Migraine

I joined a Gun Club 20 years ago
Mostly as I wanted a decent place to hunt waterfowl and upland birds
Not greatest for either one ,but it is only 10 miles from my house

Well the club has 400 acers of upland fields where we release Quail , Chucker and Pheasants for hunts

These are pen raised birds
But they do fly well and taste good

Well fast forward to now
I had a nasty fall at work and now I am disabled
So I hunt as much as possible between Migraines and other headaches

I went out to the clubs marsh this morning to do some Canada Goose hunting

About 10 AM I decided to change and do some pheasant hunting
As there was a release & hunt last Saturday and I had been hearing some pheasants in a field close to the area I was goose hunting

I put the geese in my truck and put on a orange vest

My lab new what I wanted , he has been trained for upland hunting also
But since I was the only person there
I figured I would make this a easy hunt
As these were pen raised ,and had been fed by people
So the pheasants are not a real high IQ group

I loaded my shotgun and grabbed my secret hunting tool
A metal coffee can with a hand full of corn in it

I had my lab heel and went to a lane running through a 40 or so acer field of switch grass
I rattled the coffee can and just stood there

About 5 min later the first pheasant walked onto the lane about 25 yards away
I told my lab to "Hunt" and he started moving in the direction of the pheasant
1/2 way there a different pheasant flushed and it was a easy shot

In the next hour I harvested 6 pheasants and a chucker
These a released birds on a our club land
So there is no limit and we can harvest both hens and cocks

So if you hunt a area that has released pheasants
Give the birds a few days to relax after the normal hunt after the birds are released
Then try a low pressure hunt

John

Oldtimr

The above post has to be one of the most pitiful things I have ever had the misfortune to read. Here is a news flash, luring pen raised birds to a corn rattle to you so you can ground swat them is not hunting and the fact you would post what you did on a public hunting forum is even worse. If I was a member of that club I would do my best to get you removed. You may as well just go into a chicken yard with your shotgun.

elkman30

I don't know if a metal coffee can with corn in it is illegal or not. If it's legal, more power to him. Aside from the corn, I thought what he said about letting birds relax a bit makes sense. I've hunted on clubs that had pen raised or pen kept birds. None of the birds walked up to me and they did their damdest to sneak around me and the dog so they didn't have to flush. I used to hunt the fields away from the crowds also. Not as many birds but a lot of fun watching the dog work them. And those fields were usually productive too.

Oldtimr

Sorry Elkman, what he posted was not hunting by any stretch of the imagination is was killing plain and simple and it is sad that anyone wanted to kill pheasants so badly that they would resort to what he did. I wonder how the other club members feel about that kind of thing.

elkman30

I guess it depends on how you read the entire post. For starters, I doubt people raising a huge amount of penned birds on a pheasant club are using a tin can to feed them. But I don't know that since I've never watched a feeding cycle. I honestly don't know if you could coax a pheasant to come up to you looking for feeding like a horse or dog, etc. All of the birds I've seen on clubs seem pretty wild and didn't want to be anywhere near people or dogs. So I don't know how success that tactic would be or not. Your time on pheasant clubs may differ. Also, I considered large pheasant club operations and not somebody raising pheasants in a chicken coup on their own property. But you might have different personal experiences.

When I read the rest of the post, it looked like his lab was finding and flushing birds. Just like hunting on a pheasant club. Or in the wild for that matter. Maybe you just saw something different in his post than I did.

Oldtimr

I belong to sportsman's club and we have a regulated hunting ground permit. There is a small group of us that have bird dogs, we pay for the permit and run it . It is pretty informal, the bird dog club reserves dates to hunt and on other days any club member is allowed to plant their own birds and hunt during the regulated hunting ground season. Our club is also enrolled in the CREP program so we have stellar habitat for the birds. We do not raise birds, we purchase them for each hunt. This past Saturday we had 17 kids for a youth pheasant hunt using the bird dog club members dogs to hunt for the kids. It is one of the things I most enjoy. WE do have a holding pen to hold birds we purchase for a day or two. We buy good quality birds from reputable breeders who have large flight and hardening pens.. We hunt quail, Chuckers and pheasants. I know for an absolute fact not one member of our club would tolerate luring human acclimated birds to the gun by rattling corn in a can. I suspect that would be what they do at feeding time to bring the birds to the feeding troughs. I am sorry if I ruffled any feathers but a man and a hunter/sportsman has to have standards and lines that they will not cross in my opinion.

Champlain Islander

I've never been a member of any hunt club and at least to me planting birds to be shot within a few days is something I personally wouldn't want to do. I've shot a lot of upland birds but all were wild birds in a natural setting. My own opinion it's canned hunting.

Oldtimr

Canned and hunt are two words that when put together do not mean a thing in wing shooting. I grew up with more wild pheasants and even quail that it was incredible. We have them no more due to clean farming and herbicides. This of us who have bird dogs need to have birds for the dogs. The do not know that the birds were released and the hunt is the same to them. I do not hunt pheasants for me I hunt pheasants, quail and Chukar for my dogs, I on't care who gets to shoot the birds on the flush and neither does anyone else in my club. Without birds you do not get good bird dogs. Additionally, the term "canned hunt" was a term used to describe big game animals that are hunted in an enclosure where they have no change of escape, not for bird hunting and I find it appalling as most big game hunters do. Believe me, released birds have as good a chance of flying away as wild ones do.

Champlain Islander

Great point and you convinced me about something I didn't understand since I don't hunt with a dog. Nicely done OT.

Oldtimr