In 2007 my dad and I got an invitation to hunt Pheasant in Dalhart TX. The panhandle of Texas offers some of the best pheasant hunting in the country. Admittedly it's probably not as rich as South Dakota, but if everyone in your group limits out every day they hunt...what's the difference? The first morning we hunted the farmer took us to an old silage pit that had grown up with weeds. Earlier that year, during corn harvest, he'd pulled alongside the pit with the combine and dumped a little corn in it. We got out of the truck and while we were loading our guns about 25 pheasant flushed out of it! One guy managed to fire one shot and missed. We all stood there with dumb looks of disappointment. That was more birds than we'd flushed in years of hunting pheasant combined! Not only did these guys not seem to be phased by all these birds flying away untouched, it became clear that they had no intention of going after them out in the corn stubble. Just said, "we'll find plenty more. No need to wear ourselves out trying to walk through that stubble." We'd never been afforded such a luxery! In eastern NM if you flush anything you better go after it, no matter where it lands, because that might be the only pheasant you see all weekend.
We hunted two days and limited out by noon each day. We killed 27 roosters in all.
We hunted corners of mostly corn fields and a few wheat fields.
It was a once in a lifetime hunt for us. We're used to hunting all weekend in hopes of bringing home two or three birds in Eastern NM. Sometimes you hunt all weekend and come home with none! It was a real privaledge.
In 2007 my dad and I got an invitation to hunt Pheasant in Dalhart TX. The panhandle of Texas offers some of the best pheasant hunting in the country. Admittedly it's probably not as rich as South Dakota, but if everyone in your group limits out every day they hunt...what's the difference? The first morning we hunted the farmer took us to an old silage pit that had grown up with weeds. Earlier that year, during corn harvest, he'd pulled alongside the pit with the combine and dumped a little corn in it. We got out of the truck and while we were loading our guns about 25 pheasant flushed out of it! One guy managed to fire one shot and missed. We all stood there with dumb looks of disappointment. That was more birds than we'd flushed in years of hunting pheasant combined! Not only did these guys not seem to be phased by all these birds flying away untouched, it became clear that they had no intention of going after them out in the corn stubble. Just said, "we'll find plenty more. No need to wear ourselves out trying to walk through that stubble." We'd never been afforded such a luxery! In eastern NM if you flush anything you better go after it, no matter where it lands, because that might be the only pheasant you see all weekend.
We hunted two days and limited out by noon each day. We killed 27 roosters in all.
We hunted corners of mostly corn fields and a few wheat fields.
It was a once in a lifetime hunt for us. We're used to hunting all weekend in hopes of bringing home two or three birds in Eastern NM. Sometimes you hunt all weekend and come home with none! It was a real privaledge.
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