Pheasant Memories

[Pygmy]

When I first started hunting small game in the early 1960s, the soil bank was still in effect, and there were still enough wild pheasants here in southern Steuben County so that a hunter who did his homework could shoot a limit now and then. Hunting was MUCH better just a few miles north around the Finger Lakes..

By the late 60s, in order to find GOOD pheasant hunting, you had to go further north, but there was some pretty damn good hunting to be had. I hunted opening day 1968, and 1969 with some friends around Gasport. One of those opening days ( I can't remember which) I counted 42 Cockbirds flushing...We sure did not kill them all, and some were no doubt re-flushes, but I did see rooster pheasants getting into the air 42 times in one day. I know I had no problem killing my limit both days with my 28 gauge side/side that my parents had given me for my high school graduation present.

By the time I got out of the service, in the early 70s, there was still pretty good hunting from the thruway north. We had good hunting north of Batavia around Elba, although it was nowhere near as good as we had around Gasport 10 years prior.

Around the end of the 70s, the pheasant population plummeted...

The only really GOOD pheasant hunting I have had since then was a 3 year period when I hunted around Bellevue Iowa...That was great..Lots of beautiful wild birds..I probably killed more pheasants in those 3 years out there than I have killed in NY in my entire life.

[shawnhu]

When I first started hunting small game in the early 1960s, the soil bank was still in effect, and there were still enough wild pheasants here in southern Steuben County so that a hunter who did his homework could shoot a limit now and then. Hunting was MUCH better just a few miles north around the Finger Lakes..

By the late 60s, in order to find GOOD pheasant hunting, you had to go further north, but there was some pretty damn good hunting to be had. I hunted opening day 1968, and 1969 with some friends around Gasport. One of those opening days ( I can't remember which) I counted 42 Cockbirds flushing...We sure did not kill them all, and some were no doubt re-flushes, but I did see rooster pheasants getting into the air 42 times in one day. I know I had no problem killing my limit both days with my 28 gauge side/side that my parents had given me for my high school graduation present.

By the time I got out of the service, in the early 70s, there was still pretty good hunting from the thruway north. We had good hunting north of Batavia around Elba, although it was nowhere near as good as we had around Gasport 10 years prior.

Around the end of the 70s, the pheasant population plummeted...

The only really GOOD pheasant hunting I have had since then was a 3 year period when I hunted around Bellevue Iowa...That was great..Lots of beautiful wild birds..I probably killed more pheasants in those 3 years out there than I have killed in NY in my entire life.

Now that's a story! Thanks for sharing Pygmy.

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[Uncle Nicky]

Southeast PA where I live was THE hotspot back in the 60s & 70s for wild pheasants, I was fortunate to have caught the end of it when I was growing up and first started hunting. We used to hear them all of the time cackling in the woods & fields when I was a kid. By the middle of the 80s it was pretty much over, I never did figure out why they died off, probably increased predators and loss of habitat. Too bad we didn't take pictures back in those days. I still have my Jones cap that I used to wear when I went small-gaming with the old man.

[greg54]

I remember hunting with my friend's dad in the late 70's and early 80's for pheasant in Orleans and Niagara County and the were very abundant then. Just walk the hedgerows of any of the fields and you would kick a few birds up almost every time you went out. The Lake Ontario plains had a healthy wild population but just seemed to take a nosedive as time went on. I still walk thru Golden Hill State Park for the stocked birds, but not to many guys seem to go out there any more.

[Pygmy]

I still remember my very first pheasant..

I was hunting with a friend on my Dad's property ( he had 178 acres) down behind the barn.

Our dog was my beagle George..Stupidest beagle I ever hunted with, but he could do a halfway decent job of running a rabbit once he found the track. I usually had to kick the rabbit out for him, because he was too damn dumb to find one by himself. George DID, however, like pheasants, and when he stumbled across a pheasant track he would give a different bark than when on a rabbit, and he trailed them slow enough so that I , a mere wisp of a lad at that time could keep fairly close to him and perhaps be in range when the bird got in the air.

My buddy and I were working a hedgerow when the rooster got up between us. he flushed out my side..I was using my Eastern Arms Co. 16 gauge single shot, and my buddy had his Dad's 20 gauge single shot.

The bird presented a perfect shot, and BOTH of us missed him clean..Rooster fever, I guess.

However, I marked the bird's line of flight and we followed him..

A couple hundred yards further, Dumb Old George struck a track, and I hurried behind him to keep up. Just as we reached Dad's upper cow pasture, the bird got into the air, and presented me with a nearly straightaway shot. I didn't choke that time and dropped the rooster..I can still see him flopping his last in the cropped grass of the pasture..

IIRC, that was around 1963..

[hunter49]

  My brother & I both got our biggest birds ever in Nia. co., both had 21" plus tail feathers & both got mounted & are still hanging on the wall from back in the 70's.

[Lawdwaz]

  My brother & I both got our biggest birds ever in Nia. co., both had 21" plus tail feathers & both got mounted & are still hanging on the wall from back in the 70's.

 

That middle picture in the opening post has kind of a sad story behind it regarding the taxidermist who won't be mentioned here.........

 

That bird had probably 23" or more long tail feathers and dandy spurs.  MY buddy said if I was EVE going to stuff one, that was the ONE.  OK I said, I'll get 'er stuffed.

 

Dropped it off at the taxi's place and didn't here anything for the longest time.  How long?  Maybe 2 years!  Well, I called him and he said he'd been going through a very ugly (ain't they all?) divorce and his lovely skank of an ex hand unplugged a couple of his freezers and he lost a ton of customers stuff but saved MINE!  OK.....................a few months later he calls and said my bird was GTG.  I went and picked it up and knew right away it wasn't MY bird!  Oh well, he was/is a friend and I took it in stride.  Life goes on...............

 

I kept that little pecker head in my family room for probably 10 years then a few years ago I gave it to the Buffalo Gun Center.  It hangs on their store walls along with a dandy spring gobbler (right over the gun safe display) and as far as I'm concerned, they ain't coming back here.

Edited February 18, 2016 by Lawdwaz

[Paula]

You have auto correct too?

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Oops, I do. Lol

[wildcat junkie]

Southeast PA where I live was THE hotspot back in the 60s & 70s for wild pheasants, I was fortunate to have caught the end of it when I was growing up and first started hunting. We used to hear them all of the time cackling in the woods & fields when I was a kid. By the middle of the 80s it was pretty much over, I never did figure out why they died off, probably increased predators and loss of habitat. Too bad we didn't take pictures back in those days. I still have my Jones cap that I used to wear when I went small-gaming with the old man.

 

Herbicides & farming practices are the real culprits.

 

I bought a BO Jones cap as a Christmas present for my 27 year old son. I were one deer hunting when the weather gets cold, wet or both.

 

Edited February 18, 2016 by wildcat junkie

[Uncle Nicky]

Herbicides & farming practices are the real culprits.

 

I bought a BO Jones cap as a Christmas present for my 27 year old son. I were one deer hunting when the weather gets cold, wet or both.

 

Went to a pheasant-in-a-barrel preserve with friends a few weeks ago, I still wear blue jeans, carry a short-barreled SXS and wear my old Jones cap, like I did when I was a kid. For old times sake.

[Doewhacker]

Here is my boy's first bird from a few weeks back, its a memory he and I will share for a life time. He is a lucky kid, he gets to hunt with us where ever we travel too. He has already been to Maine with us and next I am planning a trip west. Maine will be a given just about every year I think.