| The toughest pheasant hunting situation, in my opinion, that we all face is hunting large expanses of CRP land. There are many full sections (640 acres) and halfs (320 acres) enrolled in the program and these heavy grass acreages are a pheasants best cover. As everyone can attest, the birds have a field day in this endless tall grass cover and can drive dog and hunter crazy by simply running ahead and dodging even the most seasoned veterans.
When faced by this type of cover, many opt to put their dog down and follow the canine into the wind in hopes of getting a rooster or two to hold for a point or flush. The other common tactic is to get as many of your buddies together as possible and make an organized "drive and block" through the cover in hopes of affectively covering as much ground as possible and "driving" the birds to a point where they must take flight. So, obviously a single hunter or a tandem have little or no chance of affectively hunting such huge expanses of this heavily grassed cover, right? Well, not necessarily, because there are some tactics you can employ to up your chances of taking birds from this type of cover. Here is how I get it done. First, as usual drive around as much of the ground to be considered as possible. Why? Well, as usual you want to size everything up, dope the wind, check out the proximity of this ground in relation to the nearest row crops (corn, milo, soybeans), etc. But, regardless of what you find, here is a tactic that will turn the odds in your favor. Similar to the "cornfield strategy" I spoke of in my previous article, you need to use the natural "break-points" in the cover (the county roads) to help you affectively trap the birds. Now, after all these years of working this cover by hunting the corners, I have yet to understand why the birds are in this part of the field, but I have my own theories. At any rate, taking the wind into consideration, start into the field, about 75-100 yards or so from the corner (of the 2 county roads) and walk diagonally across the field, so you come back out of the field back onto the road again.
Illustration by Bernie W. Your final (2nd) pass through the field, (about 30-40 yards closer to the corner) on the way back to the truck, will put you closer to the "corner" if you will, and again you are pressing the birds between the two county roads and the very corner itself, and on this last pass back to to your starting point, is usually where you will put up the birds. Now please take note, I am not saying there are no birds in the middle of the CRP, because there are undoubtedly some out there. But, these corners not only hold birds, but they give the single hunter (or pair of hunters) the advantage of using the road as "blockers" and again using the natural terrain to help you and your dog affectively hunt this type of cover.
If you are going to execute a "down and back" (walk one way and then back to the truck) go deeper into the field on the first pass and when coming back to the truck, hunt closer to the road, in the CRP. As always, be careful when you are within shooting range of a road and be aware of traffic that may be passing by on the adjacent road. These tactics have put a lot of birds in my bag and again, without the marathon walk through an entire CRP field. Plus, when you hunt this way, you get to "sample" more CRP and hopefully find the fields that hold more birds. |
One other tactic you may want to try, if you are an early riser, is to hunt parallel to the road in the CRP (about 25-50 yards in from the road), if there is a crop field on the other side of the road. Early in the morning (to make this work you must get into the field no later than 30 minutes after sunrise) the birds will be moving to the edge of the CRP, on their way to feed, across the road. Taking a line in about 50 yards from the road, and walking parallel along the road is a good tactic to intercept these birds on their way to feed in the field across the road.
