As the snow piles up in the Midwest and Great Plains, hunters vanish like the warm days of summer. That’s unfortunate because late-season pheasant hunting can be very successful. The birds, like most hunters, don’t enjoy being in the wind, cold, and snow and concentrate on grassy marshes where cat-o-nine tales break the wind and provide protection form sheaky coyotes and diving birds of prey.
Walk, Don’t Run
In early season, ringneck pheasants are among the wiliest of birds. They can recognize the slam of a truck door or the loading of an autoloader a mile away. Before you can open a gate to get into a field, roosters will flush a quarter mile away. A corn field may have hundreds of pheasants, yet you won’t get a shot if you walk through it. Routinely, pheasant hunters work in groups and conduct drives where birds are pushed toward standers who get most of the action.
Million Dollar Prize
Taking a page from the fishing tournament playbook, one savvy Kansas town is offering $1,000,000.00 to the lucky hunter who bags a banded pheasant. So far, that bird is still out there. Best of all, you can enjoy some of the best hunting of the year while you search for this ring of gold… so much more fun than playing a lottery. Here are the details from the Sporting Classics Daily website:
Businesses in Finney County, Kansas, are trying to woo pheasant hunters into their area, and they’re doing a great job of it. Local leaders partnered to have 50 pheasants banded and released just before bird season began in 2017 as part of a “Million Dollar Bird” contest. According to contest info, the banded pheasants offer hunters undisclosed “immediate rewards,” with one bird bringing a hunter a chance at $1 million.
http://sportingclassicsdaily.com/million-dollar-pheasant/
