# Longest Pheasant Tail 2005



## drjongy (Oct 13, 2003)

OK, let's see what we get this year. Still waiting to see the pictures of the 31" tail reported last year!

22" for me so far.


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## deafishunt (Feb 5, 2005)

I never get 31" long tail for many years I had average 25 inches but I got 24" this year. I don't finish this business this year


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## kvernum3 (Aug 8, 2005)

"24 and a half for me tihs year


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## DeltaBoy (Mar 4, 2004)

2005 Rooster Tail: 21

2004 Rooster Tail: 22

2003 Rooster Tail: 26.5

Good luck guys! :wink:


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## DJRooster (Nov 4, 2002)

When I saw the lead I thought, "what about that 31 incher and sure enough it is in the lead post! That is funny! Now the second question is are we talking about ring necked or exotic necked? Got my longest for 05 this morning gestimate at 22." Should have had a third but poor shot. Bird was drifting to the left with the wind and I never got out front and shot behind. Bigger rooster was a lung shot and I could see him shutter fly straight up and then caught the wind and did a dive bomb about 250 yds away. Took the dog over there to the downwind side and told him to find the bird so he sniffed for about 10 minutes and came up with nothing then I took him about thirty yards farther downwind because I was a little perplexed and sure enough he got on it right away. I just had not taken him far enough down wind on the initial pass. Nice bird. Suppose to feel like fall the next couple of days and with winds 20-30 we will have to go slow and let the dogs sniff because the birds will be hanging tight. Should be a great weekend for the waterfowl hunters. Be back on Monday.


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## Coach529 (Dec 22, 2004)

I am a bit behind you guys, but I did shoot a 20" tonight!!


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## Fallguy (Jan 23, 2004)

The best I ever shot was last season. That tail was 23.5" long. This year they have been shorter so far. I guess I didn't even bother to measure.


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## DJRooster (Nov 4, 2002)

I am willing to bet that these guys that are infatuated with big "tails" on their roosters like big "butts" on their women and let me guess they love the "I like Big Butts" song!


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## BrianLucky13 (Aug 8, 2005)

I would like to see a picture of a 31 incher!! WOW!!


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## muskat (Mar 5, 2002)

I shot one once that measured 42 inches!!!....from beak to tail.


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## Jiffy (Apr 22, 2005)

:lol: 31" is a long tail!!! Take out a tape measure and look at how long 31" actually is. Its's huge!! I guess its possible though.

Longest this year: 19".....I know..... pretty pathetic. :-?


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## MossyMO (Feb 12, 2004)

20 1/2", but I don't like talking about my short comings.......


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## walleyetracker (Sep 24, 2005)

longest ive got this year is 20 1/2 inch...nothing great


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## DJRooster (Nov 4, 2002)

The "31" is a "legend" that supposedly went to the taxidermist but has never come back. We had a thread like this last year and that is where the "legend" was born.


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## Coach529 (Dec 22, 2004)

Whoohooo.....I shot a 22 1/2" incher this morning. Nice mature bird with long 1"+ spurs!!


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## BrianLucky13 (Aug 8, 2005)

Yup I got a 22.5 incher this morning too. Good job!!!


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## WingedShooter7 (Oct 28, 2005)

not sure but my grandpa is a taxadurmest or how ever you spell it he makes hundreds of pheasant mounts im sure he has some biggies


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## Bigdog (Aug 13, 2003)

Lot of young birds so far this year but did manage a 22" yesterday.


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## Norm70 (Aug 26, 2005)

I shot a 28" when i was about 17 yrs old. Took it to the texidermist, payed him half of what it cost to mount and never saw the bird again. Tried calling him got no answer. went to his house and there was a new family living in it. Said he moved to Nebraska.


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## Chris Schulz (Sep 7, 2004)

Yeah thats what happened to my 37 incher to :withstupid: Im just kidding 31 inches im gonna have to call :bs: on that one.


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## Norm70 (Aug 26, 2005)

Honest to god true story. I was a guy in whapeton. NE know of any taxidemists there that moved away about 7 yrs ago?


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## Chris Schulz (Sep 7, 2004)

no im just kidding anythings possible. sorry to hear that you lost it


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## Norm70 (Aug 26, 2005)

Yep that guy better hope he dosen't see me in a dark alley or any other place for that matter


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## tail chaser (Sep 24, 2004)

Any time guys start a conversation about length the truth becomes distotred! I hope my email doesn't fill up with "Get longer tail feathers now" spam. :lol:

I too ? the 31 incher.......... BS

Longest this year 22, longest ever 25, the coolest thing was how black it was not the tail feathers.

TC


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## sdgr8wthnter (Oct 4, 2005)

Well I shot one last night that measured 25". Biggest one I've shot. And pretty sure its the biggest one thats been shot around here in along time. Going to the long tail feather contest.


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## Shu (Oct 21, 2003)

congrats - post a pic. It would be cool to see.


