How did your guys seasons go? I ended up getting 10 roosters here, based in MN. Quite an improvement since last year(my first serious year hunting them) I never got a bird. I ended up sticking with IC choke almost all year, and had good luck with BOSS 1 1/4oz. 1350fps loads. I also dropped some birds with assorted lead loads.

Congratulations. I generally don’t track how many I shot. In Wisconsin I hunt a combo of game farm, early release sportsman club birds on private land, Dnr stocked birds, and true wild birds. I tend to track more how many hens I flush cause those are the future and true wild stock and there was a bunch this year. When I shoot a rooster I look at nostrils to see if wild or stocked. Many many more stocked go in the bag.

I hunted the Ks opener. We hunted 40 miles north of Dodge City, where I was raised.
There was six of us and two labs. We killed three roosters and four quail. In a word it was very poor.

Riley,

We don't have many wild Pheasants left in Pa, however there are a few and we have been having more hold over Pheasants that are reproducing here in Potter County, Pa. Just seeing the very young wild Pheasants running along the back roads here in Potter County, Pa is a real treat. I do hope the PGC continues with their larger stocking program here, it seems to be working. Now if we could just shoot the flying predators we might just have the start of a wild Pheasant population here in Potter County, Pa The mountain weather is real tough on our Pheasant population, only the hardiest of the birds make it thru the bad winters to mate in the spring.

The year Ken Graft and I stumbled across a group of wild Pheasants that nobody had found for years, the Pheasants acted just like Grouse and went to the trees immediately. We each took a ring neck, and left all the female birds alone. That same group of wild Pheasants is still approx where we found it years ago way back in the forest, we are hoping that no other hunters stumble across it. The only reason we found the birds is Kens Gordon dog, the old girl is a Pheasant master hunter, it was incredible to watch her work those wild forest Pheasants. Ruby was raised on wild western Pheasants, and she really nailed the Pa wild birds down for us.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

Ken Graft and his Master Pheasant dog, Ruby. Ruby is a great Pheasant dog, she never has had the experience, to become a great Grouse dog. I wish she would have been able to stay at the log cabin for a decent amount of time, she would have been a great Grouse dog also.

I pounded a lot of public here in SD training the new pup with the old girl doing half the teaching. I try to concentrate on the out of the way places, or places that have limited access where I can get over a mile back in walking as it limits the number of hunters that will work that hard for the birds.

It was an ok season but I was dismayed at the percentage of wild vs pen raised birds. Even hunting public I was over 65 percent pen raised birds (clipped toe) out of over 40 shot.

I will say it was great for training as we worked hard for our birds, probably averaging over 1.5 to 2 miles for each bird and it was good exercise for me too.