If you’re a first time pheasant hunter, your head might be swimming with random questions. Below are some questions that entered into my own noggin, as I prepared to go on my first Kansas pheasant hunt. Hopefully you’ll find something useful here, as you prepare for your own hunt.
1. Is Hunters Orange Required?
Regardless if it’s required or not, it’s a good idea to wear plenty of orange if you’re hunting around others. With that said, yes, hunters orange is typically required. Be sure to check your local regs to be sure you meet any minimum requirements.
2. What Gear Do I Need For Pheasant Hunting?
Following are the bare bones essentials you’ll need for your first pheasant hunt. For a more complete list, check out my post about pheasant hunting supplies found here.
- Shotgun
- Shells
- License
- Hunters Orange
- Boots
- Upland Vest (optional)
- Chaps or Upland Pants (optional)
3. Should You Practice Shooting Ahead Of Time?
You should certainly familiarize yourself with your shotgun ahead of time. Shoot some clay targets, and even squeeze in a dove hunt if you can. The more you practice getting on target quickly, the more success you’ll have.
4. Do Pheasant Hunters Wear Ear Protection?
Some hunters do wear ear protection when shooting birds. However, from my experience, most hunters forego the use of hearing protection while actually hunting.
If you choose to wear hearing protection, use some form of noise cancellation shooting muffs. With sound control protection, you’ll still be able to hear conversations while protecting your ears from shotgun blasts.
5. What Kind Of License Is Required To Hunt Pheasants?
You will definitely need at least a general hunting license to hunt pheasants, and possibly more. Sometimes an additional permit is required.
Check with your states game and fish website or publication to ensure you are properly licensed. For reference, an out of state non-resident hunting license for Kansas is nearly $100, so it can be a significant expense to consider.
6. Are Chaps Or Upland Pants Necessary?
If the terrain contains a lot of briars, you definitely want to wear leg protection. If the terrain is mostly clean CRP, you don’t necessarily have to have chaps or upland pants.
If you’re going on a paid hunt, ask them ahead of time if chaps are necessary.
7. Can I Use A Turkey Vest For Pheasant Hunting?
Yes, you could use any hunting vest that a pheasant will fit inside of. Certainly 3 or 4 pheasants (the limit) will fit anywhere that a turkey will, so your turkey hunting vest will suffice, as will a squirrel vest.
You might feel a bit out of place with a makeshift upland vest on a “sophisticated” pheasant hunt, but it’ll work just fine.
If funds are tight, there’s no need to buy an upland-specific vest. If you’re hunting with a group, you may can even get away with no vest at all.
8. Do Pheasants Taste Good?
Wild ring necked pheasants taste delicious. You do have to be careful not to overcook them, as they are less fatty than chicken or pen raised birds. For best results, cook the breast and dark parts separately. Each will vary as to the best preparation. There are plenty of great recipes online for cooking this tasty bird.
9. How Do I Bring Pheasant’s Home From A Paid Hunt?
If your hunt is out of state, you might wonder about bringing birds home.
Since you’re typically only allowed to kill roosters, you must usually leave a leg and foot, or a full feathered wing attached to the carcass. If you were to be checked by a warden, they will use the foot or wing feathers to verify you have only taken male birds.
On a paid hunt they will usually handle packaging the birds properly for you. On my recent hunt, they vacuumed sealed 4 breasts to a bag with a wing attached. Looks weird but cleans up fine later.
Check this site out for more info on How To Transport Pheasants
10. How To Get A Pheasant Mounted On An Out Of State Hunt?
You have a couple of options when it comes to out of state pheasant mounts. You can contact taxidermists in the local area to see if they will ship the mount to you once it is completed. Some will, some won’t. Another option is to freeze your bird (properly) and ship it off to be mounted. There are reputable taxidermists that operate this way – you ship them your frozen animal, and they ship you back the finished mount.
11. Do You Pick Up Spent Shells, Or Leave Them On The Ground?
This really depends on where you’re hunting. On an organized private land “paid” hunt, you aren’t necessarily expected to pick up hulls as you go. If you’re hunting public land, or a friends farm, you should definitely make an effort to retrieve spent hulls.
If shells fall into deep grass or you just can’t find them, that’s usually ok, but you are basically littering, so when possible pick them up. An advantage of a break open shotgun such as a side by side or over under is the ease of access to spent hulls.
12. Does Your Gun Have To Be Plugged?
Generally speaking, pheasants are not migratory birds, so you don’t need a plug in your gun to hunt them. However, to be safe, check your state’s regulations for confirmation.
If you expect that you may jump-shoot ducks while pheasant hunting, you’ll need a plug. It’s not a bad idea to just use a plug regardless. You won’t usually need a 4th shot anyway. The only time you would really get more that 3 shots is if a lot of roosters kept getting up in front of you, which can happen, but is not typical.
13. How Many Shells Will I Need?
For a day in the field, 20 shells would generally be way more than enough for pheasants. If you need more that that, you’re seeing a ton of roosters and doing a lot of missing.
Many vests have 10 slots to hold shells. Fill those up, and take extra shells in your pockets to ensure you have plenty. You never know when a hunting buddie may beg a few shells off you.
For a 3 day hunt in a good area, pack 2 or 3 boxes of shells.
14. How To Choose The Best Shotgun Shells For Pheasant?
The best size shot for pheasant will be 4, 5 or 6, depending on a lot of things, and that’s for lead.
