Advice for where to take son for first real pheasant hunt

katyttt

katyttt

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#1
#1
My son Tristan is 11 years old, while getting his hunter ed card last summer he was lucky to have found out about a youth pheasant hunt put on by Pheasants Forever. He was taught gun safety and field of fire and bagged a chuckar and pulled feathers on a rooster while passing on three hens, I was extremely proud to watch from 20 yards behind as he and the field guide worked to teach him valuable lessons. He is totally hooked but now wants to go on a real hunt, I have only hunted big game for nearly 20 years but loved pheasant hunting with my dad when I was young. Two big problems we do not have the budget to pay anyone to hunt and only have the walk in access maps to have a clue where to go.

We have a birdy field golden retriever but with little training.
I work 7:30-5 pm M-F and coach on the weekends so our only day to go is this coming Monday, but are planning to leave very early and have the entire day.

Any advice is very much apprieciated,

Chris and Tristan
 
amonchak

amonchak

Administrator
Staff member
M.A.S.C Club Member
M.A.S.C. B.O.D.
M.A.S.C Treasurer
#4
#4
I agree with both of the posts east of brush / ft Morgan would be my choice too.
 
katyttt

katyttt

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#7
#7
We woke up at 4 am and drove NE to a SWA and parked. The boy, the dog, and the dad were extremely excited as we split up and started walking back to the west toward a series of large field with plenty of cover. The snow was completley gone so we had no way of knowing if there were birds in the area but things did look good and we had did not see another pheasan hunter all day. We worked two smaller fields with no sign of what we came for but it was fun working with the dog and watching my son. Around 11:30 we had worked a rather large field and were coming close to a corner where we had hoped to push any birds out in front up against a small rise with no cover...the dog froze and out flew a hen about ten yards in front and between my son and I. We both pull up and I was satisfied to see my son bringing the gun down just before I yelled HEN, another hen flew just to our right a few seconds later, again no shot. I was so proud. As we turned on our last pivot 4 other birds flew but around 70-80 yards away with two roosters in the bunch. A few minutes later we saw tow roosters flying way off about 150 yards away, walked the rest of the day, and checked out several walk in access grasslands but never saw another pheasant.
Made it back home a little after 6:00 pm, tired and hungry.

No birds, no shots, but still priceless!
Thank you,
Chris, Tristan and Max (Golden Retriever)
 
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MartinsReef

MartinsReef

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#10
#10
I have had great luck up near Peets, CO north of Sterling, CO. If you ever want to go up that way I can hook you up with a friend of mine that lives in Sterling and knows all the farmers that lets us hunt their land.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk
 
HoosierDaddy

HoosierDaddy

Sting ray
M.A.S.C Club Member
#11
#11
You can't go wrong in the Yuma area and all WIA's in Sedgewick County are really good. Look for CRP and any cover next to corn ups your odds. Having a good bird dog usually is the ticket. I have two bird dogs but my pointing lab just got hit Monday night by a truck. So he is out of commision the rest of this season. My german short haired pointer is a 1 year old (knucklehead) but he can cover a field like nobody's business. I have shot quite a few birds this year here in CO. I only get out on the weekends and I have one more hunt and will call it a year. So if you can make it out maybe next weekend, I would be glad to meet up. My son is 12 with his hunter safety too and enjoys pheasant hunting. No matter what, it is all about the experience. Every time I go out it is a different adventure :).
 
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