| In this article I would like to suggest several ways to verify the presence of pheasants in a particular field. Everyone has seen the footprints in the snow where pheasants were present or moving across the landscape, but it seems more and more we have winters with little snow to take advantage of this tactic for locating the birds. However, when driving past properties you are considering you may be able to glean a little more information, even without the snow, than you once thought.
Many county roads out in pheasant country are not graveled or sparsely so, and if you look right at the edge of the shoulder, in the soft dirt or loamy soil where the county road maintainer has left his "drag mark" you can often see pheasant tracks. It may sound a little crazy, but if you drive slowly enough you can spot tracks where birds crossed the road into the fields. Now obviously this does not mean you can pile out of the truck and hit this part of the field and expect to find birds every time, but it does give you some information about where the birds have been previously active and that may just put a few birds in your bag. When engaged in this practice please be aware of oncoming or following traffic while concentrating on looking in the dirt for tracks.
The other practice I employ, which I am sure many others do as well, is while walking through CRP fields, I am constantly looking down in the grass for "scat" or droppings. Not only does this verify that birds are using this cover to roost in, but it tells me where they are roosting, which is very helpful for deciding which part of the field to hunt in the late evening or, better yet, at sunrise in the morning. Pheasant scat is mufti colored, with brown, black and patches of white present. (I apologize for not having a supporting photo, but until now it never seemed important to get a picture of it!) It will most likely be found in little openings in the heavy grass, because pheasants roost in these small open areas at night, in case they are disturbed by a predator this open area gives them a non obscured flight path for escape. At any rate, these are several practices you can employ in order to spend your time in more productive areas.
Good hunting, Richard |
