First Timer!

[D-tangler]

Hey guys. I am wanting to give pheasant hunting a shot this year but have not a clue where even to start. I am new to the whole hunting world and just bought my first shotgun last year (Mossberg 500 field /slug combo). I am wondering if there is anywhere around the wright county area that is public that I can give it a shot. I do not have a dog either. What are some helpful hints to get started. Thanks in advance

[Jmnhunter]

get an atlas book of MN check out your county and look for WMAs, WPA's or any other public grounds, dont be afraid to knock on doors either. You dont need a dog to shoot a few roosters. Look for some good roosting cover and a nearby grainfield/food source. what we do to scout an area is get to a potential field after sunrise and listen for roosters cackling, then at opening hour, you'll know where to start. Towards evening they will be coming back from feeding to roost and you can also see and hear the birds going to their roosting fields.

good luck!

[charliepete]

D-tangler....I'd suggest shooting a pretty stiff load. I'd probably go with 1 3/8's oz of 5's at 1400 fps. Pheasant are tough to recover even with a dog, without a dog you really have to smack them. I'd walk likely looking areas. Grasslands or other roosting cover in the morning and the evening and heavy cover like cattail sloughs in the middle of the day. When you dump a bird, visually pick out a single cattail reed or clump of grass and walk right to it. Bring a blaze orange hankerchief and drop it right where you marked the bird down. That way you can loop around looking for the bird without loosing your original mark. Even a solidly hit pheasant can move a bit, but a ligthly hit one will be running for certain. Any WMA in Wright county will have a pheasant or 2. Pick a few at random and head over some morning before the opener. The cackling will give them away witout you even having to walk most times.

[fishroger]

an atlas is a must. Also check the DNR office, SWCD's for maps of county and state land. If your by yourself hunt small patches where you can box in a bird, large areas are impossible for a lone hunter. Chances are that you will have a lot of long shots, you might want to use a full choke or a IM. Shot size, steel #2. lead, 4 or 5

[Powerstroke]

When walking without a dog, I usually focus on the edges..this could mean the edge of the property or the edge of a cattail slough or the edge of a field within the property. Walk in zigzags to cover more ground and pause occasionally. I've had many birds flush when I've paused because they get nervous that they cannot hear me coming anymore.

Try hitting a range with sporting clays to practice some flying shots. It never fails that I miss several shots on my first couple outings, even with practice. If you can speed up your shooting for thats even better.

I also like the idea of the blaze handkerchief. I bring along blaze orange surveyors tape for the same reason.

[D-tangler]

I have a place in Wright county that I am looking at and wondering if someone could e-mail me a little bit to discuss information on this particular area. I have looked at several different maps and not sure if this is worth a shot or not. As stated above I am new to all of this and just trying to get info. My e-mail is [email protected]

[buckx37x]

Like powerstroke said zig zag start and stop, dont let them fluster you when they flush early in the season you can get some close flushes they can startle ya, but take your time and get on em with 5 or 6 shot you knock em down.

[BobT]

I don't hunt with a dog either. As you work an area try to think in terms of trapping the birds against an edge. If you're walking a grassy slough next to a plowed field for example, select your path so it keeps you roughly 50-75 feet from the edge of the grass. Remember to zig-zag like Powerstroke mentioned. Any birds you push to the edge will get more jittery and they are the more likely ones to take flight. Fencelines or other narrow strips also can be good when you're alone.

Edit:

Went to refill my coffee and a couple other thoughts came to mind.

I spent my younger years chasing after grouse and what I've learned about pheasants is they are hunted differently. Grouse will sit tight and wait until you about step on them and then take flight - unless they are already spooked in which case you'll just hear them take off. Pheasants on the other hand will move. They'd prefer to run around you than take off. A lone hunter walking a 100 acre grassy WMA will have a tough time because the birds have plenty of room to run under cover. That's why you want to work edges.

Edges can be anything from one grass type changing to another to the edge between grass and a wet cattail patch to the edge of a field or woodsy area. Push them to those edges and that's when they start to feel there's no place to go but up.

[Tom7227]

Practice with the gun before you even get close to going out hunting. You need to get comfortable with it and after a while the process of mounting the gun, aiming it, getting your swing down and pulling the trigger will smooth out. Then the only problem you're going to have is having a bird pop up a foot away, realizing that you aren't having a heart attack, figure if it's a girl or a boy and then making the connection. You would get ahead a lot faster if you found someone that had been around a bit to go with you a few times.