[stodgman]

Pheasant season opened in California this weekend. It was a pretty good hatch from what the biologists at Fish & Game tell me. The weather was windy with intermittant heavy rain.

I hunted just outside Sacramento (really Davis). On Saturday our group killed 10, saw LOTS of those sneaky devils elude us and missed another 6 or 7. Limit is 2 per day on the opener and I got one and my son got his first wild bird (THAT made my day).

On Sunday just a friend and I went out. I got one in the first 5 minutes and we walked about 4 miles in the mud to get him one. We did not have a big enough hunting party to really hunt them effectively but we did pretty good anyway.

My GSP's were awesome. They worked great and I was proud and got complements on them. It is always a pleasure to hunt behind quality dogs and my buddies were thankful. It is really quite a site to see both your dogs rigid and locked up on a big game bird. They are asleep now since they ran their little hearts out. They better rest because we are going again tomorrow. I can tell you that they will start whining with anticipation the moment I turn my bedroom light on.

I am really tired too. I am sore all over, I have blisters on my feet. I have a huge grin on my face. Gosh I love hunting birds!!!

 

[Hun44Calif]

Went out Saturday for the opener. My partner and I are both without a dog so we borrowed a mutual friend's Brittany Spaniel / French Poodle cross in hopes that maybe the Brit blood would help us kick up a bird or two. Believe it or not - this genetically mixed up pooch did indeed flush 3 birds! All Hens! While taking a break from beating the bushes my partner took a shot at a dove and our "Hunting Dog" headed for parts unknown at best possible speed when he heard the shot! We spent the next two hours searching for the pooch when my cell phone rung. It was the dog's owner wondering if we were OK as his dog had arrived home wet and disheveled. That pooch covered a good 8 miles in about 1 1/2 hrs! Alls well that ends well but that mixed breed PoodleBrit is definitely not a gun dog!

 

[pigeonhunter]

Poodle's were orginally bred for retrieving birds. You just had a hunting dog mix. Almost any dog will hunt but some will do it better than others.

 

[Sweet16]

I went out for the opener in Davis as well. Were did you go? We went to Yolo Bypass. Got 2 pheasent and 1 mallard. My Dog actually got the mallard on his own. Someone hand cliped the wing and never found the duck. My dog found it hidding on the bank and caught it.

We did end up flushing a lot more hens than roosters, and the roosters flushed much further out.... too far.

Excellent weekend.

 

[stodgman]

Sweet16,
Did you go to the Yolo Hunting Preserve? I put in a pick and was drawn for this Saturday (one week from the opener). If you went there you were a mile or two from me. You take the frontage road exit and cross back under the freeway to get to the preserve. I go the other direction for a mile.

The only way to have any hope of getting a shot at MOST of the roosters after opening day is to team up and put a "stopper" say 100 yards in front of you. The birds usually run from the hunting party/dogs and then hold near the "stopper". That is where all the shooting is. This does not always work but it is a LOT better than just watching all the birds run and flush at 60-80 yards ahead.

Agreed, excellent weekend. We could have been totally soaked by rain but we dodged the storm that was supposed to dump on us.

 

[Sweet16]

I think that was the place. Off East Chiles road. We entered a lotto to get in, and had to show up at 4am to make sure our lotto # was picked. We parked over in lot F, and worked up and down the stream, in the rice, and in the milo.

I was thinking we would get dumped on, and brought all my snowboarding clothes just in case... but it work out perfect. The rain started to dump down 1/2 hour after sunset.

We had a lot of success just waiting for other people to flush birds, and anticipating where they were going to fly to. We were sitting around talking about what to do next when 2 rosters landed about 30 yards from us.

All I can think about is pheasant and duck.. I need to win the lotto.

 

[quackster]

Hi all.

Question on pheasants: can you taste the difference between the wild birds and the pen-raised birds?

I've eaten only a few wild ones, and can't say I noticed much difference to the "planted" birds I usually get. Could be the recipe. Some hide the flavors, some enhance the flavors.

Nothing like the difference between wild ducks and "farm ducklings".

-- Quackster

 

[Hat Creek Hunter]

Hello guys,

Although late in responding. It sounds like everyone had a good opener

We got four wild birds out of four hunters (missed a couple more ), then we went to the club and punched a few more. Great day! :wink:

Quakster,

I definitely think there is a difference in taste between wild birds and pen raised. Pen raised have a breast more like chicken. Wild birds are smaller and have darker breasts.

Augie...

 

[Hat Creek Hunter]

Hello guys,

Although late in responding. It sounds like everyone had a good opener

We got four wild birds out of four hunters (missed a couple more ), then we went to the club and punched a few more. Great day! :wink:

Quakster,

I definitely think there is a difference in taste between wild birds and pen raised. Pen raised have a breast more like chicken. Wild birds are smaller and have darker breasts.

Augie...