I lived for twenty three years in the area Kevin refers to. I only saw two pheasants in all that time. I was hunting with Jeff Mulliken and we got one of them. Jeff’s yellow lab Luke grabbed the pheasant for the retrieve and Stoney the English setter, not to be outdone, grabbed the bird also and they came back to us with both dogs holding on to the pheasant. Jeff and I laughed like hell. I wish I had a picture of it.
My hunting as a kid was mostly out my back door for grouse. I was lucky in that I had my grandfather’s VH 20 bore for the grouse and woodcock. But at times my mother would drop me off a couple of miles away for pheasants. There were large numbers of pheasants which I would take with my grandfather’s 12 bore DHE. The land, being a large estate, was never developed to this day. There are still many wild pheasants but nowhere near the numbers when I was a kid.
Three pictures….one of Jeff and I hunting quail and another of my childhood back porch. The other picture is of me planting sorghum for the pheasants. We manage the property closely to ensure good pheasant feed and cover.
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