It doesn’t matter whether you are a beginner or an experienced hunter, hunting pheasants can be a challenge. However, there are some measures you can take that will aid you in your hunt, making it slightly easier. From using the weather to your advantage to understanding where to hunt, we have the tips that will make your pheasant hunt much more efficient.
Get a bird dog
Most hunters step out on their hunt without a dog and they yield great results. However, having a good bird dog accompany you on the hunt can make it more efficient. You will notice that most of the successful pheasant hunters will have a bird dog with them. Dogs are amazing at tracking birds and will help you identify and track pheasants much faster. You need to understand that in hunting season there will be a lot of hunters out there so having a bird dog will give you an advantage over others. If you don’t have a dog, some hunting clubs do rent them out and those are well-trained dogs for hunts.
Drive birds to you
Most successful hunters will tell you that learning how to drive birds can truly lead to a more successful hunt. You don’t necessarily need a dog to drive birds but they can help. To drive birds, you need to make sure you are out during the early season when the weather is hot and dry. You need to identify a hill or ridge where you can hunt from. Then go through the field in a zigzag manner, slowly. This will make patterns through the brush. Once pheasants see this, they will generally retreat uphill. Which allows you to hunt them easily.
Hunt near water
Like most animals, when the weather gets hot and dry water banks are an amazing hunting ground. Hunting pheasants isn’t different, it is recommended that since hot and dry weather is the best time to hunt pheasants you can hunt near a stream of water. You will be able to spot a lot more pheasants here.
Select the right weapon
Pheasants are fairly strong birds. You want to make sure you have the right amount of gauge in your weapon to take them down. You don’t want to hit it and still be able to fly off. You want to have either a 12 or 16 gauge to ensure you get the kill. Some hunters even prefer the 20 gauge and that does work well as long as you know how to handle the weapon properly. It may be harder for a beginner to use a 20 gauge shotgun.
Go at the right time
There are normally two times during the day that is suitable for hunting birds, early morning or evening. We recommend morning over evening because you have lighter and birds are usually on the ground hunting for food. Chances are when the birds sense you they will retreat but come back down again to continue their hunt for food making them easy targets.