2024 Upland season

The WMA was no bird bonanza today. 2 hours in with no action, the cocker put up two roosters. Unfortunately, a firing solution did not present. A half hour later, the dogs were onto something along a ridge into the woods. The dogs worked the area over for nearly 10 minutes and busted a diminutive hen. This cocker is all business. Speaking of, there was another American Cocker Spaniel afield today. First time for that.

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Last day of regular season hunting for me unless I learn of an area still holding birds. I'll get in some preserve hunts between now and March 1st. Absolutely gorgeous morning and perfect weather for us and the dog. I like it sunny and 32+ degrees for hunting. Yesterday's rain had water running on our property, so we didn't need to carry water for the dog. Good thing- we traversed approx 5 miles with a lot of up and down between ~600' elevation to as high as 1000' elevation. Birds were stocked yesterday and we figured the rain would have kept the crowds away. Surprisingly, the birds were tough to find.

Over the top of a wooded ridge, GSP beautifully pointed a bulky hen in very tall, thick cover- pretty much like grouse hunting. Once it flushed, I had a pretty narrow window to get the shot but made a nice, clean shot through tight trees at about 45 yards. They spook at a good distance after heavy hunting pressure. Good company, beautiful weather, a hard working dog, good exercise, and a bird in the vest- pretty perfect day to end the season.
[thumbsup]
 
I was thinking about taking the dogs out Monday in hopes of finding a straggler, but then I unmisremembered that it's shotgun season for deer. What is the point of extending the MA pheasant season? Prohibited from hunting pheasant for half of it, and there's no stocking.
 
pupchow said:
I was thinking about taking the dogs out Monday in hopes of finding a straggler, but then I unmisremembered that it's shotgun season for deer. What is the point of extending the MA pheasant season? Prohibited from hunting pheasant for half of it, and there's no stocking.
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A useless bone that DFW threw to pheasant hunters when they implemented the pheasant stamp.
 
dixidawg said:
A useless bone that DFW threw to pheasant hunters when they implemented the pheasant stamp.
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Pretty much an insult. Based on my own observation and feedback from a couple dozen other hunters, the stocking was scaled back this year too.
 
We swept the local WMA yesterday, at about 2:30. Expectations were met. The only bird the dogs found was lying in some brush, already dead. The game pouch came home filled with litter. A very mediocre season, as the average number of birds per visit goes. The only exception was the time we crossed paths with the stocking. And the lot which I most frequented, which typically had a few other vehicles parked at it, was usually empty when I parked this season.

The new pup came into her own quite quickly for her first season and is now an excellent hunter (albeit with a bit of hard mouth). She knows exactly what we're there for and covers a lot of ground thoroughly, rarely ranging out of gun range. The Irish Setter boots I demo'd for a member here, began leaking this season. I began wearing them in November of 2013, and will likely replace them with the same.
 
pupchow said:
I was thinking about taking the dogs out Monday in hopes of finding a straggler, but then I unmisremembered that it's shotgun season for deer. What is the point of extending the MA pheasant season? Prohibited from hunting pheasant for half of it, and there's no stocking.
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In years past, I’ve come across plenty of birds after shotgun deer season. They just weren’t shootable.

This year seems to be much fewer birds, even with the National Seashore not being stocked.
 
Mountain said:
Pretty much an insult. Based on my own observation and feedback from a couple dozen other hunters, the stocking was scaled back this year too.
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Seems that way to me also. Figured it would be better with the National Seashore not being stocked this year, but we’ve seen far fewer birds than last year.

I think the clubs that raise birds to stock is somewhat of a sham also. The two clubs I know stock the birds on or adjacent to club property on Saturday morning, frown on outsiders showing up and hunt until every bird is accounted for.

I also know that one of those clubs held birds until the late season before stocking them last year.
 
dixidawg said:
I didn’t experience that in my area. There were lots of very nice birds to be had.
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I'm wondering if they utilized the number of pheasant permits issued in a geographical area, as a factor in stocking. Compared to last season, I experienced much fewer interactions with birds this season. And that was with one dog last year, and two this season. One other difference I noticed, there were fewer hunters.
 
dixidawg said:
I didn’t experience that in my area. There were lots of very nice birds to be had.
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Could be a factor of hunters knowing the stocking schedule and cleaning up right away. Areas I primarily hunt are several spots in Rutland State Park & Barre Falls area.

