How to Hunt Early Season Pheasants
Months in advance of pheasant season my dreams fill with visions of a sun-soaked field, some bramble along the edge, and a rooster pheasant strutting his stuff. I cannot wait for the start of the season. The rituals of preparation, oiling the guns again, organizing ammo bags, and prepping my road trip bag all help alleviate the pangs of anticipation.
Rituals aside, once the first month of pheasant season starts; much of the hunting pressure comes off after opening weekend. You’ll want to take advantage and maximize your hunting season by pursuing early season pheasants. Plus, this time is great for bird dog warmup too. Here is a helpful guideline in how to hunt early season pheasants.
Where to Hunt Pheasants
Heavy cover is the order of the day during the early season. Many times, hunting cover includes crop fields of standing corn, cut corn fields, and wheat and cut wheat fields that hide roosters looking for easily reached power-packed nutrition. I even find pheasants in green vegetable crop circles. Also, deciduous brush is still leafy, making for ideal pheasant roosting locations. Concentrate hunting efforts around these areas.
Hunting early season pheasants in the west is often a dry weather event. This means that I hunt dry river beds and seasonal wetlands. Some of the old ranches that I hunt have ideal early season pheasant cover, characterized by a labyrinth of dry creek beds and stony bottomed river beds thick with riparian area brush. Hunt cover like this early in the day and rouse roosters out of their beds during the morning hours.
Preparation is Key
I feel fortunate to be able to stage some early season hunts out of the fantastic bird hunting town of Heppner, Oregon. I make early season motel reservations weeks in advance. Plus, my pre-season homework brings rewards. You’ll want to start with pre-season scouting road trips to observe cover and crop areas and to secure permissions where necessary in advance.
Early Season Pheasant Behavior
Early season pheasants hold better –especially the young roosters. Several more weeks into the season and these wily roosters become educated. Keep your eyes open. One time, I watched a rooster, a few weeks into the season, get up and fly across to the other side of a grassy field just a couple of hundred yards in front of me. Sure enough, my Brits reached the brush that held the rooster. They pointed and then ran circles around the brush. Because I spotted that rooster, we intentionally crossed the field to the ditch where the pheasant was hiding. Both dogs locked up on either side of some long grass in the ditch. I then released the dogs and a cacophony of wing beats, breaking brush, and cackles ensued.
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During the day, even out in the open in thinly grassed fields and cut wheat, first-year roosters will hunker down low rather than making a run for it. I’ve whistled up the dogs only to flush a rooster within yards of me during one exceptionally warm and dry October day. With pheasant behavior like this, you’ll want to slow down during the early season. Plus, the weather is typically drier, and scenting conditions are difficult. Allow extra time for the dogs to work the area. This usually results in some extra points through the course of a hunt.
Also, keep in mind that hunters do not need to be out at first light. Over the years I’ve learned to keep the Brits on their normal routine. They have their hunting morning breakfast, and I have my own. Then I load up the Jeep and head to the fields. My own favorite time of day is to start in the afternoon, staying out through the last hunting hours of the day. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve come out of a brushy canyon, or whatever crop I’m in, and as sunset approaches, I encounter roosters in open fields or edges of cover. I’ve even found wild roosters mixed in with cattle on an Eastern Oregon slope, basking in the last orange light of sunset. It seems every evening, during one of my Columbia Basin hunts, I’ll inevitably watch pheasant “happy hour.” I’ll see roosters and hens form some sort of pheasant parade out in the open. I’ve even pulled off the road to watch and shoot photos of this daily social event.
Early Season Hunting Dog Work
A lethargic hunting dog is a rare thing when any hunter pulls up near some good cover. My own pair of dogs are ready to burst from their crates in the Jeep at the start of each hunting session. During the early season, I take great pains in not pushing the dogs over the edge and overly fatigue, injure or bring on heat-borne issues such as heat stroke in my dogs. Typical early season daytime temperatures can soar past safe temperatures for hunting and exercise, and you don’t ruin a hunt by pushing too hard.
Conditioning is important. I have the good fortune to have my wife as a hunting partner. She exercises the Brits every day, many hours each day, all year long. They start the season in great condition. A key ingredient to a fun hunt is proper pre-season conditioning and readiness. Don’t let pup’s first day of heavy exercise be a hunting day. Professional trainers recommend a stepped-up conditioning program to prepare the dog 30 to 60 days in advance. So, ensure that you work your dog into condition before the start of the season.
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Give hard-working hunting dogs water all the time during the early season. Water in streams and around fields is hard to find. If outside temperatures run higher and the sun is still stronger, your dogs will need water. So, stop frequently, call in the dogs, and give them some water. I once had a favorite Brittany who let me know when he needed water by running up to me and sitting in front of me, essentially demanding his water.
Early season means more seeds in the field too. You should watch out for the patches of cheatgrass, foxtail, and any patches that have seed and burrs that can irritate the dog. At the end of the hunt day, or whenever moving off any particular location during the day, always do a tailgate check over the dog’s body, paws, ears, and eyes. Carry bottles of saline solution and give each eye a flush of saline. This is particularly helpful when there are seeds in pup’s eyes.
Also, apply a pad hardener just prior to the first hunts of the season. Hunting dogs will run with additional vigor and a zest during a hunt that would otherwise leave tender paws at the end of the day that could put the brakes on hunting the next day.
Early Pheasant Season Hunting Gear Tips
Dress for Success: Early season pheasant hunting, anywhere, can involve variable weather. This usually means cool mornings, a warm midday, ending with cool evenings. Layering is the answer to temperature variation. On the coldest of days, I may start with a waxed cotton coat over under-layers including a thin polypro shirt, and a pocketed hunting shirt. More and more I’m wearing breathable synthetics that keep me comfortable under all conditions. I then shed layers as I go through the day.
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Shotgun and Ammunition Notes: Shots during the early season are inevitably closer. It is best to use more open chokes. My choice is Improved Cylinder and Modified during the early season. My ammo selections are slightly lighter during the early season. I now hunt with number 5 shot, and only go to number 4 during the later season. Since I started shooting number 5 for pheasants, instead of my old standby number 6 shot, the number of pheasants that hit the ground running has diminished. More birds fall from the sky dead and don’t need to be dispatched. Federal Prairie Storm shotshells are especially effective in the early season with my favored open chokes.
By Glenn Zinkus