3 Tips Tor Use During Your First Pheasant Hunting Trip
Every year, you and some friends may go on a hunting trip to shoot deer, elk, or other types of larger game. This year, however, you may have decided to try your hand at pheasant hunting on grounds near a lodge away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. However, since this is your first time going, you may wonder if there is anything special that you need to know. Besides finding yourself the ideal dog for hunting pheasant, use the following tips to keep from scaring away your prey while maximizing your chances of bagging your quota.
1. Use Hand Signals to Communicate with Each Other
If you are used to hunting deer, you know that you should keep your voices down while traveling to your stand to keep from spooking the animals. Then, once you reach your stand, you can speak freely although you need to keep the volume low. However, hunting pheasant is a different experience that requires almost silence.
Pheasants are even more skittery than deer. If they hear you and your buddies talking or even the slamming of your vehicles' door, one of two things can happen. First, they may bunker down under cover and refuse to budge. Or, they may fly away before you even have a chance to get your rifles ready.
To keep from alerting the birds of your presence, come up with hand signals before you go out so that you can communicate with each other without making any noise. While your footsteps will still create some noise, you can eliminate the added sound by gesturing to each other where you need to go and when to stop.
2. Take Your Time Going Through the Brush
While you usually stay stationary when you go deer hunting, you will need to walk about when pheasants are your quarry. They tend to hide in thick brush and underneath bushes, and you can actually use your footsteps and movements to your advantage.
However, if you move too quickly, you may end up scaring the birds just as you would if you talk while stalking your prey. And, if you move in a straight line, you may miss pheasants that are hiding in the outskirts of the field or brush patch in which you are searching.
While walking through the area, take slow, deliberate steps, and walk in a zigzag pattern. Also, stop every once in a while. If a pheasant is nearby and has been listening to your steps, they may take the silence as a sign that it is safe to take off, which would give you a chance to shoot it.
3. Change Up the Time You Go Hunting
On your regular hunting trips, you may be used to going early in the season, and you may be accustomed to going as early in the day as possible to catch the game when they first wake up and start to move. However, when hunting for pheasants, the best times are most often different.
While going first thing in the morning is possible, you can also go hunting for the birds in the afternoon and early evenings before they go to roost. And, since pheasant season usually runs from late fall into the first part of the year, planning your trip for the early winter months may help yield a better chance of reaching your quota. Since fewer hunters are out and about at this time of year, the birds are often more relaxed and not as skittish as during the first week or so of hunting season.
Using the tips above can help keep you from scaring away your quarry while maximizing your efforts to increase your chances of getting a few pheasants. If you are planning on staying at a hunting lodge, you can also ask someone who works there if they have any further tips about pheasant hunting in the area.