Bird Hunting

I wish we had some birds to talk about. I know of a few good coveys near home, but they're few and far between. They’re on power lines and old abandoned farms. Most bird hunting around here is for released birds. What kind of birds do you have up there?

Live in Central West Indiana.....I hunt birds here regularly, but it is on a game preserve.....there are still a few wild quail around here, but I haven't seen a covey of wild birds for decades...those of us who hunt seriously hunt on preserves.....here in Indiana we have a lot of predatory critters and a lot less cover for birds...I used to live in Arizona and we used to hunt birds out there.
Amazingly they have tons of quail out there in the desert.....we used to hunt on horse back because of the amount of territory that we covered.....have had German short hairs & Brittany's .....hunt with a friend who has dogs now...I am retired and I don't want the responsibility of caring for a bunch of wound up bird dogs any more.....still love to see them work....we usually hunt from Nov thru Feb here.....this year has been good....no serious snow or ice.

Hello fellow bird hunters. I am a quail hunter, as was my father, and grandfather. As a farmer I had an unfair advantage because I kept track of where the birds were throughout the year. However, the birds are scarce now. I still have a Brittany female, but I go to a shooting preserve now if I want action. It is sad, I used to take over 100 birds/yr, and that was only over points.
Every year we have less habitat, despite crp acres, and quail buffer strips, the habitat keeps declining.
I have killed the limit (8) with a .410,... I'm not sure I could find 8 birds on our entire farm now.

I Jeep (or ATV) hunt quail in the mountains. See a covey, jump out and shoot. Foot chase them, they usually don't go far. Sometimes, call them back after they settle down. Generally get my limit (10/day) with this method. Never tried this down in flatter country where gogs work pretty good.

Not upland but I got a goose hunting addiction!

Though I love huntin pheasants! My uncle has a place in North Central Montana that has hundreds!

In God and Glock we Trust

Me, too, and ducks. Lived on the gulf coast of Texas most of my life, but just moved to near Eagle Lake which claims to be the "Goose hunting capital of the world". Gonna book me a few hunts next season through one of the outfitters, here. I would like to get into a hunting club, but they're ridiculously expensive and I can run down to the coast and hunt for free, well, 48 bucks a year..

Oh, yeah, I have a thing for doves, too.

Grouse mostly

Here in the mountains of WNC we have some grouse left, a lot of walking over steep mountains and through laurel and briar thickets to get one. The quail and the farms are all gone, all housing subdivisions now. I have two Brits about a year old and are coming on pretty good. But I use the preserves for training, quail and pheasants. Young dogs have to find something once and awhile or they loose interest. But I do love it, the dogs working and the side by sides I usually hunt with make it all addictive. It's not about the birds, it's about the dogs and the guns and the time in the field and woods. A true bird dog lives for it as do I.
Would like to go to Michigan next season, they say there are plenty of grouse there, they say. Anybody know a good place there? Or have a connection?
I'm not the expert, but I do love it.

Very few wild quail here anymore. I used to have pointers and then Brittanies but now have a Boykin. I've killed 5 wild quail in 2 yrs. and only got into birds 4 times.
Had the worst duck season in 15 years this year. Only doves and turkeys seem to be hanging on.

Returningfire,

Sounds like you must be near Asheville. I’ve hunted a lot in Pisgah Nat (~45min east of Aville). The Forestry maintains roads and some fields all through the nat forest. Not a lot of quail, but real good grouse and rabbit hunting. The roads and the edges of some fields have produced some quail for me, but I’ve also had some luck on ridge lines that were cut with a year or two growth on them. The fields are fescue grass and not really suited for quail, but some of those fields bounded by pines have some birds. I’ve tried grouse hunting in wooded hollers, but never had much luck at that.

Yeah, in PA you need to belong to a game reserve/Pheasant farm now. When I was a kid Pheasants were everywhere. Now I never rarely see them.