Early in the season, 6’s are a popular choice, with 4’s and 5’s becoming more preferred as the season wears on, and the shots become further away. It really depends on a lot of factors, one of which is how well your shotgun patterns a particular load.
Leave the light load dove shells at home, and bring some heavier loads with at least 1.25 oz. (for a 12 gauge). If you’re required to use steel shot, go with 2’s or 3’s instead.
15. How Far Are Shots Usually Taken On Pheasants?
A really long shot on a pheasant would be 50 yards, but most are closer to 20-30 yards. You should plan, and practice to shoot 20-40 yard shots.
When hunting over planted (vs. wild) birds the shots will be closer. When hunting with a good pointing dog and the pheasants are holding tight, the shots can be extremely close. You may even have to wait until the bird gets a bit of distance before shooting, as they might flush right under your feet – literally.
Sometimes educated wild pheasants flush so far out, it’s not even worth pulling the trigger. Hunt with the wind in your face to get closer shots.
16. Is A Pump Shotgun Good For Pheasant Hunting?
A pump shotgun is excellent for pheasant hunting, but I prefer a semi-automatic. Use whatever you feel comfortable with.
You don’t need a fancy over under shotgun for upland hunting. If anything, you can be killing while others are reloading their over under’s. Typically there isn’t a limit to the number of shells in your gun for pheasant. So, why not go with higher capacity? With that said, you usually won’t get a great 3rd shot 😉
17. Is Steel Shot Required For Pheasant?
The answer is that it depends. Most of the time lead shot is allowed, but there are many exceptions. Unfortunately, you’ll have to check the regs for your area to be sure. Obviously, if you’ll also be shooting ducks as you walk, you’ll need steel.
18. Why Do People Use Double Barrel Shotguns For Pheasant?
Many traditionalist use over and under shotguns for wing shooting. While the ability to have 2 chokes is nice, a double barrel shotgun is far from necessary. Pumps and semi-auto shotguns work just as well.
Over under’s are easy to “make safe” when hunting around others. Breaking the action open is as good as you can get when it comes to knowing, and letting others know that a firearm is safe. They are ideal for safety in a group setting.
19. What Choke To Use?
For hunting pheasants, it’s hard to go wrong with an improved cylinder or modified choke.
If hunting planted birds, or hunting over a pointing dog, use an improved cylinder. If hunting wild pheasants that won’t hold, go with a modified.
For those guys using double barrel shotguns, you can put IC in one and Modified in the other for the further 2nd shot. For the rest of us, IC or Modified are both great choices.
In an ideal world, you would shoot a bunch of different chokes with a bunch of different shells to see what patterns best in your shotgun, but I know of few hunters who bother to do that.
Generally speaking, if your shots are up close, use an Improved Cylinder. Otherwise, use a modified. Take multiple chokes on your trip so that you can adjust if necessary.
20. Can You Kill Hens?
Very few states allow you to shoot wild pheasant hens unless you are on some private reserve with stocked birds. Even if you could, it’s still not a great idea. It’s an established fact that harvesting wild pheasant roosters has little impact on population numbers. The same cannot be said for killing hens.
It’s easier than you might imagine to distinguish a rooster from a hen in flight. Mistakes sometimes happen, and I’d say most pheasant hunters have accidentally killed a hen at some point in their life. Do your best, and stick to harvesting wild roosters only.
21. Best Boots For Pheasant Hunting
The best boots for pheasant hunting will be waterproof and broken in. There are many styles that will work. Nothing fancy is needed, but comfort is key, as you’ll be doing quite a bit of walking.
Definitely avoid sneakers, and opt for a sturdy pair of comfortable hiking or hunting boots. I use a pair of Danner Prongorns, but you’ll see all sorts of boots in a pheasant lodge. Find something that fits your foot well.
22. Do You Tip A Pheasant Guide?
Yes, typically you would always tip a hunting guide. It’s not by any means mandatory, but as they always like to say it’s “much appreciated”. Personally, I wish they would just price that into the fee and refuse tips. But, it is what it is. It’s very customary to tip 10-20% of the price of a hunt.
If you’re on a 3 day hunt priced at $1500, your tip would be $150-$300 cash, on top of that.
I typically tip the guide each day individually on a multi-day hunt. I feel like that motivates him for the next day to get another guaranteed tip 😉
For all the reading you could ever want about tipping hunting guides, check out this thread on rokslide.com.
23. How To Avoid Shooting The Dogs On A Pheasant Hunt
To avoid any possibility of shooting a bird dog, don’t shoot at ANY low birds.
If there is any question that a bird is low, don’t shoot. It’s as simple as that. Sometimes you’ll be hunting in tall grass, and you may think you know where all the dogs are, but just get in the habit of NO LOW BIRDS ever, and you’ll be fine.
24. Are Pheasants Hard To Hit?
In my opinion, when birds are holding tight and flushing nearby, they aren’t that hard to hit. They are basically the size of a small chicken. However, if they are flushing far out and you have a 20 or 30 mile per hour wind, that’s a different story. You have to get on them fast before they get up to Mach 3, and then you have to know how far to lead them.
Conclusion
There can be quite a few questions that new pheasant hunters might have rolling around in their heads. Hopefully the list above can knock a few of the most common FAQ’s off your list. For additional questions check out the pheasant hunting forum here.
Happy Hunting,
Augustus Clay
