Hunting Pheasant Without a Dog

It’s a simple question. Can you hunt pheasant without a bird dog? The simple answer is yes. Simple doesn’t always mean good. I’ve had enough experience hunting pheasant to know that a question like this deserves some consideration.

First of all, I am a dog guy. Plain and simple, the dog work of a pheasant hunt provides a good 60 percent of the enjoyment for me in the field. That being said, I do believe I’m unbiased in saying a dog is more important in pheasant hunting than in any other bird hunt. Unlike virtually every other game bird, a pheasants’ first survival instinct leads them to run rather than fly from danger. Consequently, pheasants can run circles around a dogless hunter without providing any indication of its existence. Pheasants are also tough birds to kill in the air. Personally, I am an average shot, and I believe my dog saves at least 90 percent of the birds I cripple from going completely unrecovered.

So back to the question. My answer is a qualified “yes.” Here are the four instances I think you can successfully hunt pheasants without a dog:

Walking linear cover. Roadsides, drainage ditches, and fence rows create linear habitat a pheasant hunter can walk without a dog until he/she pushes a bird out the end or squeezes one out the side.
Small Patches. Same basic principle as walking linear cover. If you can push a small piece of habitat completely surrounded by plowed fields, then your odds of boosting a bird multiplies.
The Big Group Push. If you have enough guys to walk close together, it’s possible to push a big field and jump the young birds that lack the elusiveness of running around your footsteps.
Game Farms & Preserves. There is no doubt that pen-reared birds lack the survival instincts of a wild pheasant that has evaded predation its entire existence.

I’ll add two caveats. First, in all four of these scenarios, it’s possible to flush a rooster without the assistance of a dog; however, finding a winged bird without a dog is another story all together. Any ethical pheasant hunter entering the field without a bird dog should take great care in making high percentage, quality shots. Second, I would wager a good bird dog will lead to twice as many birds flushed walking these same scenarios as hunting without one.

Pheasants Forever

Pheasants Forever launched Quail Forever in August of 2005 to address the continuing loss of habitat suitable for quail and the subsequent quail population decline. Bobwhite population losses over the last 25 years range from 60 to 90 percent across the country. The reason for the quail population plunge is simple - massive losses of habitat suitable for quail. There are five major factors leading to the losses of quail habitat; intensified farming and forestry practices, succession of grassland ecosystems to forests, overwhelming presence of exotic grasses like fescue that choke out wildlife, and urban sprawl.