Pheasant release sites .

[-JR-]

Fields are very quite east of Edmonton .
Does anyone know if they released any birds this week ?

[elkhunter11]

We went out for 1-1/2 hours today, and found 5, but only two were decent, the other three were very young and scrawny. Hopefully the birds get better as the season progresses.

[-JR-]

Thanks for the up date ,you must have been in Daysland.
I thing we are going north of two hills tomorrow .
Buddy is bringing his young puppy along for his first pheasant hunt .
If he flushes one bird , the owner will be happy

[elkhunter11]

We were still Daysland early. There were seven vehicles, and two other birds other than ours were taken that we saw. They didn't mow as much this year, so the birds had more cover, and ran even more.

[Camdec]

First couple of the year.

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[-JR-]

We made it out to the site north of Vegreville ,We know the farmer very well next door . He drives by every day hunting him self for birds . He does not believe they released any yet .
Talked to a few others hunters there and they seen nothing . We had a dog and he flushed nothing . Heard they only released 12 from the person that runs it all . Seen a fox and a lot of hawks . I'm sure they got a few.
Very disappointing day for pheasants hunting.......Still early in the season ..time to go fishing !

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by -JR-

We made it out to the site north of Vegreville ,We know the farmer very well next door . He drives by every day hunting him self for birds . He does not believe they released any yet .
Talked to a few others hunters there and they seen nothing . We had a dog and he flushed nothing . Heard they only released 12 from the person that runs it all . Seen a fox and a lot of hawks . I'm sure they got a few.
Very disappointing day for pheasants hunting.......Still early in the season ..time to go fishing !

A friend was at that site a few days ago,and he found a couple of birds, but young like the ones at the other sites.

[-JR-]

They can only get bigger

[britman101]

Yes that bird looks fairly young in the pic. Be interesting to see how many birds are sent up from Macfarlanes in the US. Depending on how they are shipped, can't be easy on the birds especially with these hot temperatures expected for at least another four to five days.

[outofbounds]

Nice morning at Buffalo Lake, dog flushed up two roosters by 8:30. A little on the skinny side.
Quick trip this morning.
Was getting busy when we left, another warm one.

[pikergolf]

Originally Posted by Camdec

First couple of the year.

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Beauty dog!

[Camdec]

Originally Posted by pikergolf

Beauty dog!

Thanks Piker. Every bird hunter thinks they have the best bird dog. In my case I know it! Lol

[Big Grey Wolf]

Camdec, I remember when you got your Springer couple years back, turned out to be a great dog.

[elkhunter11]

We were out this morning, found one decent rooster, and one very young one. Three other groups out, but we heard no shots from them. All groups had dogs.

[-JR-]

Originally Posted by elkhunter11

We were out this morning, found one decent rooster, and one very young one. Three other groups out, but we heard no shots from them. All groups had dogs.

Is that days land spot 20 km north of Holden

[Pioneer2]

The leasee cut all the ditches/ field habitat he could for hay so it looks like a bloody golf course. If anyone is at the site the driver leaves ? Why go then? If dropping birds they are put in the thickest stuff imaginable so those with pointers or elderly on foot are hooped. Apparently they claim to have dropped birds 2 days prior to opening day. Brilliant predator feeding program you have there. Opening day after waiting since 6 am finally at 3;30pm the truck shows up with half dead juvenile birds if dark crude crates haphazardly loaded in the back. I wonder how many died of heat stroke? Waste of time and gas money IMO.Most wouldn't or couldn't fly. I'll go in with some guys and buy birds for private land. Intelligence would suggest planting 2/3 hens for economy reasons and make a pheasant is a pheasant. Anything by some miracle that survives the gauntlet of hunters and predators can actually breed in the spring. If your ego only permits shooting roosters do just that like Wt and people that won't shoot does. Some of us like the sport and eating birds.Easy to draw a line to split the province into areas birds can winter and put+take .

