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May 17, 2012
On the Wing
October 2007
Early Pheasant Tips
by Steve Smith
arly season pheasants are not quite the challenge that the late-season survivors are. But there’s nothing in their DNA that makes them easy. There used to be an old factoid floating around that most of the pheasants shot in a season were shot on the first day, and most in the first hour of the first day. I always figured that maybe that had as much to do with the crowds in the fields as it did with young birds getting caught flat-footed.
Early season pheasants -- on a scale of 1–10, with 10 being those old veterans that survive the weather and the hunting pressure and 1 being barnyard chickens still -- rank a 6, an 8 if the hatch was bad and most of what you’re hunting are last year’s survivors.
But there are enough young birds and birds that have not seen a hunter or dog to put thousands in the bag on opening day. If there is a time when you can hunt wild roosters and expect that your dog – pointing breed or flushing dog-- can handle them, it’s the first few hours of the first day. After that, things get tough(er).
Speaking of tough, though the birds aren’t feathered out and fattened up yet, they are still tough to kill. But it’s possible to hunt them with something other than a 12-gauge with highway flares for ammo. I like a 16-gauge heavy enough to handle a stout load of an ounce or more of Number 5s. In most cases, if you use enough choke and a good-size shot, 6s being the most popular, and your dog’s a good one, an ounce or 1-1/8 ounces is enough. Later on, almost everyone shoots 1-1/4-ounce loads, and some hunters go heavier than.
Just remember, a .416 Rigby won’t kill a crossing pheasant if fired even one inch behind him. 