Are guided pheasant hunts "staged"?

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  • draketungsten

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    Has anyone been on a guided pheasant hunt before? I was looking in to one and have the sinking feeling that most are staged. Between the reviews and YouTube videos, they look like they have pheasants confined until you get close. Then they release them giving you the opportunity to shoot them. If it's that way, I don't want it. It's not much different from shooting it in a cage.

    Or am I seeing these videos wrong? Are the pheasants going to ground until the dogs are almost on top of them and that close proximity is what flushes them out?
     
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    Expat

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    Not knowing what videos you are referring to but I will talk generally. Most of the guided hunts out in the pheasant belt will be wild birds. After the opening week (or day in high traffic areas) you will be hunting hard to get your birds. There are some places that will supplement by putting out pen raised birds. This is what we shoot at the state game areas here in Indiana. They will usually sit pretty tight. My dogs caught a few on the ground. Can they put them in remote control cage and release them as you describe? Sure. Some people use those in dog training.
     

    bcannon

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    I have a friend that used to grow pheasants and quail. He would drop them on local properties a hundred at a time for the owners. They were pretty calm and they would spread cracked corn around the property once or twice a week to keep most of them around. They didnt have to remote cage them because they were pretty plentiful. Only issue was that the coyotes liked them too but that also gave them something to hunt besides birds. He
    stopped growing them after the frequent mass killings he had. Coons got in his pens and cleaned him out 3 or 4 times and he got too frustrated so he started on wild turkeys. The pesky critters came back so he finally stopped all together. Im not sure if you would call them staged hunts but the would replenish areas if the volume seemed to dwindle.
     

    Kutnupe14

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    I grew up hunting quail and pheasants. It's a comparatively easy hunt. I would hope/think that they don't need to be staged.
    -Find a field
    -Let your dogs run
    -Look down the rows for running birds, all in a cute lil line
    -Dogs flush
    -You shoot
     

    Hkindiana

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    I know someone who worked at a pheasant hunting site in Indiana. He told me that before the hunt they would put a pheasant in a burlap bag and spin it wildly to make the bird dizzy. Then they would let it go in a certain bush or spot. He said that they would usually stat put (or in the same general area) for at least an hour. Then, on the “guided hunts” the “guide” would know where to take the “hunters”. Not quite shooting fish in a barrel, but a dizzy, pen raised, pheasant is a LOT easier to “hunt” than a wild one.
     

    two70

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    Are put and take hunts easier than hunting wild birds? Yes, in most cases. Are you guaranteed to get every bird you paid for? Absolutely not. Will you even see all the birds you bought? Maybe, maybe not. Will you see survivors from previous hunts? Probably.

    Every put and take hunt I've been on has not started until at least half an hour after the birds were placed, which is more than enough time for the birds to recover and begin running around. The birds are disoriented by tucking their heads under a wing and shaking them gently in a circular motion. The type and amount of cover is more important to the difficulty of the hunt than the bird handling, especially with pheasants. Sometimes you will get quail and especially chukar that won't fly but pheasants almost always fly well and most of them will run a fair amount.
     

    churchmouse

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    I have a friend that used to grow pheasants and quail. He would drop them on local properties a hundred at a time for the owners. They were pretty calm and they would spread cracked corn around the property once or twice a week to keep most of them around. They didnt have to remote cage them because they were pretty plentiful. Only issue was that the coyotes liked them too but that also gave them something to hunt besides birds. He
    stopped growing them after the frequent mass killings he had. Coons got in his pens and cleaned him out 3 or 4 times and he got too frustrated so he started on wild turkeys. The pesky critters came back so he finally stopped all together. Im not sure if you would call them staged hunts but the would replenish areas if the volume seemed to dwindle.

    Kill every Coon you see. Just do it.
     

    dleak

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    churchmouse , talk to don brannan from Proteq . i cannot remember his handle on here but he does pheasant hunts here in indiana and has been leading them for a couple decades !
     

    Restroyer

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    My friend works the weekends as a Pheasant guide with his dogs at a place in Wilmington, Ohio. He says what has been mentioned on here. You pay for a certain amount of birds. (They are of course pen raised.) A worker drives the amount of birds you pre-pay for out to the field and sporadically "places" them there. At each placement the worker tucks the birds head under a wing and spins the bird around thus disorienting the bird. The bird stays in that general area for a while to allow the Guide and his dogs and the paid Hunters time to enter the field to the general area where the birds typically are placed. The Guide's dog(s) then must flush the birds up for an "opportunity" shot for the Hunter. If you are given a fair "opportunity" shot and miss then you just cost yourself one bird with nothing to show for it. Now my friend says he often gives several "opportunity" shots / mulligans to each hunter. He gets paid by tips mainly so he wants the Hunters to have a good time, get the birds they pre-paid for, and tip him well. It takes some skill but it's not as hard as shooting them in the wild. But it's a lot more fun to go out and shoot for a couple hours and get some pheasant than it is to walk public land all day in this area and end up never flushing anything.
     

