I have never been on a pheasant hunt and was hoping for some advice. I am planning a couple of trips to hunt pheasant for the first time. What is a good range for a bird dog to naturally use in locating wild pheasant. Do they need to quarter or can they hunt by objective and such. I have watched this on OLN and the pointers are running very vertical and locating birds. I have heard that the dogs need to stay reasonably close. I am just wondering so I can decide on how to start transiting them to a closer ranger.

Thanks so much for your help and expertise.

Elhew

Pheasants hunting can be so varied, they don't normally hold, will run and hide, then run and run some more. It depends on the weather and ground conditions, snow, dry, etc. It will be a learning experience for you and your dogs. I can't wait!

The answer to your question will vary day by day, but in general for a pheasant hunt you would rather a dog that stays close in to the hunter. Pheasant, especially later in the season, will have a tendency to run out on your dogs if they feel any pressure at all. For this reason a dog that works closer in is at the advantage because it wont take as long for you to get there to flush the bird.That being said, a smart dog can usually figure this out by himself after a day or two of hunting.
A few other things to think about. If you are experiencing birds that run out on you a lot, almost as if you are just chasing them, you might want to set up some blockers at the other end of the field and then work toward them. This makes sure that the pheasant don't just run out of your field, and that someone gets a shot. Just make sure that all parties have plenty of hunters orange on. Another option is to combine specialties. I don't know what your dog situation is, but combining a flusher with your pointers can really help. Just keep your flusher, whether it be lab or spaniel, at heal until your pointer goes on point and then send in the flusher. This will help eliminate the running as well.

Me and my dog will be learning right along with you, Elhew!

x2

No matter how good your dog is, have blockers..Seen guy with some very top notch dogs that just plum wore them out with limited success becuase they thought the birds would eventually hold up, they will but maybe 1.5-2.5 miles down the road or after going around a pivot 2-3 times.

DoubleB20... if you need to borrow a real Pheasant dog let me know.. My lab probley will forgive you for all those comments after you apologize

I apologize...I didn't mean to hurt your city slicker dog's feelings.

Well played.

I've seen hunters walk right past many pheasants. A gun dog with a good nose will flush those missed birds and you will fill your bag quickly. Have him hunt close.

Been on 2 good fez hunts. I keep my dogs very close as they are retrievers. The first year the birds were coming out from our feet. The second year they were busting and flying at 60 to 70 yards. Using the blockers will help a lot as long as the blockers sneak into position and are not yelling back and forth to each other. I would volunteer to block because the fez would rather run than do anything.

Train your dog to always keep an eye on you. If you are in a field with nothing, your dog can range out and cover it for you. If there are lots of birds or the field is thick, have your dog work close. One thing you don't want to do is keep hacking on your dog in the field. It will mess him up and cause him to bump birds.

May I ask why you don't want them yelling or making noise? I was always told blockers should make noise so the pheasants don't run right passed them?? I would think if a pheasant is moving toward a blocker and those blockers are making noise, they will get nervous and stop in their tracks.

Seen birds fly out of a feild from one slamming a door, They get skiddish just like deer with a lot of pressure. Key is being set up, if your just getting out of the truck your not set up

Because they will stop short of the blockers and bust out before the hunters get to them. On one trip they held until flushed. Last year they were flushing at 60 and 70 yards out. I think it is because of the noise both drivers and blockers were making.

As BOBO stated, a lot depends on hunting pressure, location and type of hunting you're doing. I've seen them fly away just driving up to their hangout when you're opening the gate. There are some places where we park quarter mile away and sneak in quiet as possible. Hunting pheasants can be as varied as the boring march through the milo or corn fields to a quick run through an old homestead. Different tactics for every situation - sometimes the dogs stay in the truck.

x2

If you have small numbers of Hunters like 1-3. Forget the big fields..Find the nasty small area stuff, old farm houses, back water irragation pits..ect.

I gotcha, I don't hunt them much, but we usually hunt the big CRP fields and pivots so usually the blockers and drivers are hundreds of yards away when they start so making noise scaring them out isn't an issue. I can totally see it though if you drive up on an old gravel bed or something where you KNOW they are there! Then you definitly want to sneak up on them.

I have gotten where i don't even mess with the big fields anymore.

I just work the corners of the pivots that are in CRP. Just make sure your blocker are set up way before you start walking and make sure you not only have them at the end of the triangle but the 90 degree corner( both side) as well... If you don't they will run back to the corner and you will just push them right out. Nothing worse then walking a 100 -200 yards and blocker didn't set up right and You see 100 birds take off way out of range....

You boys need to head to South Dakota. My black lab (also named Gus, heh) and I hunted up there a few years ago and slaughtered them. He stayed close and quartered, and did a fantastic job flushing birds. This was in a variety of fields. Some tall corn, some CRP, and some milo/grain fields.

We only hunt with labs and keep them close. They are worth their weight in gold when it comes to locating, flushing and retrieving pheasant. A downed pheasant doesn't always mean it is dead. They will run like crazy a lot of time even after what you think is a great hit.