Dogless Pheasant Hunting?

August 16, 2010 | By | Reply More

If this is your dog, you may have to go dogless!

Don’t have a dog? No problem. Hunt ruffed grouse. We put up and shoot at plenty of those wily forest chickens just by walking them up, as detailed in our book. (Of course, good dogs can make grouse hunting better, just like bad dogs can make it worse.) But no dog and pheasants? Nope – unless….

Here’s what Pheasants Forever’s Bob St. Pierre said about it in a recent blog post:

Here are the four instances I think you can successfully hunt pheasants without a dog:

1) Walking linear cover. Roadsides, drainage ditches, and fence rows create linear habitat a pheasant hunter can walk without a dog until he/she pushes a bird out the end or squeezes one out the side.

2) Small Patches. Same basic principle as walking linear cover.  If you can push a small piece of habitat completely surrounded by plowed fields, then your odds of boosting a bird multiplies.

3) The Big Group Push. If you have enough guys to walk close together, it’s possible to push a big field and jump the young birds that lack the elusiveness of running around your footsteps.

4) Game Farms & Preserves. There is no doubt that pen-reared birds lack the survival instincts of a wild pheasant that has evaded predation its entire existence.

Then he writes:

I’ll add two caveats.  First, in all four of these scenarios, it’s possible to flush a rooster without the assistance of a dog. However, finding a winged bird without a dog is another story all together.  Any ethical pheasant hunter entering the field without a bird dog should take great care in making high percentage, quality shots.

Second, I would wager a good bird dog will lead to twice as many birds flushed walking these same scenarios as hunting without one.

In the comments to his piece, he has a mix of “we hunt without dogs and limit out every time,” “it’s unethical to hunt without a dog” and “I love seeing my dog work so would never hunt without one.” Just about what you’d expect! How about you?

Category: Pheasants

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