Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Upland bird hunters?

Walking around hoping to flush a grouse, partridge or pheasant has become my favorite type of hunting. Used to really be into whitetail and mule deer buck hunting but I gradually drifted away from that and the last few years have only hunted birds. I know guys that wouldn't waste their time looking for a bird and I know a few guys who only hunt birds.


I guess ideally a guy would have a drilling and focus on birds with the off chance of getting a shot at a big buck. That would be paradise.



But back to the original thought....

How many of you guys really anticipate upland bird hunting?

Bird hunting is my favorite.

I do, but have to travel. Makes the anticipation better. I go to sodak or nodak most years. Duck hunt a lot too in the winter. Still try to kill an elk and a deer or two every year.

Years ago we could wander around and get shots at pheasants,now it's nice to hear a cackle.
Nest raiders have really put a hurt on them.

As I get older and getting harder to drag a deer, I appreciate small game and bird hunting more. Especially that I just got another young bird dog to train. Wish I had a good place locally for ducks and/or geese though.
However I will deer/bear hunt as long as I can.

If you don't have a bird dog in the house, you have a cat......

Grew up bird hunting. It's always been my favorite. Enjoy watching the pup grow up and learn how to chase roosters.

Sitting in a tree with a bow does take a close second tho...........

Used to Sam.

Before I got married, the folks had 500 acres which was surrounded by a major irrigation canal. Each time the canal crossed a draw, it leaked enough to create a 1/4 to 1/2 acre cat tail patch. Sometimes we could jump 20 to thirty pheasant out of a single patch. Especially if the neighboring farms had been hunted earlier that day.

Had we been better shots, we could have limited out with just one or two jumps. But Brother and I could burn a box of shells in a day to harvest three cocks each.

My pheasant dog:

You guys mention dogs and I had been thinking about that a few minutes ago.

We have 3 (Rez rescue)dogs in the house and not one of them would be worth a damn as a bird dog.....lol!






Great pic ID, stuff like that brings back good memories.


You guys feel free to post more!

I’ve hunted pheasants extensively since the 1960s, mostly in Ks but some SD. The population has plummeted in west central Ks where our family farm is. So last couple years we’ve bought and released some birds just to make it something other than a walk with a shotgun. I sure do miss going out with several guys and labs and killing a four bird limit. Having said that, I’m pretty diversified. I’m in NM archery elk camp now. And I Bowhunt deer and turkeys, coyote call and do some PD shooting. And I never miss the Ks dove opener. It’s been awesome last few years.
I hunt a lot.

I used to, when we had birds.

Dove opener on sept 1 was always a big thing with family and friends from all over gathering for Labor Day weekend. Now we get some good shooting about 1 in every 5 years and there isn’t a gathering as everyone has either grown up, drifted off, or died. Me and my son still look forward to it and participate no matter how few birds, just to have him out there.

When I was little we had quail. Every guy had a dog or 3 kept around and trained up for the quail season. But quail have declined to the point where I would feel bad about shooting them around here and I bet I don’t know 3 guys who keep a dog anymore.

When I was a teenager southern Kansas was lousy with pheasants. The license was cheap, season long, and almost unlimited access, a mere 3 1/2 hour run from the house. Me and a buddy or cousins, dad and uncles, sometimes two of us sometimes 10 would leave Saturday morning about 2:30 and get there at sunup to start hunting. Hunt Saturday and Sunday until early afternoon before driving home in time to get cleaned up and rested up for work and school. My God did we have some great times and slaughter the birds. 4 bird a day limit and one year I hunted 6 or 8 weekends in a row and shot a limit of roosters every day. Looking back I would almost feel bad about killing so many if it weren’t for the mega drought that started after the last year I hunted up there and lasted for almost a decade. That pretty much hammered the last nail in their coffin.

So now we have a great place to go hunt pheasants in South Dakota where my sister lives. But it’s 14 hours away so I don’t get up as often as I would if it were closer. Always a lot of fun when we do make it up.

Hard to have more fun in the game fields than when the bird shooting is hot and heavy.

Used to ruff grouse hunt a good bit. Some around now, but not many. Way back you could still kill wild pheasants around here. Not no more. Used to come up with a couple woodcock every yr also. Imagine there's still a few of those around.

I like all types of hunting. It's just with less time I gotta pick something, so messing with rifles and primarily deer hunting every yr has become my new hobby.

If I get too old to deer hunt and drag them out I'll likely go back to getting some beagles and rabbit hunting. Beagles and coon hounds were a constant in my life growing up.

Birds are fun. You can have a great day and eat them all up in one meal. Big game, you have a great day and you eat it for months.

Even living where I live, elk and deer hunting are major under takings. Unless a neighbor is gracious enough to grant access (and im blessed that they regularly do) it takes most of a day. Elk really does take most of a week, unless pursuing a depredation type hunt.

I can kick the dog out of the truck across the road from one farm and hunt sharptails, Huns or pheasant. Cross the canal at the other farm and i’m knee deep in chukars. A good hunt literally takes less than an hour out of my day. Forest grouse take a hour walk up the hill from the neighbor’s place, so it’s a half day. Either way, a tremendous return on the investment, and it permits going out many more times during the season.

But the real reason is that the dogs like it much better.

I've bounced back and forth between birds and big game during the archery season, and do prefer the weather in the early season. As I get older, I tend to prefer bird hunting more due to the physical effort required and a lot more action throughout the day.

I used to live to hunt pheasants and doves, now it's a minimum 2 to 3 hour drive to do either, sucks.

Sharptail grouse are the most fun I've had hunting.

And coyotes.

We got into some sharptails up in South Dakota a couple times and they were dang fun. Coyotes are mainly what I hunt nowadays. Very enjoyable

If you would have had those khaki colored pants, mock toe boots, a fancy shirt and vest you would have been a much better wing shot.

Sammo you need a bird dog if you enjoy it , it's as much fun watching them work as it is hunting birds, if not more.