What is your favorite type of cover to hunt pheasants and why?

[UGUIDE]

How about early season vs. late?

[tuna]

My favorite type of cover to hunt is pine woods with areas of brush in them.
I like the easy walking, the openness that keeps the birds holding until you are almost on them.
As for early or late season, I don't have a real preference, but I like the freedom of being dressed lightly in early season.

[Dewey]

Anything but a crop field or the really tall cattails. Really enjoy the crp grasses to watch the pup work.

Late seaon with snow on the ground is a rush. I just love it when Ruby goes on point into the snow and out busts a rooster.:)

[UGUIDE]

A snow flush would be awesome. I planted Sudan this year and won't do that again. it laid down flat after the first 3 inch snowfall SD got. I am sticking to milo and cane. We found birds in the Koshia to which was surprising this early.

[JMBZ71]

Love the late season hunts when the crops are down and the birds are bunched up in the draws and sloughs separating the the crop fields. Just wish they'd reschedule the holidays so they wouldn't interfere with our late season hunts. :)

JMB

[webguy]

I love hunting on a cold day in a shelterbelt when you know those wily characters are in there and the dogs are working hard.

Its fun to hit the flank on the shelterbelt and blast the low jetting flyers & try and hit them in 1. Unfortunately I somehow end up unloading my Benelli not leading them enough.

Here is some fun cover we were hunting in Mid November. It was 70 2 days earlier.

http://www.ultimatepheasanthunting.com/images/good-pheasant-cover.jpg

[Shorthair-On-Point]

CRP that butts up against cattails that aren't more than 30yds deep. This usually lets my shorthair pin down even the big running roosters.

[kiotehntr]

I prefer to hunt milo and wheat stubble. I also hunt shelterbelts. CRP's okay but I get tired of walking through it all day especially when its warm out like it has been lately. Sleughs and old farm yards also hold alot of birds. I tend to hunt with a small group (3-4) people so covering the field is kind of hard. We have good dogs to hunt with but the roosters run like crazy. I'm not saying CRP's bad by any means, but I tend to hunt crops more than CRP.

[crockett]

As a beginner, I pretty much like to hunt where I can get permission and where there are birds, but in my limited experience, my favourite place is a high-ground cornfield that drops down to a lower field along a small river. Between the two fields is a creek that feeds into the river, which is all grown up with cat-tails and willows. There seems to be all the right ingredients for birds here. I only got permission there late last year, and was having a hard time hunting alone, since the dog would push the birds out the other side - by the time they came over the cover they were out of range and could fly across the river. After two trips like that I brought an buddy along and he worked the far side, getting a great late-season bird as it came over him. This fall I'll be saving this stop for group hunts (I hunt alone a lot) and I'm also working on getting permission to hunt the far side of the river.
When I hunt alone I like the spots where there are ditches between small field of differnt types of crops, espcially inside of the dykes that line many Nova Scotian rivers on teh Bay of Fundy side of the province. The dykes are about 20 feet wide, with a river on one side and a (usually cut) field on the inside. The top of the dyke is usually wild grasses/weeds that are left fallow but are not that hard to walk through. It's an easy habitat to cover with one hunter and a dog, except that there are no breaks in teh dyke (by design) so running birds can go a LONG way without having to go to wing. I usually walk about 5 km on way along the dyke, and then drop down on the way home to hunt the hedgerows/ditches that seperate the small fields inside the dyke. Great exercise but lots of far-flushed birds. The dog and I have lots of work to do to learn how to hunt these and other habitats, but it's encouraging to see lots of roosters at least!

[Scoob]

My favorite cover to hunt are the coulees of southern Alberta. Lots of variety, from rose bushes to trees to grasses etc. Perfect for my lab but hard on his body sometimes. Very scenic as well.

[mnmthunting]

With my flushing Labs I look for heavy cover without paths or runways next to a stubble field. Heavy cover like thick tall grasses or cattails, brush stuff like that.
Early season and late.

[CZ-Vizsla]

CRP fields are by far the best spots for pheasant where I live in NE Kansas. Waterways with moderate to tall grass near corn and bean fields are also very good for pheasants.

[Cackleburs]

I hunt N. Iowa and we've lost 30% of our habitat since 2000 and with crp on this fall's chopping block we feel the squeeze. To me the best cover is any water way near a picked cornfield. I've have very limited success near beans. Anything I can push up to a pond or slough with a few cattails and broken patches of switch grass and near corn is tough to beat. Throw in a few willow thickets and I'll be there. I much prefer hunting after TGiving. I get less birds, but the crowds are gone or hunting deer. The cattail sloughs are froze over and a dusting of snow make a fine day afield. I like hunting in the 20 degree temp range, where you never sweat and I don't have to wear gloves yet.

