First time pheasant hunting

Coyote33 said:
What? No Derek? (-;

Derek, do you have a bird dog?

Anyone going out in Central Mass area like from Sterling over to Hubbardston to Oakham to the Brookfields down to Charlton and Oxford areas?
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I hunt in Princeton, about 5 min from the Sterling line.
 
gf293313 said:
I don't have a vest with a holding area for pheasants so I just use a backpack with plastic shopping bags to put them in. Just starting out myself too. Havn't had any luck. First time I got in there about 5 minutes after 2 groups pushed the fields and killed everything. Second time was in the afternoon and I think the morning crews got them all again.

But its still fun walking around with the dog. I wont let getting skunked twice get me down, I'll keep trying until the last day of the season.

Any thoughts on trying to beat in the big crews of guys early in the morning? Would that piss any of you off? Its usually just me and the dog.
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dixidawg said:
They didn't get them all. There are still some left in those fields. I usually wait until the first waves of orange go through the field. Then my dogs and I have the place to ourselves. There are almost always birds they missed.
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Chrisg67 said:
how is that relevant?
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Sorry I was referring to the above posts (I forgot to include them). It seems to be that the locals know when the birds are coming. I went hunting at Martin Burns early morning and there were no birds. After searching for birds didn't come across any. Left for lunch and came back and the dirt road was full of cars. Shorty after the guy was releasing the birds. Beeping also, to alert hunters that he was letting them go. They should release them early before season so that can at least the pheasants can become somewhat wild.
 
A guy I know feeds the birds at his club's stocking pen. He said he always whistles a certain way when he feeds them. On opening day, he goes out in the woods and whistles, and they come scrambling to their doom. Kind of funny, but to me pretty unsportsmanlike.

My take is they should stock and hunt with at least several months between dates. This will allow birds to spread out and acclimate to the terrain. Maybe it will encourage native populations as well.
 
Coyote33 said:
A guy I know feeds the birds at his club's stocking pen. He said he always whistles a certain way when he feeds them. On opening day, he goes out in the woods and whistles, and they come scrambling to their doom. Kind of funny, but to me pretty unsportsmanlike.

My take is they should stock and hunt with at least several months between dates. This will allow birds to spread out and acclimate to the terrain. Maybe it will encourage native populations as well.
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Not enough ground cover and food to support native populations. [sad2]
 
RadiCS said:
Sorry I was referring to the above posts (I forgot to include them). It seems to be that the locals know when the birds are coming. I went hunting at Martin Burns early morning and there were no birds. After searching for birds didn't come across any. Left for lunch and came back and the dirt road was full of cars. Shorty after the guy was releasing the birds. Beeping also, to alert hunters that he was letting them go. They should release them early before season so that can at least the pheasants can become somewhat wild.
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Martin Burns gets stocked at least 3 or 4 times a week, all season long. There are birds there pretty much all season. Do you hunt with a dog(s)?

Releasing birds early will result in very few to no birds to hunt. Pen raised birds do not do well on their own. There is a huge predation issue with coyotes, foxes, owls, etc. Then add to that all the hunters the first week or so of the season, and by the 3rd week or so there would be no birds to hunt.

One thing I have to give Mass DFW credit for is their pheasant stocking program. Although there is room for improvement, they do a far better job at this than any other nearby state that I have hunted.

Now as for actually MANAGING the WMA's, that is another story. It wasn't all that long ago that they actually did something about habitat in the WMA's. They kept fields cut and even planted corn and left it standing for the wildlife. Not anymore. Those fields that used to be cut and managed are rapidly reverting to forest. There are virtually no field habitat left in the WMA's (although they did finally do some limited cutting in Marting Burns a couple summers ago.)
 
RadiCS said:
I hunt with a gsp. They should release them at dusk after hunting hours.
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Agree. Except very tough to do. The stocking truck has to stock quite a few WMA's, so the logistics of being able to hit all the necessary areas at dusk. If they go much later, the state then gets into paying overtime....
 
dixidawg said:
Martin Burns gets stocked at least 3 or 4 times a week, all season long. There are birds there pretty much all season. Do you hunt with a dog(s)?

Releasing birds early will result in very few to no birds to hunt. Pen raised birds do not do well on their own. There is a huge predation issue with coyotes, foxes, owls, etc. Then add to that all the hunters the first week or so of the season, and by the 3rd week or so there would be no birds to hunt.

One thing I have to give Mass DFW credit for is their pheasant stocking program. Although there is room for improvement, they do a far better job at this than any other nearby state that I have hunted.

Now as for actually MANAGING the WMA's, that is another story. It wasn't all that long ago that they actually did something about habitat in the WMA's. They kept fields cut and even planted corn and left it standing for the wildlife. Not anymore. Those fields that used to be cut and managed are rapidly reverting to forest. There are virtually no field habitat left in the WMA's (although they did finally do some limited cutting in Marting Burns a couple summers ago.)
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Up in Warren, NH, they burn the fields on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest (near Mt. Moosilauke) every couple of years. I'm not so sure what it does for the animals, but it sure helps the blueberries, according to my neighbor.
 
Dixie you are probably right and it was one day and it was not a good experience for me. I did get a pheasant that day but it wasn't quite what I expected. I haven't been back and that was a about three years ago so maybe my criticism is not fair.
 
As already noted, if the crowds are a problem, go late in the day. Down my way the WMAs are crowded on Sat mornings, everyone rushes in to get the birds. I like to go after noon. Yesterday we went out and in an area that is very crowded first thing, we only saw a couple of hunters off in the distance. In 2 hours we put up 4 pheasants and got 3. Birds are around, just have to be persistant and get off the beaten path, and good dogs are a must. I really enjoy the late day hunts, as you can relax and let the dogs do their thing. Its way better than the mad rush!
 
I recently went to fullflight in Bernardston, MA it was just 4 of us a guide and his dogs. It was amazing, first time for me no crowd no rush great attitude. We got 10 out of 12 birds between the 4 of us 4 roosters 6 hens. The experience of hunting with best friend was just priceless would recommend it.
 
I haven't been there in probably 7 or 8 years. It was a great place to get pups introduced to birds. They can get more bird exposures in a morning there than they would in a full season of hunting. It really gives them a jump start on the whole bird thing.... As the saying goes:

No birds, no bird dog.
 

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