# some advice



## just ducky (Apr 27, 2005)

Guys,
I'm from Michigan, and have been coming out for several years duck hunting in early October. With the mild winters the last few years, we've noticed the pheasants really coming back in the area we go to (Lamoure, Logan, McIntosh, Dickey Counties), and this year we intend to combine hunting pheasants/sharptails with our duck hunting.

I've hunted pheasants here for over 40 years, but our habitat is so different than yours in that you have large open spaces with draws and ravines versus the smaller fields and brushy woodlots we have here. My question is tactics. We will be hunting with one or two labs (duck dogs). We see and hear a lot of birds at some of the WPA potholes we hunt, as well as in the higher grasslands. Since we aren't really prepared to properly hunt pheasants in wide open spaces, would you advise us to stick to the ravines/draws near crop fields and/or the cattails around the potholes? I know there are a lot of opinions, but just looking for your thoughts. Thanks guys.


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## Bob Kellam (Apr 8, 2004)

Cattail sloughs and heavy cover CRP in mid to late season will produce roosters, Sharpies will be on the edges of the grain field/upland boundaries. Ravines and draws will produce both if there is cover. Locate the water in the area and work out from there.

Bob


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## curty (Sep 18, 2003)

Ducky.... You will find that hunting pheasants here will be quite easy. They will be everywhere. Large plots, sloughs, crp, small areas, (cattails when the pressure is on should be productive). Good luck


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

Just find a small to medium slough in a corn field or bean field adjacent to CRP and it will most likely be great hunting...


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## just ducky (Apr 27, 2005)

Thanks guys. We've kicked both pheasants and sharptails up while walking into some of the potholes we duck hunt. I just didn't know if the pheasants would frequent different types of habitat than they do here in MI because it's so wide open out there compared to here. I was concerned that we'd just be running them around and never getting a shot. But it sounds like we should hunt pretty similar to how we hunt them here. We don't have Sharptails, so that will be a new experience for us. We haven't bothered to spend the extra $100 in past years for a non-resident upland license, but with the birds coming back up in that area of the state, I think we'll go ahead and hunt them this fall. I know the South Central part of the state isn't the prime area, but trust me...there are a lot more birds there than ANYWHERE here. So we'll be happy to get a couple. Thanks again.


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

A little tip for you...When working a slough with water in it...Send a couple of guys w/dog walking one way and 2 other guys w/dog walking the other way...The two groups will meet at some point and that is when the action happens sometimes...Make sure you are hunting with people that like you! This way birds are less likely to sneak out a side...You just round them up right into each other...This works really well late in the season to switch things up!


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## just ducky (Apr 27, 2005)

Rick Acker said:


> A little tip for you...When working a slough with water in it...Send a couple of guys w/dog walking one way and 2 other guys w/dog walking the other way...The two groups will meet at some point and that is when the action happens sometimes...Make sure you are hunting with people that like you! This way birds are less likely to sneak out a side...You just round them up right into each other...This works really well late in the season to switch things up!


Thanks Rick. I've used similar tactics here sometimes, but with so few birds here, it hardly ever pays off. It will be kind of fun to hunt where we know there is a decent population. Thanks.


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