Down & Dirty Late-Season Pheasants

Serious pheasant hunters recognize the game’s many faces. Opening day conjures images of vast grasslands swaying in the breeze, with checkerboards of unharvested crops. The late season, however, paints another picture—one of bare, often frozen earth, interspersed with patches of rough, imposing cover that deters hunters and dogs. And, of course, surviving late-season birds have learned a few things after being harassed and perhaps shot at for weeks.

Still, as winter overtakes autumn, opportunity persists, and hardcore pheasant geeks take advantage. Astute hunters adapt their tactics for the vastly different conditions. Consider these tips when chasing the final roosters of the season.

The Basics

Above all, remember common-sense stuff for late pheasants. Most folks know they shouldn’t slam truck doors or talk loudly in the field. However, more caution can help. Consider your approach to good pheasant cover, and try to access it as quietly as possible. Don’t overuse your dog whistle, and always try to hunt into the wind or with a crosswind. Don’t get stuck tromping loudly through thick stuff. Pheasants hear well, and late-season birds will flee quickly from noises that indicate a threat.

Also, walk slowly, turning and stopping often. A straight-on charge typically pushes birds directly ahead, where they can run or fly to safety. Stopping and turning can make them nervous or unsure about escape options, prompting closer flushes.

Buddy Hunts

Late-season birds love thick cover, which affords them protection from predators and the elements. Of course, nasty stuff near food is best. Trouble arises, however, when hunting large swaths of cover, as educated pheasants often hear or see danger and run or flush wildly well ahead of hunters and dogs.

Try a group approach for big stuff. In large cattail patches, for example, run several dogs and hunters in a classic line, but post two or three shooters at the end or around the edges to hopefully intercept escapees. For long, linear shelter belts, run a couple of dogs and hunters through cover, but have hunters outside the belt on each side to shoot birds that flush on the fringes. Just be sure to keep everyone in a safe line. Also, post two or three blockers at the end of the belt for birds that fly ahead of the dogs.

Isolate Cover For One-On-One Hunts

If you’re hunting solo or with one buddy, identify smaller areas of cover you can work effectively without a group. Those might include weedy ditches, section-line roads, thick ditches between harvested fields or cattail-rimmed sloughs in ag fields. Again, proceed slowly, stopping frequently.

Such hunts might only take 20 or 30 minutes, and you’ll often only flush a bird or two. However, stringing several small-scale efforts together might let you pick up a rooster here and there and slowly inch your way toward a limit.

A Word On Shotshells

As mentioned, late-season pheasants don’t typically hold as tight or flush in classic fashion. They’ll run until they’re out of options and then take wing to escape, often well ahead of approaching danger. As such, shots during the late season are often longer and trickier than during the opening weeks. When you throw in wind and perhaps tough cover, shots get tougher.

Many veteran late-season hunters opt for stouter loads with larger shot, eschewing the lighter stuff—lead No. 6 shot, for example—that works fine earlier. No. 5 lead provides a good compromise between pellet count and downrange energy. When the breeze blows or birds seem especially spooky, No. 4 lead is a good option. In publicly accessibly areas that require nontoxic shot, No. 2 steel or Nos. 3 or 4 bismuth are good options. With double-barreled shotguns, you can use an improved-cylinder choke in the first barrel backed up with modified in the second. For repeaters, you might just go with a modified choke for lead or bismuth, and improved-cylinder or improved-modified for steel.

Whatever load you choose, you’ll need to get down and dirty with tactics like these to put tough late season roosters in your vest.