    Sniper 79

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    Yes most places are what I refer to as "pretend hunting ".

    I've watched dudes tuck a pen raised birds head under his wing and spin him around and place him in the weeds. They sit until stepped on.
     

    AtTheMurph

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    I do a lot of pheasant hunting and have for years. I have hunted game farms (pen raised birds released and then you hunt them) and wild birds.

    The term guided hunt means you are hunting with a guide, and presumably his dogs who will be good bird dogs because they get tons of work. You may be hunting wild birds, pen raised birds or a combination of the two. I know if SD where they have some great pheasant lodges their guided hunts are all a combination.

    By law they have to release on their properties the same number of birds they are planning to harvest. Most do so very early in the year so that the birds when actually hunted have been free roaming for months.

    If you are hunting wild birds it's a whole different experience IMO. Pen raised birds might be fine for dog work, but they don;t fly like wild birds, they don't run like wild birds and they aren't as smart as wild birds.

    as to the videos, pheasants will tend to hold when cornered or they are scared. A good dog can work up on one and hold a point for a long time while both dog and bird stay motionless. I've had my dog locked on point for over 30 minutes while we searched for him. That was a Vizsla which in the early winter is almost the exact same color as dead cattails. Very hard to see! dogs.jpg

    My newer dog is in front and the vizsla is backing his point. The dogs will naturally stop and point if they see other dogs on point. They don't want to scare the birds!
     

    clfergus

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    I have been to a few of the preserves we have here in Indiana and had a really good experience at Fields Outdoor Adventures in Rushville. You buy a specific number of Phesants or Chukkars you want to hunt and they place pen raised birds out. If you schedule early in the season there aren't as many "extra" birds in the grass, meaning each time hunters come and don't kill what they paid for those birds stay and accumulate. That is until the coyotes get them I suppose. So if you hunt later in the season you get the advantage of more birds.

    I thought the birds ran through the grass well to elude the dogs and flew fairly well. I have never been out west to hunt them so no clue on how much better they fly in the wild. I think the local preserves are still a fun afternoon with a buddy and you get dinner to take home.
     

    bradrob

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    It's been a long time since I hunted, but I just went on a preserve pheasant hunt today near Rushville. Yes, the pheasants are pen raised, not wild. Had a blast! The guide and German Shorthaired Pointer were awesome. Watching the dog work and going on point, and being out walking through the fields was worth the cost alone.

    The birds held tight and had to be flushed. Once they took off, I thought they flew high and fast. I'm doing a wild pheasant hunt in Iowa next week, so I'll have something to compare it to, but I was impressed with the preserve hunt.
     

    AtTheMurph

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    79370229_10156506231121254_7147972542970462208_n.png


    Tuesday in Indiana...... I cannot tell you where but it was north of Hwy 26 and West of Hwy 41.
     

    AtTheMurph

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    Jealous at the Murph. We travel to KS and SD every year for wild birds. Got drawn once for here.

    I pheasant hunt in Indiana usually 2 or 3 times per year and in Illinois 3-4 times. Sometimes I get to hunt my place in WI too but haven't for a couple of years.

    Last time I went out in WI I didn't hunt it, but took my wife. Dog pointed a cock about 20 feet from the car and saw another 6 or 7 cocks in 1 hr. Also saw 100+ turkeys, a bald eagle standing out in my field with two more flying over and a really nice buck. They know you don't have a gun.

    Not the greatest picture but had to get the phone out fast before they all got into the grass. There were four cocks standing there and I got two of them on film, and maybe a third one's ass or tail feathers.
     
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    thunderchicken

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    View attachment 82497

    I pheasant hunt in Indiana usually 2 or 3 times per year and in Illinois 3-4 times. Sometimes I get to hunt my place in WI too but haven't for a couple of years.

    Last time I went out in WI I didn't hunt it, but took my wife. Dog pointed a cock about 20 feet from the car and saw another 6 or 7 cocks in 1 hr. Also saw 100+ turkeys, a bald eagle standing out in my field with two more flying over and a really nice buck. They know you don't have a gun.

    Not the greatest picture but had to get the phone out fast before they all got into the grass. There were four cocks standing there and I got two of them on film, and maybe a third one's ass or tail feathers.

    Where was the picture taken at?
     
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