Do It Yourself Pheasant Hunts
Do it yourself pheasant hunts within Mid-America Hunting Association is a system well tried for decades satisfying old and young pheasant hunters of getting the hunter to the right spot to park his truck, step out and pheasant hunt.
Old Dog Pheasant Hunt
"At 12 years old I hunt him the first field each day and that is about all. Cold days he can go longer. This day the first field, one that we never before hunted, gave us these four birds. A good day for this dog that in his prime would hunt every day for the week long trip we would make.
My neighbor that thinks he is a bird hunter with a lab the size that would make two of my dog is amazed that I don't get limits every time out especially since I pay to hunt. He says that is the reason he will not join MAHA, but "...would go with me if I ever needed a partner...". Although I know my neighbor hasn't a clue what a good hunt is, he still makes me pause to think about the things he says. This day was a prime example. One field, one old dog in less than two hours hunt and four birds. That was a great hunt and we both took a nap that afternoon."
While we offer such self guided hunts in Kansas, Missouri and Iowa. The variable is not so much the states as it is the habitat type, locality and to some extent the varying densities of overlapping Bobwhite Quail populations.
Under our approach of hunt on your own the hunter pays cash for access to good habitat rather than spends time knocking on doors or competes on public land. And, that habitat exists within the region of the country capable of reproducing huntable population densities of 100% wild birds. That is the key part. Hunt where the birds exist and on the right kind of bird holding habitat.
"...I've attached a picture of our last day of pheasant hunting this year. As you can see from the lighting, we had our birds on the ground pretty early in the morning. Now if I could only hit the bobwhites, we'd really be in good shape..."
For our one time cost, the hunter may hunt at any time during our three-month long season, hunt as often as he likes and hunts on his own. The variable remains what habitat type to hunt, not if he will be on a do it yourself pheasant hunt.
That habitat variable ranges from tall grass prairie to brushy draws to crop field edge to fallow farms. The hunter may select at his choosing which type or any combination of which to hunt on any given day.
Many have read about or seen on pheasant hunting videos how the tall pheasant holding prairie grass holds large number of pheasants. Many will select where to hunt where there is the most grass to experience these numbers of birds.
In each case of the pheasant hunt video, preserve or individual hunter, the objective is a lot of action in a short amount of time for entertainment gained by sheer bird numbers. And, bird dogs of any type are not required. Anyone willing to take the time can easily walk-up enough birds from the tall grass to at least provide the opportunity to bag a limit.
Those that do prefer to pheasant hunt this habitat with dogs are largely flushing or retriever type hunters. These dogs can excel in this habitat to a greater degree than more open ground as the grass tends to keep the dogs close to their master. Another dynamic is the grass slows down these dogs enough that their hunters can keep up. These two points are especially true for the close working dogs. This category also accounts for many of the one weekend a year pheasant hunter who primarily is a waterfowl hunter and has a retriever.
Pointing dog owners will hunt the tall grass to gain dog to bird exposure, but the lack of ability to observe a pointing dog in action through the grass eventually drives the pointing dog owners to more open ground. For most of these hunters, it is the value of watching the dog work than the number of birds. The quality of the point, steady to flush, shot and drop followed up by a retrieve is certainly worth the effort to see.
Those pheasant hunters that initially classify a hunt’s success based on birds in the bag will gravitate to the tall grass with its easy to acquire birds. After a while these hunters too press on to other habitat than remain with the monotony of the grasslands. For all of us that have or do pheasant hunt the tall grass there comes a time when enough grass is enough and it is time to experience variety.
The combination of exertion fatigue, being hit in the face by the tall stiff stems as well as seeing nothing but grass tends to bore the pheasant hunt than excite it after a time. This happens faster with pointing dog owners than flushing and those that walk up birds without dogs all eventually quit well before the pheasant season ends.
There is much more about our pheasant hunts. For more about our hunt on your own approach use the link below. For other pheasant hunting topics see the links at the top left of this page.