[Mike of the Mountain]

Originally Posted by Ian Civco

Basically, how do you do it?

I live in southeastern Pennsylvania, and a house with land is incredibly expensive. I think private land is the best way to go bird hunting. You can manage your land as you please and also you control the extent of hunting pressure.

But, although I thought I would have solved this problem decades ago, I haven’t.

I live on a third of an acre.

What is the minimum amount of land I should be looking for, but again, it’s likely to be prohibitive in cost.

I really can’t move because my wife and I have to have something called a JOB. I would like a good hunting dog but I can’t work from home at all, despite this being supposedly widespread and my wife rarely can. I think it’s unfair to keep a dog cooped up in the house all day and, also, where can I work it?

How do I even find public land for bird hunting?

The best I can figure out is public land for deer and for fishing but the pressure is intense. I haven’t had a shot at a deer in years and fly fishing netted two trout last year, one too small to keep, and this year, none. Unlike last year, I haven’t even seen a trout. I don’t go out opening day for anything due to crowds, but this year so far I haven’t even seen one of the 3.2 million trout stocked by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania this year.

But I digress. Let’s stick to how to do the bird dog thing with the life happens part getting in the way and how to find a place to pheasant hunt? I think grouse, woodcock, and quail would be just about impossible.

And I apologize for this incredibly dumb question, especially considering how old I am.

Ian, I grew up just outside of Macungie. My Pappy's farm was loaded with pheasant and rabbit. It was surreal compared to what the area has become. Most, if not all of the State Game Lands put out pheasants. The stocking schedule will be on the PGC site. You will need the Pheasant Stamp to hunt pheasants on public lands. Unfortunately in PA you either hunt stocked birds on public lands or hunt preserve birds. From where you are the SGLs by Kutztown, New Tripoli and Limerick are your closest bets. The PGC has also been doing a lot of dove field habitat. You can find all that info on the PGC site.