Hi everyone. My 11 year old son and I are starting to get into upland hunting, but we don't have dogs. We still have some time in quail season, (but the quail count seems pretty grim here in the Dallas area).
We can't get bird dog for several reasons. Question is, what are the best techniques/tips for upland hunting without dogs?
I don't know a thing about quail or anything but pheasants. With them you have to hunt slow and hunt the thick stuff, pausing often. I haven't ever had any luck hunting without a dog but I know it can work becauseI flush birds right in front of me even in the late season without a dog.
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Walk in a zig zag pattern and listen for the cackling. Stop often. A slow walk will do it. Pen-raised pheasant run more and flush less than wild birds. With more than one hunter use blockers -- Pheasant will break from a field to heavier cover, like a stand of trees. Let one person stand near the trees and the other go thru the field. Try not to shoot each other!
One method I use is to hunta field next to where hunters are working with dogs. What they miss you will kill because they may flush birds in your direction. The one thing I hate happened to me twice this year -- When I left the hunting area on the way out a bird walked across the road in front of my car. Both times I could only stare at it.
I have been bird hunting since i was old enough to walk.
We always had great bird dogs. we used them hunting wild quail all over the country.
We also owned a place in South Dakota were we Pheasant hunted. We never used any dog in SD Pheasant hunting we just walked the standing corn, shelter belts,and the ditches. When you got close to the end they were comming out.
If you know were the quail are, i suppose that you could walk em up and shoot. But, you are missing the best part of quail hunting (the dogs)
Quail Hunting is a gentlemans sport, It is not about how many you kill.
Quail Hunting is all about the dog, the fellowship with friends, the outdoors, and the conservation of the quail.
There is nothing that is any better than a sylish bird dog on point with a brace mate honoring the point. Walking in front of the dogand a covey exploding out of the cover.
I rarely hunt over dogs and I hunt with a group of about 4-6 hunters everytime that seems to cover the ground pretty good. If you dont have a dog you will most likely lose a couple birds here and there do to the fact that when a bird is hit they instinctively bury into the thick grass to hide. If you do have a lot of guys then have someone block and walk towards them so that the pheasant can not run infront and get away. If you hunt without a dog you are going to have to know the birds real well in your area if you want to be successful. You can be success with time out in the field!
For quail, walk slow and quite. I would get a quail call too. Give calls about every 75 to 100 yards. You can locate and sometimes bring the birds to you. Most of all, just hunt. You find the areas holding birds given the time.
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I agree with above posts, walk slowly, stop at EVERY bush/shrub. Don't discount even the sparsest brush. And listen! When quail get nervous they'll let you know where they're at.
Roosters? Well, that's a different story. Walk slowly, yes, but definitely pause often. They'll sit still and let you walk right by if you're not diligent. But stop, maybe take a couple steps backwards, then zig/zag, pause again, you'll get them ALLLL nervous and scared
Pay no mind to Dale, he's under the impression that there's only one way to hunt, and that's his way.
Good luck. And have fun hunting with your son, that's what matters.
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'That's why they call it huntin' and not killin'!
Walk slow and keep your eyes peeled. Many times you'll hear something rustling a plum thicket or briar patch, and if you look closely a lot of times it's a covey trying to run away. Also, listen closely after you bust a covey and they start calling back and forth. The whistle is different from the "bob white" call you hear a lot, and I've used it a lot to find singles and small groups of birds. The hardest part of not using a bird dog isn't finding birds to shoot (my beagle does that on a regular basis), it's finding birds that have been shot. You can walk back and forth for a long time right where you saw a bird go down, and if he wasn't deader than a hammer when he hit the ground...well, good luck finding him. That's why I don't bird hunt much right now. I don't have a bird dog, and I lost too many birds that should have been found. Hopefully by next season I'll have a good bird dog.
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Upland Hunting without dogs
