Hunters Have Plenty of Time to Hunt Pheasant
Nebraska Outdoor Notebook
Source: www.ngpc.state.ne.us
Published: Nov. 24, 2008
The opening weekends of Nebraska’s upland bird hunting seasons have come and gone, and the regular November firearm deer season is over, but that’s no reason to quit hunting birds – the pheasant and quail hunting seasons will be open another 10 weeks – through Jan. 1, 2009 – and there are still plenty of roosters and bobwhites out there to make hunting worthwhile.
Right now is an excellent time to hunt. That’s why the dyed-in-the-wool pheasant and quail hunters, the experts who have hunted upland birds for years and have a real passion for the activity, refuse to go out during the first couple of weeks of the season. They choose to wait until late November and December, when much of the heavy cover that made hunting difficult in late October is gone. Most crops have been harvested by then, which means there is less cover to hide the birds. More landowners are more willing to allow hunting on their land since harvest is over. The weather continues to get cooler making it easier for both hunters and dogs to work; and there are fewer hunters in the field than there were during the first few weeks of the season so hunting is more relaxed and fields can be worked more thoroughly.
Too often on opening day and during the early part of the season hunting can be a run-and-gun-type effort with everyone trying to get to the best spots first and then rush through the fields so they can quickly get another. Good hunting techniques become less important than covering as much area as possible as quickly as possible. In their haste, less experienced hunters slam truck doors and tailgates, shout instructions to each other, and yell incessantly at the dogs. To improve their success, they should hunt quietly, move slowly and deliberately. Excessive noise will drive pheasants out of the field even before the hunt begins.
The tag end of the season is the perfect time for one or two hunters and a close- working dog to hunt small patches of cover. Hunters should approach the patches quietly, following along as the dog works its way through the field in random fashion. Late-season hunters should hunt into the wind to further reduce the sound of their approach so they can get within shotgun range before the birds flush.
Experienced late-season hunters would rather watch daytime soap operas for a week than miss a morning in the field after an overnight snowfall. When it snows, birds often congregate in low areas of thick cover seeking protection from the cold and wind.
If you are putting off hunting pheasant and quail because you don’t know where to go, here are a few suggestions that can help you find a good spot. If you know a landowner who owns property you’d like to hunt, simply ask him for permission to hunt there. Don’t assume that because you know the landowner it’s OK to hunt there, the law says you must have permission to hunt on private land whether it is posted or not.
If you don’t know any landowners and don’t like asking strangers for permission to hunt on their property, consider hunting Conservation Reserve Program-Management Access Program (CRP-MAP) lands or public hunting areas.
Nebraska’s CRP-MAP is a hunting access program in which landowners enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) are paid for allowing public walk-in only access for hunting and trapping.
The program opens some 180,000 acres of privately owned CRP land across the state to public hunting. The land is plainly marked so hunters and trappers can easily identify it. Each CRP-MAP tract is shown on maps in the free 2008 CRP-Management Access Program Atlas, available free at commission offices and at permit agents across the state. This information is also available on the Commission’s Web site at www.OutdoorNebraska.org.
There are also about 800,000 acres of public hunting land on some 300 state and federal areas scattered across Nebraska. Included in those areas are 215 commission-owned and managed wildlife management areas and about half of them hold pheasants. Hunting is allowed in season on all state wildlife management areas and federal waterfowl production areas unless otherwise posted. Special regulations apply on federal refuges and on national forest lands.
A complete listing of all of Nebraska’s public hunting areas is included in the 2008 Nebraska Guide to Hunting and Public Lands, available free from any Nebraska Game and Parks Commission office or any of 900 permit agents across the state. The same information is also available on the Commission’s Web site.
Some local areas are better than others, but generally, if you are willing to get out and walk the fields, and concentrate on spots where there is good habitat, you will probably be rewarded with some shooting opportunities and maybe a bird or two. The hunter who expects to park his truck, walk thirty yards across a picked field and come back with a limit of roosters or bobwhites will probably be disappointed.
Story by Tom Keith
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