Colorado Pheasant Hunt

SD44 · Post by **SD44** » Sun Nov 17, 2013 5:11 pm

Took my dad pheasant hunting this morning at a WIA in Eastern Colorado. He wasn't able to last year due to chemo therapy for lymphoma. Never hunted this WIA before and wasn't sure what to expect. It was definitely too much area for one dog to cover but we did manage bag a few birds.

ruffbritt4 · Post by **ruffbritt4** » Sun Nov 17, 2013 7:54 pm

Looks like a great day. Are those stocked birds?

Deets · Post by **Deets** » Sun Nov 17, 2013 9:35 pm

When I used to hunt Colorado hens were illegal, did they change this

buckshot1 · Post by **buckshot1** » Mon Nov 18, 2013 11:38 am

Hens are definitely illegal here. Please tell me these are game farm birds? Our pheasant population has enough issues without people shooting hens.

zoellner25 · Post by **zoellner25** » Mon Nov 18, 2013 2:03 pm

Agreed, there should NOT be a hen in your photo unless at a game farm. If we all did this, there really would be no birds in CO.

birdhunter68 · Post by **birdhunter68** » Mon Nov 18, 2013 5:23 pm

Hopefully this is a pic of pen raised / preserve birds?
As hens are illegal......

Your post says you hunted a WIA.....which is public access on private ground and therefore wild birds.

Please clarify...

buckshot1 · Post by **buckshot1** » Mon Nov 18, 2013 7:52 pm

You're right that there isn't a good explanation for shooting hens on WIA.

SD44, if you didn't know that shooting hens is illegal, then you're an idiot and you should turn yourself in, pay your fine, and never do it again. If you did know and shot hens anyway, then I hope they take your license away. I'd turn you in myself if I knew who you were. You don't appreciate or don't care about all the time, effort, and money that so many people put into ensuring that our children have wild pheasants to hunt in Colorado. Each of those dead hens equals 10 pheasants that won't hatch next spring, plus their progeny in future springs. Poachers like you give all of us a bad name. Sorry, but this really makes my blood boil.

zoellner25 · Post by **zoellner25** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 9:12 am

"Sorry, but this really makes my blood boil." Couldn't have said it better myself. I'm sure GunDogForum's moderators could always track him down for CDOW.

gonehuntin' · Post by **gonehuntin'** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 10:26 am

Plenty of people been arrested for pictures of illegal acts posted on the net. Hope F&W is watching.

Puzzles me how anyone could train a bird dog, get a license and never read the regulations. Electric Collar is on the wrong dude.

DoubleBarrel GunDogs · Post by **DoubleBarrel GunDogs** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 11:35 am

Those appear to be pen raised birds taken at a game farm. Hopefully the op will confirm that.

Also I don't know of any WIA that has cattle. If so this shouldn't be allowed.

Nate

buckshot1 · Post by **buckshot1** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 12:42 pm

DoubleBarrel GunDogs wrote:Those appear to be pen raised birds taken at a game farm. Hopefully the op will confirm that.

Also I don't know of any WIA that has cattle. If so this shouldn't be allowed.

Nate

The landowners are allowed to rotate cattle on to WIA for a short period of time. I often see cattle on cut corn fields enrolled in WIA. You're not supposed to hunt a WIA when there are cattle on it. That's probably why SD44 had good hunting. I'm not aware of any game farms near town with cattle on them.

rkappes · Post by **rkappes** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 12:52 pm

LOL oh my god...not funny but kind of funny...considering someone would post a photo of illegal game, that is if they are not game farm birds.

gonehuntin' · Post by **gonehuntin'** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 1:35 pm

Don't know about Colorado, but in SD you have to be a set distance from any livestock, 100 yards if memory serves me correctly which it porbably doesn't.

SD44 · Post by **SD44** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 5:12 pm

First off, let me apologize to all the members on this forum for my original post. My post was not to cause confusion, conflict or mislead anyone. I also need to apologize for not proofing my post and for not being able to get on the forum to clear this up until today.

So, let me clear things up. These are pen raised birds that we planted on a friends private property that is adjacent to a WIA NOT actually on the WIA. Again, this where I should have proofed or previewed my post before actually posting. We planted around 10 birds on a 47 acre area in between a creek bed and a section of property that had been tilled. We thought this would be the best area he would be able to bag a few birds. The cows in the background are on another section of property separated by the creek bed.

