I am getting ready to offer CSA and Tower hunts at Ironcloudranch.com. in North Central Kansas.

I have heard from My Game farm that the circle that is needed should be 110 yards out, but I have seen some around 60 yards.

If any of you have done tower Hunts I would like some feed back.

Gregg @ironcloudranch.com

Tower Hunts???Please explain the ethics surrounding shooting released game birds who were raised in a pen and never introduced in the wild. Although I'm aware this is perfectly legal, it is not the same as driven wild bird hunting in Spain, which it is an attempt to emulate.

Releasing birds in the wild and allowing them to get used to the area and then hunting them with a bird dog seems more tasteful to the ethical hunter, adding the element of fair chase. It seems that the ethics and protocols of wingshooting have been replaced by the Unlimited credit cards of the "Billy I'm better than yous." Thank you I'll find a place to shoot wild birds with a good bird dog.
But enjoy your bird shooting, can't really call it Foremost Hunting.

Uncle John

I'm not going to condemn it to the point of ujoutdoors, tower shoots just don't seem very sporting to me. I understand that in many places wild birds just aren't prolific enough to provide a huntable population so "planting" birds is required. However, most of the tower shoots I have seen video of seem like a bunch of guys shooting at birds that are out of range. It just looks like bad sporting clays with real birds. Not really something I would be in to but if that's your idea of fun, have at it.

Around here, we don't have the habitat to support enough wild pheasants to satisfy the number of hunters even for our short 21/2 month season. My State DNR releases a few thousand birds a year into lands that are available for hunting. These birds are pen raised. It may come as a surprise to many, but the same thing happens in South Dakota, the mecca of Pheasant hunting. Tens of thousands of pen raised birds are introduced into the wild population to help support the annual hunting season. The question might be raised why don't you do something about the habitat? I'm a member of PF and we are working (alone and in partnerships) to improve the situation so that some day we won't have to supplement.

I supplement my hunting with going to a game farm where I shoot pen raised and released/planted birds. I don't find anything about it unethical and it doubles the length of my season. Tower hunts are an American version of a driven hunt from Europe and other places. In a driven hunt birds are pushed through underbrush until the come to a cliff where they have nothing other to do except fly. Waiting on the low end are a slew of hunters waiting to shoot the birds as they take flight. Tower shoots are merely a variation in which birds are released from a tower where hunteres are waiting for the flighted birds. Have I done it? No. Does it interest me? Slightly (I'd prefer to try a true driven hunt). Would I do it? I would seriously consider it if I were asked.

I'm careful to throw around my opinion of ethics since I, for one,don't live in a glass house.

I hadn't heard of tower hunts until this thread appeared. It doesn't seem appealing to me, basically because it lacks the element of chase (which is still a part of the true Spanish style driven hunt, or the Scottish style of grouse hunting). Some may argue that you still have to hit a flying target, but from other posts I gather that these are usually out of range.

Remember why trapshooting takes place over the "trap" house? Because those clay targets were live, feathered targets in the old days. In my opinion, this was a positive development. So, instead of releasing live birds from the tower, why wouldn't you just substitute a sporting clays course or install a clays thrower in the tower for your clients? Less cleanup and just as challenging in my view.

Overall, the concept is too artificial for my taste.  Hunters must respect the animals they harvest, and this arrangement is devoid of this element.  Instead of gamebirds to be respected, pursued, and enjoyed, they are reduced to targets.  I guess that's why they call it a tower shoot instead of a tower hunt.

 

Many of the comments I'm hearing sound like some of my opinions before I tried a tower shoot. It is a challenge and a lot of fun. It's kind of like duck hunting for pheasants. I would say to all of you, don't knock it until you try it. Iron Cloud. 60 Yds seems a bit close to me. The guys on the other side of the circle would probably get rained on a lot. It does depend on your terrain some however and how many different stations you have set up on the circle.