[-JR-]

Originally Posted by -JR-

Is that days land spot 20 km north of Holden

Me bad ...south of Holden

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by Pioneer2

The leasee cut all the ditches/ field habitat he could for hay so it looks like a bloody golf course. If anyone is at the site the driver leaves ? Why go then? If dropping birds they are put in the thickest stuff imaginable so those with pointers or elderly on foot are hooped. Apparently they claim to have dropped birds 2 days prior to opening day. Brilliant predator feeding program you have there. Opening day after waiting since 6 am finally at 3;30pm the truck shows up with half dead juvenile birds if dark crude crates haphazardly loaded in the back. I wonder how many died of heat stroke? Waste of time and gas money IMO.Most wouldn't or couldn't fly. I'll go in with some guys and buy birds for private land. Intelligence would suggest planting 2/3 hens for economy reasons and make a pheasant is a pheasant. Anything by some miracle that survives the gauntlet of hunters and predators can actually breed in the spring. If your ego only permits shooting roosters do just that like Wt and people that won't shoot does. Some of us like the sport and eating birds.Easy to draw a line to split the province into areas birds can winter and put+take .

I usually go to Daysland . The driver will leave if the idiots have blocked the gate, which some that are too stupid to read the signs occasionally do. And if I was the driver, I wouldn't release birds with anyone within 100 yards of the truck, last year the driver was struck by shot. As to dropping the birds near heavy cover, that doesn't happen at Daysland ,but it is a good idea, less would flush right off of the site if they had cover close by. As to pointers not being able to work in heavy cover, that is total nonsense, my dog has pointed birds in cover so tight, I had to use the locating collar to find my dog, so I could flush the bird. The drivers do a thankless dog, and put themselves at risk to release the birds, the only problem this year is the young birds, because of the tornado that hit McFarlanes, and killed many thousands of birds.

[Pioneer2]

How to you get to your dog"s point in brush a weasel couldn't navigate? A lot of the veteran pheasant guys have either packed it in or now buy their birds. So much better when the Gov't ran things.Last year an island of brush near the entrance has cliffs so steep a dog actually fell breaking it's neck.I wouldn't recommend sending any dog in there. I hunt with guys with pointers and they feel the same way. The group from Calgary responsible for most of the onsite stupidity have been photographed including truck plates and nothing has been done for close to 10 years now.There are other places to go so I'll wait till October.

[catnthehat]

I have seen my son's pointer get into stuff so thick we would not have known it was there except for the collar went off when he was on point .
My son taught Louie the GSP to flush on command , and it comes in handy at times like that regardless what the purist pointer hunters say . We also hunt quite often with Oldgutpile who runs a couple of Goldens , and these days we are hunting over a super pair of dogs- a Springer and a Small Munsterlander.
The Munsterlander holds solid while the Springer goes in to flush .
They work perfectly on all upland birds!
Cat

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by Pioneer2

How to you get to your dog"s point in brush a weasel couldn't navigate? A lot of the veteran pheasant guys have either packed it in or now buy their birds. So much better when the Gov't ran things.Last year an island of brush near the entrance has cliffs so steep a dog actually fell breaking it's neck.I wouldn't recommend sending any dog in there. I hunt with guys with pointers and they feel the same way. The group from Calgary responsible for most of the onsite stupidity have been photographed including truck plates and nothing has been done for close to 10 years now.There are other places to go so I'll wait till October.

Within a couple of hours, the surviving birds are all driven into the heavy cover, and that is where we kill about 75% of our birds. Quite often I have to activate the locate beeper on my dog's collar to find him in the heavy cover, and it often takes multiple attempts to find a way to him in the brush. And fairly often the bird flushes and we can't get a clear shot, but that is all part of the hunt to us. While some people spend hours running their dogs around in the fields trying to find a bird, we are in the brush killing birds. And my dog will flush on command, which comes in handy in some situations , where I can't flush the bird, and still be in a good shooting position.