[kansasbrittany]

Tumbleweeds...I love tumble weeds. Not saying that they're the best place to find birds, but they certainly add an element of surprise when the is a point in such a small bush, yet you usually can't see the bird until he explodes. Crops are great with blockers. When it get cold, the nastier, the better!!! Cattails and weeds on the S side of a pond dam or in a slough, first thing in the morning or just after the birds have had breakfast.

[webguy]

I much prefer hunting after TGiving. I get less birds, but the crowds are gone or hunting deer. The cattail sloughs are froze over and a dusting of snow make a fine day afield. I like hunting in the 20 degree temp range, where you never sweat and I don't have to wear gloves yet.

I agree Cackleburs. After Thanksgiving is where its at... no gloves, no crowds.

[winchester21]

My absolute favorite areas have some red willows and either an adjecent wheat stubble or corn field....I am also very fond of feedlots with blockers and long Russion Olive windrows. Come to think of it, my favorite habitat is any that has a wily cock bird in it!!!

[Downtown Bang!]

Hunting w/labs I like smaller pieces of cover with defined edges the dog can push the birds toward. Weed patches (very underated) in crop fields, waterways-the weedier & dirtier the better, small sloughs any time of day & small grass fields at roosting hour.

Big CRP fields can be fun. We always hunt a few and its great when the dog starts ground scenting a bird like its leaking fuel and sticks with it through all the evasive manuevers before the birds loses it's nerve and flys. We had one on Friday that doubled back behind us three times before the dog got tight and put him airborne. Those roosters always come with a lot of satisfaction but it takes a toll on the dog.

DB

[hjhjh220]

I think cold days is very situ able for hunting

[UGUIDE]

Well, the dogs sure work a lot harder. Especially the black dogs....

Sit, Ubu, sit....

[BritChaser]

I like weedy wheat stubble. The birds eat and live in it. It's easy to walk through and the dog is always visible. But with herbicide as part of the no-till wheat program, weedy stubble is rare.

[dogman]

I usually tailor my hunt to the current weather conditions. But all things being equal and its a nice day to be out I have my best luck hunting the small 7 acre grassy corners on irrigation circles. They are small enough that 4-6 hunters with dogs can easily cover them and they are normally loaded with birds.:)

[UGUIDE]

Let's see we got weedy wheat stubble, milo, picked corn next to cover, fire bush (koshia), stripped corn, irrigation corners, grass waterways, any CRP.

That sounds like plenty of options to find roosters in.

One you may not have thought of is picked corn and rooster cover next to gravel. I've found gravel to be a limited supply but much needed by pheasants on a daily basis.

When I use to hunt solo and public in Iowa I always got out of the truck when I found grass, picked corn and gravel in same area. Usually found birds too.

[wgwollet]

As a beginner, I pretty much like to hunt where I can get permission and where there are birds, but in my limited experience, my favourite place is a high-ground cornfield that drops down to a lower field along a small river. Between the two fields is a creek that feeds into the river, which is all grown up with cat-tails and willows. There seems to be all the right ingredients for birds here. I only got permission there late last year, and was having a hard time hunting alone, since the dog would push the birds out the other side - by the time they came over the cover they were out of range and could fly across the river. After two trips like that I brought an buddy along and he worked the far side, getting a great late-season bird as it came over him. This fall I'll be saving this stop for group hunts (I hunt alone a lot) and I'm also working on getting permission to hunt the far side of the river.
When I hunt alone I like the spots where there are ditches between small field of differnt types of crops, espcially inside of the dykes that line many Nova Scotian rivers on teh Bay of Fundy side of the province. The dykes are about 20 feet wide, with a river on one side and a (usually cut) field on the inside. The top of the dyke is usually wild grasses/weeds that are left fallow but are not that hard to walk through. It's an easy habitat to cover with one hunter and a dog, except that there are no breaks in teh dyke (by design) so running birds can go a LONG way without having to go to wing. I usually walk about 5 km on way along the dyke, and then drop down on the way home to hunt the hedgerows/ditches that seperate the small fields inside the dyke. Great exercise but lots of far-flushed birds. The dog and I have lots of work to do to learn how to hunt these and other habitats, but it's encouraging to see lots of roosters at least!


Where do you hunt? If close I will go out hunting with you.......I live in IL

[moellermd]

I love cattails. Works great when it is frozen and when it is not there is usually a bird or two on the fringes were it is dry. I also like hunting that round green leafless weed that pulls apart in segments. It is really dense and birds can really bury themselves in it. Any one know what it is called?