When I moved to Colorado I did more bird hunting with my German Shorthaired Pointer. Can't recommend these dogs enough. You need a good bird dog to bird hunt. Plus, they are great companions.

Zeke,
Have you tried releasing any weathered pheasant? They're pretty hardy compared to quail. I know a guy here in GA that has a nice quail setup, but he's invested a lot in it. Pheasant would probably be a lot easier if you have a few acres not dedicated to anything else. Around here, DNR will come out and help with planning and they're also a good source for trees/plants.

MtnCreek
Located in a small town about 60 miles southwest of Asheville. We have a lot of public land, US and NC, Nantahala Natl. forest etc. Lots of woods and land but few birds. Between the abundant population of predators; hawks snakes, racoons, skunks, bobcats, foxes, coyotes, and the comeback of turkeys (they will destroy a grouse clutch, eggs or chicks) we are probably lucky to have any grouse left. And then there are the poachers who ride the roads and shoot grouse out the truck window, poor birds don't know you should get away from vehicles instead of stare at them in amazement.
But grouse hunting here makes for a good walk in the woods, and helps keep me and the dogs in shape.
Hopefully there be abundant grouse in Valhalla.
How are the quail over your way?

I hunt a private pheasant preserve here in MT. Great training for the dog, my GWP is 8 months old and has seen a lot of birds.

I expect great things from her next year, this year for most of the season she had a hard time keeping up with the adult dogs so she was not getting first crack at many of the birds. She is gaining speed and endurance fast now. She is a champ at honoring points, I didn't have to train her to do that.. she just did it naturally. Only twice has she flushed a bird another dog was pointing.

We need to get her out solo more. The few times I did that this year she did pretty well, mostly holding points. She retrieves like a lab. In the off season this year we are going to learn that whoa means fricking WHOA. Not whoa until she can't stand it anymore. She's trying, it is all just so exciting and she is still a pup!

I mostly hunt pheasants and doves in McCook Nebraska, sometimes quail and on rare occasion’s turkeys.

It was a tough year for pheasants. They were out there but the drought was so bad this year there were a lot of unpicked fields and with the heat the birds were spread out all over creation. I had the best success in unpicked milo fields. I found hardly any in pockets. With 2-4 guys and one poorly trained dog a large, unpicked field is tough to hunt with any degree of success.

I missed out on doves this year (darn it) and while I saw turkeys I didn’t buy a license.

No quail. Last year was OK but I saw only one or two coveys this year and only in deep cover where I don’t like to shoot them. Without a trained dog to go find them I only shoot them in low cover fields where I can find them.

My BIL went to South Dakota and went on a guided hunt for planted birds. After 30 years of wild birds he wasn’t thrilled with the experience. He said they saw and shot bunches of them but there wasn’t any challenge to it. He also said the guides lined them up staggered on opposite sides of a pocket and they basically had a small arc to shoot in before they would be shooting directly at someone else. A couple of guys got hit and one had a tooth chipped by an errant pellet.

Graet ideas, thanks!

Been a few years since I went dove hunting. I had a friend with a small patch of knee high grass, and we would go out there with a 20 ga. single shot each. The good days we limited out quick, the not so good days we thinned out the crow population. I moved away from that part of the country a few years ago, and I have not bothered to find a new bird hunting area.

I do have a couple of guys at work that are big into duck/goose hunting. I just can not get over the sitting in COLD, smelly water and waiting all day for the chance to get 2 ducks. They seem to love it, and I don't mind when they cook some duck for our potluck lunch.

6 duck limit here and good days, I'm done before 8AM. 2 birds all day? I'd find better hunting.

Zeke/PA said:

Does she know the meaning of the word "WHOA"?

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Zeke/PA said:

In a small room, place the dog on/in a side/corner and walk away.
When she follows, put her back with a collar and under rear legs grab, set her forcefully back and say "WHOA".

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Sounds like whoa means stay. Why is it whoa? Tradition, or what?