Pheasant hunt

[brock ratcliff]

I’ve got two good dogs. My buddy has two more. We usually hunt wild birds close to home. This year has been a tough one due to nearly all of the property we hunt being mowed. I haven’t killed a bird. I don’t need to kill any but I’d like to get my dogs into a few more than we’ve been finding I have a lot of property that has not been mowed and holds a lot of birds, but for whatever reason, the landowners on those properties would rather we not shoot the birds. Still good for the dogs to find them, but I’d like to see a few get shot over them My buddy shot one over my dogs the other day and the pup retrieved him perfectly, but a few more wild birds before season ends would be good for him.
So I’m throwing it out there for anyone that would like to watch good dogs and maybe shoot a few wild birds (I’ll leave my guns at home). If you have access to CRP with some birds within a couple hours of Chillicothe and want to give it a go before the 10th, let me know.

 

[brock ratcliff]

 

[brock ratcliff]

 

[Wildlife]

Definitely keep that in mind. Our local CRP fields have been mostly cut down too. Last year held a fair amount of them. This year, I haven't seen any.

 

[aholdren]

Man Ive got the perfect place but not many Pheasant but a few Grouse...


Wait, that was 20 yrs ago.... Man time flies.

Great Offer Brock...Wish I had some good ground cause Id love to watch good dog hunt.

 

[Iowa_Buckeye]

Funny you posted this! I went out chasing pheasants this morning for the first time in years. The farm we were on holds lots of birds but most were getting up too far in front of us. Managed to get four but saw over 50.

 

[bowhunter1023]

I wish this was a real option for me. Seems like a damn good time. Only seen one pheasant my whole life and it was probably an escapee from someone's pen.

 

[Big H]

Funny you posted this! I went out chasing pheasants this morning for the first time in years. The farm we were on holds lots of birds but most were getting up too far in front of us. Managed to get four but saw over 50. View attachment 117784

Where in Iowa are you? We used to go to Creston, Iowa. My dad had GSP's and the bird hunting was incredible. Planning on going back hopefully next year with our two Boykins.

 

[Johnny44]

This is awesome. I would love to do this more often. A buddy took me to Elkhorn in Bucyrus last year. What a great time. Would love to do some wild ones, though. From what I understand near me, there is a release at Delaware Wildlife Area, but they get whacked, every last one of them and I don't have a dog. That's what I have been told, I have no actual knowledge. At Elkhorn, I stayed with the dog man and picked his brain. It's fascinating. I was so interested in the dogs and how he works them I think I only shot 2 of our groups 14.

 

[Spencie]

This sounds like a great time. I have never pheasant hunted. Can't help you out unfortunately. A better chance anymore of seeing a bear in these parts than even a grouse. From time to time I do see a woodcock or 2.

 

[brock ratcliff]

Funny you posted this! I went out chasing pheasants this morning for the first time in years. The farm we were on holds lots of birds but most were getting up too far in front of us. Managed to get four but saw over 50. View attachment 117784

Larry, you’re farther than two hours from Chillicothe, but I’d make that trip for a couple days chasing birds! Maybe next season... Tony and I hoped to go to Kansas this year since their season is in a couple weeks after ours but it doesn’t look like we will make it this year.

 

[Iowa_Buckeye]

Where in Iowa are you? We used to go to Creston, Iowa. My dad had GSP's and the bird hunting was incredible. Planning on going back hopefully next year with our two Boykins.

I am in east central Iowa. Marion to be exact, just on the north side of Cedar Rapids. This particular farm is fairly local (10 miles NW), and is basically all switchgrass, which is then surrounded by 3 rows of pine trees. 100 acres of excellent pheasant habitat.

When I first moved out here 20+ years ago, several buddies from Ohio would make an annual pheasant/duck/drinking trip out here. We would hit a different buddies dad's farm by Shell Rock Iowa. He farmed about 3000 acres and his waterways were in the CRP program. It was loaded with birds. We would see hundreds!
They had one corn field that was only about 400 yards long, and his brother would combine it out in strips, leaving single combine passes left, each separated by 20 or so rows. We would hit that field at the end of the day when we were tired. We would post folks on each end, then he would come down each strip with the combine. If he saw birds running in the rows, he would hit the flashers on the combine so the posters would know to be ready. Man it was incredible how long the birds would hold, often getting up just feet in front of the corn head as he completed the pass. Those were good times!