Hello Everyone!

Im new to these forums and was looking for tips on hunting Pheasant.

Im a loyal deer hunter from Washington State and throughout last month I been hunting whitetail. On the 23rd I got my big chance and was sucessfull in getting my biggest buck so far. 5x5 Whitetail 205lb hanging weight skinned and all. Now that my deer hunting is completed im getting back into pheasant again.

This is my second year pheasant hunting, last year I wanted to pheasant hunt but I only got about 3 weeks of hunting in since i started late and out of those 3 weeks I only went out about 8 days total. I don't have a dog, well... that is worth taking hunting atleast he is a little house dog which I actually tryed to take out for the fun of it to let him run some brush to see if he would flush anything. Funny thing was he did pretty good the first 2 days but then everytime I tryed taking him out again he would always run back to the car? why I don't know. Sigh... oh well.

On top of that I don't really have anyone to hunt with so I have to hunt pheasant without a dog and alone. Its actually not that bad I guess, just takes a little more work. I became my own brush dog and it seemed to pay off. Last year I got 4 Roosters total which was pretty good for my first year and only hunting a short period of time.

Today was my first day this year to hunt pheasant and I got 2 of 4 roosters I shot at. I admit I was a little excited, I rememberd that im sapost to lead them a bit when shooting at them when they flush but I forgot that I don't need to lead them much or if any when they are at close range, needless to say, I shoulda got a 3rd and had my limit today. Im useing a 12 guage Pump with a Choke and #6 size shot. The area I hunt is a large valley running east and west. Its layout consists of patches of timber on the south side of the valley, a river at the bottom with a field of neck high grass around the river with a few patches of trees in it. To the north side is stubble and plowed wheat fields seperated by small draws with patches of stomich high brush and knee high grass and a few patches of these tall thistles in them which usually produce some birds hideing in them.

There are a few eyebrows of brush around the stubble fields and at the bottom of the draws seperateing the wheat fields is a large area of knee high thick brush with thistles in them as well. There are a few tall grassy draws on top of the south side of the valley leading down into the timber. and thats pretty much the layout.

Today I started to hunt a little after noon. weather was warm and cloudy. I did'nt see much untill i started walking along side the draws between the stubble fields. I jumped about 4 hens and some 5 huns which I happend to drop 1 of them. I moved on and about 2:30pm I went up another grassy draw this one was about 30 yards wide and 150 yards long with neck high grass. At first I didnt see anything so I did a sig zag pattern walking through the grass... still nothing then right when I got to the very end of the draw right before it turned into a plowed field I jumped my first rooster like 14 yards away and dropped him.

When I was done with that draw on my way back I went along some tall bushes like 20ft tall with a grassy field leading up to them. I walked right on the edge where the grass met the bushes and hurd something running around. I happend to jump it but it had run to far a head of me. It was a rooster but I had no shot. After that it was getting late but I read online that the first and last hours of the day are usually the best when hunting pheasant so I decided to walk up the grassy draw leading from the timber. After wadeing through the grass 100 yards up it, I jumped a rooster which was the one I lead to much at like 12 yards away and missed I kept going another 150 or so yards up it untill I reached the end of it, and happend to jump another one, I made the same mistake and that I did before and missed but on my second shot when he was about 50ish yards away aprox leading him worked and I dropped him. So all in all I got 2 with a hun so not a bad day.

I was wondering if anyone knew some tactics that might work better when hunting alone. Also im not the best shot so if anyone could tell me how far I should lead them at what range that would help. I find that most of the birds I get a shot at are in the small draws, and since there are only so many of them its kinda limiting. One of the draws that has a big patch of thistles that I have a picture above of that usually always has birds in it. Ill toss a rock or just make some noise and I can almost always get something to fly out of it. The good and also bad thing about this whole area is there is quite a few hunters that hunt it, its good cause it gets some birds moving around I can hunt a draw and see some birds then come back a few hours again to see more birds fly out of it but also sometimes ill walk them and see nothing. There is some CRP land in another area I can hunt but its miles and miles of grass and I dont think you would ever see a pheasant unless you had 5 people hunting it.

Anyway I look forward to some replys and any hunting storys you might have

Thanks,
Wolfy