It's somewhat of big deal in the hunting world, I thought... Does anyone out there bird hunt, or do all of the out of state tags I keep seeing mean nothing?

I saw more birds(while hunting) this year than in the last 3 years combined. Leading up to November I've seen more pheasant and definitely more quail than I've ever seen around here.

No pictures, but we ended up with 12 to 15 pheasant by 2PM on Saturday. Not Great numbers, but a total of 18 hunters, 4 -5 of them are under 18.

Hopefully this gets some sort or talk going on about bird hunting. PredatorMasters, yes but it's getting kind of stale..

My number 1 passion is shooting quail and pheasant... wish I was out there right now... maybe I should take me a combo coyote and bird hunting adventure. I'm getting tired of chasing deer and hogs. I've also wanted to bowhunt those big deer around hays... and then bird hunt... but i didn't get a tag this year for that area. But I'm sure you still have plenty of coyotes along with all those birds.

[beeep], I didn't even draw an either species tag close to home. Driving 2 hours to chase Mulies with a friend. As far as coyotes go, there are lots around but I am horrible at calling them in!

I have said for years I need to make a trip out west to chase birds in some different country. Kansas has always been on my radar it just has never worked out time wise. Following a dog through the grass is definitely my passion with Thermal night hunting a close second. There is nothing better than a covey of quail or a Rooster getting up in front of a dog you trained.

AMEN.... You can say that again RiverHunter55

I usually don't start calling coyotes until January because I'm pheasant hunting as much as possible.
I run 2 labs. Old one is 10 years. Got a new pup that was born in February last winter. My plan was to get at least 2 seasons of them hunting together to get the new pup hunting up to speed. The new dog is doing really good for the first year.
I've shot around 40 roosters so far and she has retrieved most of them back to me. Her parents are pointing labs.
She has been locking up and pointing pheasants. That is a real hoot to watch! Walk up behind her then tell her "getum"!!
Almost to easy.
I used to be a bowhunting deer madman until calling coyotes would start. The older I get I just don't have the patience for sitting in a deer stand. I really enjoy chasing roosters with my dogs.

40 roosters already !
Really wish I was there with you & your dogs - birds are good eat'n too.

Nice work canine, I do almost all of my bird hunting in the first 6 six hours on opening day. After that it's just keeping a shotgun in the pickup while deer or coyote hunting for the occasional bird.
I know you have gobs of pheasant up there, but have any quail ended up there?

Quail populations are strong this year and we had some good shooting during a deer hunt. I will get serious about coyotes now that big game seasons are done, and you can bet that I'll have a shotgun and bird shot along on those calling days to chase quail when seen.

No quail at all ever. We used to have fair numbers of partridge. Their population have been dropping through the years.
Sharptail grouse have been increasing. See a few more every year. I never try to hunt grouse. Just stumble onto them hunting pheasants.

West central Minn here,are Pheasant numbers are good in our area. My son and I enjoy pheasant hunting,half mile walk from the farm and were in birds,the walk gives our Yellow Lab a bit of time to unwind a little too.We don't really do much predator calling till after Pheasant season ends Jan 1.

Got my Mule Deer, if I can ever figure out how to post the pictures from my phone to site I'll do it. In the big game section of course.

Canine, does SD get flooded with out of state license plates for most of Pheasant season? We get it for a couple weeks and then they thin out until Deer opening day.

Non residents really flood the state the first 2weeks. After thanksgivings most don't want to hunt in the cold and snow.
December is my favorite time to hunt. Less hunters. Dogs (labs especially) love the cold. Most roosters that are still alive have been shot at by then. The birds are more concentrated in certain places. Still I really enjoy the challenge.

We hunted McCook NE the second weekend. Had a pretty good hunt. Lot more quail than there used to be.

dang, I have not even seen 40 roosters this year, normally we have hundreds around my place but I have not seen one in6 weeks

To me, quail seem to moving North. I'm originally from the the OK/KS line just north of Cherokee and rarely saw any quail up here in NW KS until the last 5 or 10 years.

This season was the best I have had in years for dove and quail in Arizona.

Opening day dove limit in Yuma.



Dove poppers!



The Gambles were everywhere on the opener. My buddy and I almost got a limit with no dog.

Eight empty shell boxes, sixteen doves... that's about the national average!

GC, I've got all kinds of names to call you right now, but that was pretty damned funny!
The last 9 shots that i fired at quail and one pheasant = 0 dead birds. It was a horrible last day of bird hunting but at least I cleaned out the old shells from my vest. I'm looking for the silver lining....

I just realized where smbob is from.

No real offense meant bob, but it had to be done.

GC, they weren't all dove. Some were quail.

LOL... I do think I read somewhere the national average shells per dove is five shots per bagged bird. When the shooting is at high flying skittish birds up in the wind it can be pretty tough. Believe me... I know first hand.