By Steve Weisman

Pheasant hunting is such a great sport. Every day seems to bring something different. Just when you think you have things figured out, something different pops up. No matter what, though, trust the dogs! Whether it’s a retriever or a pointer, trust the nose!

There can be difficult times, however. For instance, pheasant hunting and wind aren’t good partners. The wind just seems to make the birds jumpy and wilder, and they often take flight well before you can get close to them. For hunters that can only go on the weekend or during a day off from work, if it’s windy, it’s windy. You go anyway.

Fighting dry conditions

Dry conditions make it extremely difficult for the dog to stick on a scent. Often, the dog will get on a scent, be really birdy and then lose the scent. Who knows how many times, we miss out on getting birds up because of the dry conditions. This year’s late October opener was definitely dry. On the parcel of land that we were hunting, the grassy cover was located adjacent to a combined cornfield on its south side. My hunting party had walked quite a way with nothing, when all of a sudden, one rooster got up and my son swung on it and downed it. That spooked about a dozen birds, and they erupted all around. Too many birds getting up all over, and we only got two and lost one. Unfortunately, several were well out of range.

Then on Sunday, we went through the same area, and as I walked on a path next to the stand of big bluestem, a rooster ran ahead of me for about 20 yards and then veered into the cover. I had my son and grandson walk that area and nothing. The two labs didn’t even get birdy. The dry conditions seemed to have won over again.

At the end of the patch of bluestem, the cover turned to reed canary grass. Curt’s lab, Avery grew birdy, so he followed her into the grass. Then she went on point, would you believe, right between Curt’s legs! Curt could see nothing, but Avery remained locked up on point. He reached down and spread out the mass of grass and nothing.

Still, she remained on point. So, he reached down through the matted grass and way down, he felt something and grabbed, you guessed it, a rooster pheasant. To top it off, it was the rooster that had been winged the day before. Without a good dog, Curt would have walked right on by.

What a difference wetter conditions can make

So, last Saturday, while I spent time at Kabele’s Shop with the Pros and later at a meeting on an update of the Howard Vincent Waterfowl Production Area property north of Big Spirit Lake, Curt enjoyed a much different hunt than the opener. The grass was not nearly as dry and bingo…an area that produced nothing on opener produced 15 or so birds, along with three solid points and a quick limit.

Avery certainly enjoyed the wetter conditions that made picking up scent much easier.

Plans don’t always work

Well, Sunday came and Curt, Hunter and I went to a private parcel that we knew held lots of birds. If you remember, it rained off and on during the night, and it was really foggy early. We should have known we would have trouble, when a group of 10-12 pheasants erupted from a bean field and just about flew into Curt’s pickup on the way down to hunt.

That should have been a hint at what might happen. We arrived at the area and planned to walk the low land and slough area and then come back on the higher sidehill. Unfortunately, that wasn’t what the pheasants had in mind. As we headed out, one pheasant erupted on the sidehill and then…the entire sidehill erupted with escaping pheasants. I would guess at least 50 flew across the road to a private CRP field.

Long story short…we only bagged two roosters and flushed a few hens. I’m not sure if the boys would have come in from the other side and pushed toward me at the end of the sidehill? Most likely they probably would have broken early, and they do have a way of avoiding blockers.

Favorite pheasant recipe

Our entire family enjoys eating pheasant. Years ago, my wife and I saw a recipe called “brother-in-law pheasant” that Bill Hall from Algona had placed in a publication, and it has become our favorite recipe. Give it a try; we think you’ll like it. Here it is:

• Take pheasant breasts and cut into ½” strips
• Dredge the strips in a bowl of beaten eggs
• Place strips into a bag of crushed crackers
• Place breaded strips in skillet and fry
• Once all strips have been cooked, place several pieces on a plate and pour a mix of melted butter, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce over the strips.

We then pair the pheasant with coleslaw, slices of banana and coleslaw dressing, along with

baked acorn squash (with brown sugar in the center). Oh my, what a combination!

(photos by Steve Weisman)

Nothing beats a good hunting dog to locate and flush pheasants out of heavy cover.

The author’s favorite way of fixing fresh “brother-in-law” pheasant matched with coleslaw and acorn squash.