, the bird was too far away for a high percentage shot.

The whole reason for being out there is to hunt birds, so it did not make much sense for me to be concentrating on something else. This lapse definitely cost me a bird.

One final note: Even if you are unsure about whether or not you will go pheasant hunting this year, if there is even a slight chance you might go, please go to the town hall (or on-line) and buy your pheasant tags. Even if you do not end up going, buying your tags helps make for robust pheasant hunting because the number of birds bought is dependant on the number of tags sold in the previous year. The tags are only $10. To me, it's worth the $10 to keep the pheasant hunting opportunities strong for the following year.