Another concern is that if stocking numbers are similar, possibly we have people going over their limit. I and other regular hunters in this area have noticed a big drop in birds found. One spot was relatively unknown in prior years but word must have gone around this season. That one aside, other spots were light on birds.
 
Mountain said:
Could be a factor of hunters knowing the stocking schedule and cleaning up right away. Areas I primarily hunt are several spots in Rutland State Park & Barre Falls area.

Another concern is that if stocking numbers are similar, possibly we have people going over their limit. I and other regular hunters in this area have noticed a big drop in birds found. One spot was relatively unknown in prior years but word must have gone around this season. That one aside, other spots were light on birds.
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Every time I went out I saw 3+ killed from predation. I think they need to start stocking overnight to prevent it from being a hawk / stock truck stocker feeding fest.
 
Mountain said:
Could be a factor of hunters knowing the stocking schedule and cleaning up right away. Areas I primarily hunt are several spots in Rutland State Park & Barre Falls area.

Another concern is that if stocking numbers are similar, possibly we have people going over their limit. I and other regular hunters in this area have noticed a big drop in birds found. One spot was relatively unknown in prior years but word must have gone around this season. That one aside, other spots were light on birds.
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Under the new regs, hunters can take 2 birds per day, every day. Previously it was 2 per day with a season limit of 6.
 
Gerbs54 said:
Every time I went out I saw 3+ killed from predation. I think they need to start stocking overnight to prevent it from being a hawk / stock truck stocker feeding fest.
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I've seen a lot of predation as well. I think some of it is piss poor effort to retrieve crips because ~95% of the kills i find are hens. Douchebags want their limit to be at least one rooster if not both.
 
I'm taking the dog out on Tuesday for a last hurrah at Westboro. At this point, I'm going to hunt rabbits through the end of the season. Hoping to join Harvard to partake in their stocking program. Dog is looking chubby. I'm looking chubbier than I'd like. Need the exercise.
 
Still chasing leftover pheasant down in CT... been a few weeks since we've seen one.

Was at this spot last week and heard a rooster "cackle" out of now where.

Went back today to see if we could find one and out of nowhere, my lab flushed this bird a little ways out. Suddenly wished I was running tighter chokes.
Gave the bird quite a few feet of lead and fired a couple shots... rooster didn't even flinch... just kept flying... headed toward a area where I couldn't hunt it.

When out of nowhere.. the bird suddenly flew straight up toward the sky and then dropped out of the sky.. like god reached out and touched him.
I've seen it happen in videos online but never in real life.

Quick search of the area and my lab found him stone dead.
Could be the last one of the season... or maybe we'll get lucky and find another... only one way to find out.

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Haven’t been out since mid-December, but going to my property in NY this weekend and going out at least Saturday morning for pheasant. Hopefully there are a few birds still out there!
 
I installed a new buttstock on the 37 Ultra Featherlight and gathered my partners for a rabbit hunt during the late afternoon. The wind was kicking, and we only found one set of old tracks. But they were having a great time out there.

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arlow said:
Same deal in my area. Many more birds and much better quality of birds this year than the last few years.
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Boomtards aging out......leaving more room for us Gen X'ers and not that many younger generations taking it up. I noticed this in Barre Falls Dam the last few years before I moved. Plenty of leftover birds and if you went on like a Wednesday....likely you'd fill your limit in an hour or two. 5 years ago...you'd be lucky to find a leftover bird and tons of people hunting midweek.
 
Just did a 20 bird hunt down here this week........4 of us had a great time. Took the Citori Lightning in 16 gauge......

Although, I do miss my club in MA and will go back for the month of October to hunt there......

Sporting clays is better down here. And I have 7 guys Im shooting with now. We are having fun doing that busting everyones balls.

Live birds now as I get older and don't have a dog, I can take it or leave it.
 

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