Friends, Family, & Pheasants
When people talk about hunting, the first thing that pops in too many people’s mind is usually some kind of big game animal like a white tail or elk or maybe a bear. The thing many people who are not avid hunters overlook are small game animals, like rabbits, squirrels, or upland game birds. The surprising thing is that these over looked game animals can be some of the most fun to hunt. I have already done a blog about Squirrel Hunting, but upland game bird hunting is something that if the opportunity presents its self, should definitely be taken advantage of. In Pennsylvania, the ringneck pheasant, the most popular upland game bird, was essentially wiped out. But because people like hunting them so much the game commission buys pheasants from a pheasant farm and releases them into the wild. An interesting side note on this matter is that I live about 15 minuets away from the farm that produces all of the pheasants stocked in Pennsylvania and my sisters boyfriend actually works there.
The game commission buys and releases around 217,000 pheasants each year on public lands. I have never hunted public lands for pheasants but heard it can be a blast. Instead, my family has always bought our own and stocked them on our own private land to hunt. There are several methods to hunt pheasants, but I think the best way, and the most fun way, is with a dog. This is the best way in my opinion because the enjoyment of the hunt is two-fold, first you get to hunt the birds, but the second part is watching the dog work. I have always had Britneys, and they are trained to be able to find where a bird is hiding by smell. When the dog smells that one is close by, it will freeze with its front leg up and tail pointed up, and point to the bird with its nose. This is called a point is its an amazing thing to see a dog running full tilt and just stop, completely stop and remain utterly still. This is often indicated by the first person in the group to see it with a loud yell of, ” POINT UP AHEAD!” and a wave of the fluorescent orange hunting cap. Thats when the actions starts, everyone in the group, usually three to five people will get in a line behind the dog and slowly walk forward, kicking the grass or bushes, or anything else the bird could be hiding in near the dog. When someone gets close enough to the bird it will fly, or “flush” with a cackle or a really cool sound a male ring neck will make when it takes off. Everyone in the line will wait until you can see sky under the bird and determine which direction it is flying. If the bird flys left, then the person on the left will shoot because the people on the right will not have a clear line of fire, and if it flys right, the same will occur. If it flys straight, then often, everyone will shoot, very few birds who fly straight away make it to safety.
After the bird is hit, falling from the sky in a rather dramatic fashion, the dog will take off, find where the bird fell and bring it back to you. The reward for the hunters is getting to shoot at the bird and the reward for the dog is an abundance of praise from the hunters and getting to retrieve the object of their hard work. Taking a bird dog hunting is like taking a kid to an amusement park, they love it. After the dog retrieves the bird, the guy who shot it gets to put it in their vest at the ribbing of everyone else who then try and say they were the ones who shot it.
After everyone hits their limits of two male ringneck pheasants per hunter, or gets sick of missing, the real work begins, cleaning the days harvest. While definitely the least enjoyable, it is the most important, because if you don’t do it right, when you bite down after you cook it, you could hit a lead BB and end up with a chipped tooth. when you wash the birds off, after cleaning them, you need to look for any holes and pull the BB’s out.
After the hunting and the cleaning, its time to eat, and you can do pretty much anything with a pheasant, its basically a really lean, small, chicken. As you sit down to eat with your friends and family, you can tell all the stories about the days hunt and give every excuse under the sun as to why you missed because everyone knows that you never miss because its your fault, usually the sun was in your eyes or the bird changed directions at the last second or the gun was off. Regardless, it’s always a great time spent with friends and family outdoors.
This is very interesting, I never really thought about the hunting of smaller game animals much before, like you said, I think of the more common ones first. It is crazy that they release so many pheasant out into the wild because people love hunting them so much. I can definitely see why it would be a lot of fun for hunters. I think it is also amazing how helpful the dogs are for hunting them and how specific their cues are.
In my personal experience, many people in my area enjoy hunting small game animals. So, maybe there is a large population of “avid hunters” in my hometown. Regardless, I know that my neighbors literally shoot squirrels from their kitchen windows. I had no idea that pheasant hunting was even popular in Pennsylvania. I was very surprised when I read that the game commission buys pheasants from farms. It is crazy to see a supply/demand relationship even with birds.