Pheasant Hunting Tips

Skip Opening Weekend-  If you don't have your own land it is much easier to find hunting locations after opening weekend.  Often land owners are either hunting the land themselves or are saving their land for friends and family to hunt on opening weekend.  You will find that land owners are much more willing to let you hunt on the weeks following opening day and knocking on doors and asking permission can be a very effective way of finding new places to hunt.  This is especially true in states that get a lot of hunters from out of the are such as South Dakota and Iowa.

Look For Good Cover-  Look for dirty fence rows, irrigation ditches and sloughs next to harvested fields.  Once the crops are down pheasants tend to congregate in this thick cover.

Hunt the hard to reach cover-  Later in the pheasant season as snow covers the ground birds tend to head for thicker cover.  Hunting cattails and other hard to reach thick cover can be very effective once the ground freezes and snow covers the ground.

Hunt WPA's-  Waterfowl production areas are federally owned wetlands that typically have a lot of thick cover.  WPA's can be very effective when the ground freezes.

Be Quite-  Pheasants, especially the older ones associate car doors and talking with danger and will often flush or run out of a field ahead of a noisy hunting party.  Working into the wind will help keep the pheasants from hearing you and will also be much easier for your dog to scent birds.

Use Cover Blockers-  When hunting corn rows or cover that allows the birds to run for long distances it is often helpful to use a stander or blocker.  The blocker sets up at the end of the row so as the pheasants are pushed towards the blocker they flush.  This is also a good strategy for spooky pheasants that flush out of range of the hunters that are pushing them.  When driving birds try and walk into the wind.  When a pheasant flushes they prefer to go with the wind and this will put the driver in a better position for a good shot.

Look for the water-  Pheasants need water to survive.  If you are in a fairly dry area look for water holes.  It is not uncommon to find pheasants in these areas.

No Dog?  Try Stopping-  If you don't have a dog walk very slowly and try stopping and standing still on a regular basis.  This tactic will often make the pheasants nervous and cause them to flush.

Hunting alone? Trust Your Dog-  If you don't have enough hunters to effectively drive a large area follow your dog.  Let the dog work the field and edges and follow along.  Don't worry about staying in a straight line.  Let the dog find the birds.  I've seen a lot of hunters miss birds because they are more concerned about covering every inch of the field.  Let your dog work out scent trails and watch your dog closely.  After a while you will be able to recognize when your dog is on a bird "Birddy".

Pheasant Biology

Over 49 different types of pheasant species have been identified as pheasants.  So what makes a pheasant a pheasant?  Bird taxonomists agree that pheasants all have the following traits:

• A major color difference between the hen and the cock
• Adult cocks have facial combs or wattles
• Adult pheasant roosters have spurs
• Pheasants in general have long tails especially the roosters

Pheasants have a big advantage when it comes to game-management.  Unlike quail and chuckar it is easy to distinguish between a hen and a cock even while the birds are in flight.   This trait allows state game agencies to set restrictions on harvesting hens allowing more hens that are available to breed each year.  Pheasants are polygamous and fewer cocks are needed to breed hens and maintain a healthy pheasant population. 

During the matting season roosters will often call "kaw, kaw" every three or so minutes.  The roosters call in this manor to attract mates and claim or protect territory.  Roosters attract and breed hens by strutting with their wattles swollen and bright red, ear tufts standing on end and feathers ruffled much like a tom turkey.

Hens lay eggs in the early summer in a small hole that the hen scratches in the ground and then lines with feathers and grass.  Once the eggs hatch the hen will stay with the brood for 2-3 months until the young pheasants are close to full grown.  If the nest is destroyed before the eggs hatch a hen will usually create another nest and lay more eggs but each time the nest is destroyed she lays a less eggs.

The pheasant is not native to the United States.  It is believed that the pheasant originated in Asia.  In 1882 26 ring-necked pheasants were released in the state of Oregon.  The ringneck pheasant is the only pheasant species that has been successfully established in North America although many of the other pheasant species are raised and used on private pheasant hunting clubs.  Today the wild ring neck pheasant can be found in 39 US states and 7 Canadian provinces.

Unlike quail pheasants do not form coveys and unless concentrated on a food source pheasants are not often found in large groups.  Pheasants primarily eat grains such as corn, wheat, oats, soybeans milo and sorghum.  They also eat weed seeds and insects.

Pheasants rely on their eyesight and hearing and special pads on their feet that sense vibration to escape hunters and predators.  A small hole behind the pheasants eye is the pheasants ear.  Studies have shown that pheasants have much better hearing then humans.  That may explain why it's not uncommon for birds to run out of the other side of the field when the hunters car door closes.

A pheasant can spend their entire life in a area of less then one square mile as long as all the conditions needed for survival are in that area- cover, food and water.  The pheasants diet is made up of grains and crop fields such as corn, soybeans and oats and is supplemented with weed seeds and insects.

Pheasant Hunting Guides And Outfitters

Our site has hundreds of pheasant hunting guides and hunting locations organized by US state.  Click on the links below to find a pheasant hunting guide near you:

Glossary of Pheasant Hunting Terms

Birddy-  When a dog is close to a pheasant the dog's body language will change.  The dog's tail and whole rear end will often shake back and forth and the dog will make erratic turns.  This dog language is referred to by pheasant hunters as "birddy"

Brood- A brood is a group of pheasants from the same hen and nest.  A brood will typically stay together from hatch until the birds reach full size.  Pheasants reach full size and leave the brood in about 2-3 months (late summer).

Crop- A pouch at the base of the pheasants neck that allows them to gather food and take it back to heavier cover to digest it.

Dirty Field-  A dirty field refers to a crop field that contains weeds or grass cover in addition to the agricultural crop.  Pheasants prefer dirty fields to clean fields as the dirty fields provide cover right in the food source.

Gizzard- The gizzard is an organ in the digestive system of a pheasant that consists of a strong muscle that contracts and uses rocks and other hard objects swallowed by the bird to grind up food.

Herbst's Corpuscles- Pads on the feet of pheasants that are pressure sensitive and help pheasants feel ground vibrations.

Nictitating Membrane- The extra eyelid on a pheasant used to keep the eye moist and deflect wind during flight.

Spurs- Male pheasants or roosters have a sharp point on the back of their legs called a spur. These spurs are used to fight other roosters during mating season. Spurs are used to age wild pheasants. The shorter and more blunt the spur the younger the bird. Mature birds spurs can be up to 1/2 long.

Pheasant Wattle- A wattle is the red skin and ear tufts on a rooster. The primary purpose of a wattle is to attract a hen during mating season.

Stocking Pheasants- Stocking is the release of pen-reared pheasants into the wild to boost populations where wild birds are already present