I wouldnd hesitate to shoot 200+ pheasants in a season.
Thing is, I don't think I could if I tried!
Heres my reasoning. We all know of the stories of the top wild game shots in NZ, T. Zipcovich, B. Teare etc who would shoot into the triple digits on wild birds every season. Both of them had one thing going for them that most don't - time. Being a retiree or a shift worker aids this immensely.
In the last few years, I have started keeping a diary of my shooting. Not only has it improved my hunting ten fold, but I would be able to get some pretty interesting statistics on time, success, if I added it all up (which I haven't, yet) I have always been curious of the distance I walk and time spent per rooster I shoot. Going by the same logic, lets do some simple math of a 200 (wild) bird a year shooter.
Say Joe Bloggs works a 9-5er 5 days a week, and spends his weekend shooting. In a four month season, that's say 16 weekends a year, 32 days. 200 birds divided by 32 days is 6.25 birds a day, which as we all know is breaching the Game Regulations in any region. For him to shoot a much more realistic bag (but still high, for me anyway) of say 2-3 birds a day, he would have to shoot double that amount of days. If I double that 32 days hunting to 64, which still gives me 3.125 birds a day.
So from my crude arithmetic, he needs to hunt at least 4 days a week, and shoot 3 birds every day, to do it, legally.
EL B I'm calling that your Joe Bloggs is either retired, unemployed, breaching game regs, or its BS
Whats the best time for a pheasant? I shot at a cock a while ago and missed and I have been back a few times but he hasn't been there. Just a very small patch of toi toi on the side of the river with a few trees on top. I hear him crowing on the other side of the river in the maize paddock a lot
the numbers tell all, I myself have the time and dogs to shoot a modest bag each year I don't really target roosters until the ducks are finished and the ink weed has died off but average 20-30 birds once I start putting the time in, dogs have found 4 shootable birds so far this season they are still alive due to two reasons, semi loaded with duck loads was one and the others were short tailed poults.
I reckon the finds are better than the kills, as shown in brians video.
we do a little pheasant work while the ducks are on I might add, but thats full on work not so much hunting.
Last edited by kawhia; 29-05-2014 at 10:29 AM.
@redhot I take it you were with Brian and seen the birds this guy had shot that day ??. Hens and over his limit from what Ive been told.
no to that Uplander and he was never sighted shooting hens . And Kawhia yes the finds are the real exciting part , the dog work leading upto pulling the trigger --after that is just smelly and bloody haha
Tweed or not to Tweed that is the question
And I only worked it out on a 200 bird season, your mate claims a 300 bird season. If he hunted 120 days, every day of the season for 300 birds, that's 2.5 birds a day. If we go back to shooting 4 days a week at 64 days of the season, he would have to shoot 4.68 birds, basically shoot a limit, every time he goes out.
Definitely smells of BS to me
Toby, I find up until mid morning great, then mid-late arvo until dusk. They like to roost with a full crop, so arvo is when they do most feeding. Like any animal, you need to find where it feeds, and where it sleeps and plan accordingly. Check your maize crop during the feeding times and likely looking spots where he would fly to roost.
Timing is a biggie too, try not to dog him too much as he will get spooky. Pays to have a few spots you can alternate, give them all plenty of time to settle down again
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