[Pioneer2]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

I have seen my son's pointer get into stuff so thick we would not have known it was there except for the collar went off when he was on point .
My son taught Louie the GSP to flush on command , and it comes in handy at times like that regardless what the purist pointer hunters say . We also hunt quite often with Oldgutpile who runs a couple of Goldens , and these days we are hunting over a super pair of dogs- a Springer and a Small Munsterlander.
The Munsterlander holds solid while the Springer goes in to flush .
They work perfectly on all upland birds!
Cat

The older gent I hunt with at one time had a flusher and a pointer .They worked like a Rollex together. I was told allowing a pointer to flush undoes all the training put into a pointer and confuses the dog? Stranger yet I saw a lab that learned to point working with a WPG.I think I'll try to arrow a cow moose for a couple weeks and wait for a good frost to kill the leaves.Then back to birds.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by Pioneer2

The older gent I hunt with at one time had a flusher and a pointer .They worked like a Rollex together. I was told allowing a pointer to flush undoes all the training put into a pointer and confuses the dog? Stranger yet I saw a lab that learned to point working with a WPG.I think I'll try to arrow a cow moose for a couple weeks and wait for a good frost to kill the leaves.Then back to birds.

The first dog I ever trained by myself when I was 14 was a lab, I trained him to point .
Dad trialed and hunted labs. And thought is was cool! LOL

[catnthehat]

Double tap

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by Pioneer2

The older gent I hunt with at one time had a flusher and a pointer .They worked like a Rollex together. I was told allowing a pointer to flush undoes all the training put into a pointer and confuses the dog? Stranger yet I saw a lab that learned to point working with a WPG.I think I'll try to arrow a cow moose for a couple weeks and wait for a good frost to kill the leaves.Then back to birds.

Some people will tell you not to command a pointer to flush, some will tell you not to let a pointer break point to relocate a running bird and repoint on their own, some will tell you not to let a pointer and a flusher work together , but having hunted over several pointers, hunting pheasants, Huns and sharptails, I haven't seen any issues with pointers doing all three while hunting. I shot over dozens of pointing dogs, training for tests, and for actual NAVHDA tests, and that is an entirely different situation, as testing has very strict standards , but for hunting, a dog can actually be more effective, if it doesn't strictly follow those standards.

[SouthWestRanger]

I don’t run my dog for tests but I actually like his versatility, if I can’t get into the brush to flush the bird he has a verbal release. He will also release for running birds and repoint, we’ve worked on different distances for him to hold his point and he’s good at adapting to what I ask of him. Birds are flighty he will point from further out. Birds aren’t flying he will close in to a couple yards if necessary. He would probably do horrible in a hunt test but at the end of the day your dog only needs to work for you.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by SouthWestRanger

I don’t run my dog for tests but I actually like his versatility, if I can’t get into the brush to flush the bird he has a verbal release. He will also release for running birds and repoint, we’ve worked on different distances for him to hold his point and he’s good at adapting to what I ask of him. Birds are flighty he will point from further out. Birds aren’t flying he will close in to a couple yards if necessary. He would probably do horrible in a hunt test but at the end of the day your dog only needs to work for you.

Perfectly stated!
Cat

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by SouthWestRanger

I don’t run my dog for tests but I actually like his versatility, if I can’t get into the brush to flush the bird he has a verbal release. He will also release for running birds and repoint, we’ve worked on different distances for him to hold his point and he’s good at adapting to what I ask of him. Birds are flighty he will point from further out. Birds aren’t flying he will close in to a couple yards if necessary. He would probably do horrible in a hunt test but at the end of the day your dog only needs to work for you.

Exactly! I have a dog to hunt, not to test, and he does what works best for hunting, which is what really matters to me.

[Camdec]

Originally Posted by SouthWestRanger

I don’t run my dog for tests but I actually like his versatility, if I can’t get into the brush to flush the bird he has a verbal release. He will also release for running birds and repoint, we’ve worked on different distances for him to hold his point and he’s good at adapting to what I ask of him. Birds are flighty he will point from further out. Birds aren’t flying he will close in to a couple yards if necessary. He would probably do horrible in a hunt test but at the end of the day your dog only needs to work for you.

Bang on

[elkhunter11]

The birds from yesterday's release were much better quality, than the previous two weeks.