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

Pheasant will have to wait until we're done working on lions, tigers, and bears.

Dove hunting is my passion.

Bird hunting has always been my favorite outdoor passion. I have done all kinds of big game hunts and very enjoyable to, but training and hunting over Brittanies and fieldbred english cockers is my year round obsession. Fortunately, upper Michigan has some excellent grouse/ woodcock hunting. And plenty of excellent game farms around with pheasants. Have gone West out to SoDak with my dogs and friends for many years and will be out there for a week this year too. I would be happy to die with my boots on afield with my dogs.

I was 11 when the 1985 farm bill established CRP. We already had good populations of Sharps and Huns in central ND, but CRP just EXPLODED the pheasant population. So there I was, right in the middle of an upland explosion growing up with a father who loved to bird hunt and took me with him almost everywhere. We had labs when I was growing up. Once I finished college and had a place of my own, in 2001 I dumbed into an 18Mo finished English Cocker. I'm now on my 3rd and he hunts everything w/feathers.

CRP contracts went unrenewed and/or folks paid the penalty and got out early when commodity prices went wild and land-rent prices even wilder starting about 2008. Nobody is going to tend to grassland for $30/Ac when someone will farm it for $100+/Ac.

There are still pockets of wild birds and I do truly enjoy a walk behind a working dog. I don't have any big-game tags this fall so the dog and I will get after the birds harder. I've truly lived "The Good 'Ol Days" of upland hunting since my pre-teen years.

Do you have a bird dog to hunt birds or do you hunt birds to have a bird dog?

Duck hunted for 35 years exclusively. But, at some point, if became something I just did not enjoy anymore. I primarily hunted the mouth of the Mississippi out of Venice. No air cooled engines, outboards and pirogues only. Up until the overload of mud boats and surface drives, that way of hunting was truly special. I guess I'm just wired to be simple.

Our only true upland bird here in South Louisiana is the becasse.........woodcock. And I still make a couple hunts like that a year. When moved to deer hunting, my hunting partner moved focus to woodcock. Hunting over his pointers is classic!!! He has been successful with his dogs on many levels.

You started a great thread Sam!

Older friend got me into bird hunting here in Az in the late 80s. We would be coues wt hunting and he would say: "Got to get my deer so I can go back to bird hunting". I thought he was nuts as big game hunting was IT. As I got older I realized I had the same thoughts!

Been hunting upland birds in Az for 35 yrs with dogs. Gambels, Scaled and mearns quail. Dove and occasionally ducks.
Can't imagine hunting birds without dogs.

First dog with a bunch of scalies


Gambels

One of the better days mearns hunting with a friend

fetching a double

Feel free to drop that pup off at my house until you return. Take your time, no rush on getting back.

The best of days are in October.

Was fortunate to grow up with valley quail, chukar, blue grouse, and ruff grouse in the area. For a few years mountain quail made a showing and we would find them while going after the devil bird. Huns would be plentiful some years and sparse other years.

Love chasing valley quail and blue grouse....chukar is all about revenge now.

Upland birds will be a priority when it comes time to relocate upon retirement.

This Saturday morning, I will be dove hunting in east Texas. My first bird hunt in 40 years.

Love it but I don't do enough of it. Southern quail hunting over good dogs is probably my favorite, but I must admit, N and S Dakota pheasants is also very enjoyable

The ones we get in AZ are.

Once my outfitter buddy showed me how they clean them.

When I got back up to WA where I was working, I gave some to my farm boy neighbor and co-worker. His impression was it tasted like a farm raised free range pig, not a corn fed feedlot one.

I grew up here in eastern ks. Quail hunting used to be awesome around here but now if you see a convey per day you are doing well. But even with that I still have a gsp and we go every chance we get. Old habits die hard.

We have a few in Brown County. Let the guys kill a few pheasants but quail are off limits.

Unless I have to I won't pick up a Javelina, stinking things are covered with fleas they will be up to you arm pit before you can let go, we call them ranch rats, no one here eats them. They will damn sure kill you're bird dogs in heart beat. Rio7

My son hunts pigeons and brags about how tasty they are. I have not tried pigeon.

He also convinced me to try carp and sucker, which are both nasty too.

AZ seasons are from late Jan/early Feb (archery) thru to the beginning of March or so (general). Fairly cool weather, as in snow where we hunt between 3500-5000+ feet elev. Probably keeps the flea numbers down, as I've never noticed any on the ones we've taken at camp.

To you and Cheesy too. Beautiful dogs.