Upland Bird Hunting Expectations
Upland bird hunting and hunter expectations of what can be reasonably expected. Measured in terms of hunt quality, birds, hunter pressure and habitat. All is variable and best illustrated within the upland bird hunting and hunter testimonials on this web site.
No Dog Hunt
"...turkey was great. Biggest turkey I've killed. Deer hunt in [location deleted] was great, also...The pheasant photos are from opening day. Morning hunt. Just me and Landon. No dog..."
It does seem there is a balance as we have as many no dog hunters that report good hunts as dog hunters that report bad hunts. The land and the pheasant and quail are there. It is a matter of willingness to walk, shooting ability and dog power.
A very good member article to start with would be that of a Brittany hunter well along in years and his observations of pheasant and quail hunting MAHA lease land along with that of the hunters he has encountered. Reading this one article alone will gain the reader much perspective on our hunt quality. A good upland bird hunting quality read
What we will offer on this page are some of our past adverse experiences with first year Association hunters and of what we consider un-reasonable hunter expectations.
The most common negative feedback from those first year members that state they had a poor experience is rolled up into the human dynamic of expecting too much for too little effort.
#1 The idea of paying for something means we should be getting a better product than what we could get for free.
This grows into the private land being hunted in the Association should always be better than any free, public or knock-on-door land access. In general this is true unless that hunter is on a lease we secured for deer hunting and not for pheasant or quail. This hunter is cautioned to hunt several different farms before classifying all Association leases as either good or bad.
#2 Early in the season first year member feedback is more negative than middle and late season. Late October and early November are typically warm, crops are standing. Dogs and hunters both suffer from poor scent conditions and warm weather fatigue. Expecting quick and easy limits during adverse weather and cover conditions on land not well known to the hunter is not to be expected.
#3 Not building options occurs when the first year Association hunter goes to a good locality within one region in one state and wants to concentrate in that one area every trip, every season. This will work unless it is a quail region where we force hunter distribution. If that one region suffers a poor hatch or brood, or the prime leases in that one area change then so must the hunter. Sometimes once that one hot spot is lost than the Association as a whole is classified as losing the best farms.
Every once in a while we get a quote from an Association hunter that sticks with us.
"I have on my office wall many hunt pictures. In this collection I have pictures of dogs on point or retrieve. In one group I have different generations of dogs with pictures that by chance came from the same farm over a period of 15 years. I don't hunt that farm any more. It reminds me of the dogs now past. I take my current dog elsewhere."
The three examples above while many will classify as non-issues do represent the 1-10% of the complaints received from first year hunter/members. In this regard we do not expect to receive only compliments from all members. We listen to each complaint as intently as we do the compliments we receive.
All member feedback is considered and for the most part those that hunt with us beyond the first season have only compliments. We do expect that not all first year hunters will return for the second year. If any do not renew we call to find out why. The answers received for not renewing their memberships typically are due to other than bad hunts. However, there will always be those that do not have a good hunt. There will be some that find our hunts not to produce for the value paid and will quit. Those that do renew the second season typically hunt with us for over a decade or more. The issue comes down to it takes more than one hunt or season to break into new ground.