Stuffed pheasant.

I’m making that dish today. My daughters and granddaughters are coming over and it’s my wife’s weekend to work. They are going to be happy campers when they find out I made the “pheasant dish.”




My labs are flushers. Their job is to scent upland birds and flush them in shotgun range. They are pretty good at their jobs.

Although occasionally, when you get a pheasant with roadrunner genes and he takes off running in heavy cover, you can see the dog is birdy and on a scent trail, you have to hustle to keep up with him or they will flush out of range.

We're pretty late in the season. By now most birds have been harassed a time or three. In these situations, thinking strategy is the key. First, silence kills roosters. No slamming doors, no talking to the dog, no banging around digging in the truck parked right next to the cover. Remember these are wild birds that survive by being wary 24x7. I even stop at least a quarter mile away from the cover too pee the dog n get her dog brakes on, put my vest on etc. The idea is to pull up to the cover, bail out and start hunting. The goal is not to "beat the brush" so to speak, instead its "get into the right place as silently and quickly as possible," before they figure out what's up.

Here's an advanced technique for blocking for a solo hunter. Great for few hundred yards walks. Park quietly at the normal spot you would start hunting. But loop out of the cover and beeline to the " end" of the cover and hunt back to the truck. Roosters get accustomed to how they are hunted but changing things up often means flushes off the laces of your boots. If they do run, often a couple will get fooled by the "blocker" truck and will sit in the last shred of cover with your truck sitting right there. I've taken many doubles right at the truck in these situations. The key is believe they are there and be ready.

Ringneck 1 sounds like a good idea And I could see it working good tip

Well, pan fried the bird for lunch. When I woke up, I cut slabs about a quarter inch thick and rubbed in oil and then rubbed with seasoning. I kept in a plastic bag till I fried them up at noon. It turned out great you could cut it with a plastic fork.

Thanks for all the help.