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## IAHunter (Sep 1, 2003)

Go here http://www.iowaoutdoors.org/forum/viewtopic.php?forum=9&showtopic=167663&show=20&page=1 to see a bird with 32" tail feathers. The guys calls it "747". Pretty neat story about how he got it.

IaHunter


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

I am a bird taxidermist, and after doing several hundred pheasants...That 747 does not have a 32 inch tail...Looks more like a 25-27 at best. Where is he measuring it from? The head? NO WAY!


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## BrdHunter (May 17, 2005)

was out last week I got my 3 birds all had tails over 21 inches, the longest being 23''.


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## muskat (Mar 5, 2002)

In that story, he said he didnt know the length of the tail feathers, and I will state right now that it is not 32". Looks to be about 25", and that is being generous.


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## kvernum3 (Aug 8, 2005)

ya i agree with you guys that bird definately doesnt have a 32" inch tail feather, looks to me like its pushin more like 25" 26" somewere in there.


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## IAHunter (Sep 1, 2003)

Tell you guys what, I'll send him an e-mail and see if he will take a pic with a ruler, a new newspaper with date showing, the pope standing next to him, and his hand on a bible with all fingers visible to make sure none of them are crossed.

Can't believe you guys. Read the story. Also, he did say, in his second message, that he JUST MEASURED IT. Largest bird he has ever seen, not one of the "hundreds" that you have done. I now remember why I stopped coming to this site. Any chance any of you have of tearing down someone else, you grab the hammers and put on blind folds :eyeroll: . North Dakota the friendly state? The people I've met up there, yes. The ones on this site? :laugh: .

IaHunter


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## griffman (Jan 17, 2004)

IAHunter- Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but the guy who posted the pic doesn't say he just measured it, in fact, he states in his first post with the pic that...."I have shot some that have had longer and sharper spurs and maybe some with *longer* tail feathers. But the 747 that made it to the wall was this old boy that was just huge body wise. He was an old bird with just an absolutely beautiful set of tail feathers. I never measured them but they are long."

Now, the way *I* comprehend this story is that the pic poster "bird", was commenting on the previous post made by "bigdaddyt".

Re-read the posts below.....I think you'll agree that "bird" is NOT refering to the "747 bird" as a 32 incher.

bigdaddyt

Registered: 10/17/03
Posts: 25 Saturday, November 05 2005 @ 03:07 PM CST

Freemans Sporting Goods hosted an annual longest tail feather contesin Independence, years ago. My brother shot a rooster over by Wintrhop with a feather 23" long, the biggest bird we had ever seen. So we took it down to Freemans with the hope of winning something. They had several fine specimens on display in their window, the shortest was 24" and the longest was 32".

bird

Registered: 04/23/02
Posts: 3056 Saturday, November 05 2005 @ 03:48 PM CST

So far this year I have 1 tail feather that is 23 5/8" long.

Thanks for the compliments on the 747.

**** 32" long **** Birds on steroids !!!

Story behind the 747:

Grif was I think about 18 months old at that time. I was hunting a farm near Buckingham and had bagged a couple of roosters and headed back to the truck. I usually always parked near some old farm equipment that is buried under a ton of grass and horse weeds. In prior hunts I would sometimes let Grif work this area but decided not to that day because of all the rabbits around the old equipment. Plus I didn't want Grif getting injured on some piece of sharp metal hidden in the grass.

Well I was back at the truck taking the 2 roosters out of my game pouch when Grif decided to check out some of the grass along the fence near the equipment. He locked up hard on point. So I loaded my gun and walked over expecting a rabbit to come blasting out of the grass when this big ol' 747 blew up into the air cussing me like crazy. He even tried to pull the ol' I'm going to fly through the trees routine on me. Needless to say I waited for a clear shot and busted him just as he was clearing the trees and he came down in the old hog yard that was no longer in use. Grif wanted to retrieve him bad but he couldn't get over the hog wire and wooden fence. This was when I noticed how big the bird was so I left Grif right where he was at and made the decision to retrieve the bird myself. Good thing too. I checked him over and couldn't believe the size of the bird and made the decision that this was to be my mounter. Old, Big, Battle Scars and best of all: All feathers intact.

bird


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## 4star (Sep 11, 2005)

I just got a 22 inch today my biggest in my life...but then again this is the first year i started pheasant hunting.


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## Turner (Oct 7, 2005)

Just shot a 25" today. Would like to see 5-8" of snow on the ground to hold the birds from running.


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## Rick Acker (Sep 26, 2002)

I just said, I didn't believe it was 32 inches. I hardly think I'm tearing anybody down. Just my opinion!


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## Bigdog (Aug 13, 2003)

I managed one yesterday that had a 0" tail. Looked like a V flying away, pretty strange. It was a cripple, had a broken leg near the foot. I missed the shot but the bird crashed landed anyway, suspect he was a bit weak. Anyhow the dogs tracked and retrieved. Bird must have had a close call with something because all of the middle tail feathers were missing when he flushed. Other than the tail he was fully feathered out.

Now that I have set the bar on the low end I am after the 32".


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