My dad has been undergoing chemo therapy for stage four lymphoma for the last 14 months. When he was diagnosed with the disease, he was told he had a 50/50 chance of beating the cancer and with each and every day he is losing hope of beating it.

The intent of taking him hunting and my post was to bring a little joy with the hopes of raising his spirits and his strength to keep fighting the cancer.

I take full responsibility for the unintentional misleading of my original post. I should have proofed it prior to me posting it and I regret not being more specific in the details. My dad had nothing to do with the post, it was my fault and mine alone.

To all of the forum members, please accept my sincere apologies.

buckshot1 · Post by **buckshot1** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 10:56 pm

Even as you describe the situation, you're still not allowed to shoot released birds in wild pheasant habitat during hunting season unless you're a licensed game farm/preserve or you have a field trial permit. How would you know whether you're shooting a released hen or a wild hen? There are certainly wild hens on the property if you're next to a WIA. I'm very sorry to hear about your father's cancer, but that doesn't excuse anything. There are plenty of good game farms around Denver where you and your father can shoot as many released pheasants as you want. I'd be happy to recommend a couple.

Deets · Post by **Deets** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 11:41 am

buckshot1 wrote:Even as you describe the situation, you're still not allowed to shoot released birds in wild pheasant habitat during hunting season unless you're a licensed game farm/preserve or you have a field trial permit. How would you know whether you're shooting a released hen or a wild hen? There are certainly wild hens on the property if you're next to a WIA. I'm very sorry to hear about your father's cancer, but that doesn't excuse anything. There are plenty of good game farms around Denver where you and your father can shoot as many released pheasants as you want. I'd be happy to recommend a couple.

These are definitely pen raised, just look at the nostrils. BTW, The wild hens are the ones that get up 100 yards in front of your dog. Also there are plenty of game farms that are located in wild pheasant habitat.......how do they know which ones are wild? You guys are being pretty vicious to this guy, not knowing all the facts. I agree that we shouldn’t be shooting wild hens, but it happens. I shot two wild bobwhite hens last weekend.......I hope I didn't decimate the population

ACooper · Post by **ACooper** » Sat Nov 23, 2013 1:36 pm

SD44 no need to apologize, but clarification helps.

Wildirishman64 · Post by **Wildirishman64** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 7:21 pm

Let's cut him some slack, he was taking his pops hunting. I'm sure he is law abiding. Talk about jumping to conclusions! I hope your dad has many more hunts in the future. We can always raise some more birds but not fathers, just sayin

Donnytpburge · Post by **Donnytpburge** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 8:51 pm

Sd44

Your family is on the prayer list in mississippi

I enjoyed your pics.

No apologies needed for me.
Db

buckshot1 · Post by **buckshot1** » Mon Feb 17, 2014 10:04 pm

I'm surprised that someone revived this thread from the dead. I don't want to beat the guy up anymore given the circumstances, and I'll take him at his word that his second explanation is what really happened. I also hope his father's health is getting better. No one unfairly jumped to conclusions. He initially said he was hunting on WIA land, which is private land that is leased by the state for hunting because it's good wild pheasant habitat, and he also said "he wasn't sure what to expect," which implies that he was hunting wild birds, not birds he just planted. I'm glad that he retracted what he initially said, although it's still not ok to release and shoot a bunch of pen-raised hens among wild hens, but not as bad as intentionally shooting wild hens.

To the other posters, shooting wild hens isn't something that "just happens." I've never shot one despite pheasant hunting 15-20 days a year. It's pretty obvious when it's a rooster. Also, wild hens do hold for points. My dogs point them all the time. There's also a difference between shooting a hen pheasant and shooting a hen quail: shooting a hen pheasant is illegal; shooting a hen quail is not. I hope the 819 people who viewed this thread don't get any ideas. I also wish that people wouldn't encourage poaching or say that it's no big deal on a public forum. We just had the worst pheasant season that anyone in Colorado can remember. We don't need you throwing anymore dirt on our coffin. Maybe people don't think shooting hens is a big deal in other states, but it's not allowed here. I'll leave it at that.

Deets · Post by **Deets** » Wed Feb 19, 2014 7:28 pm

buckshot1 wrote:I'm surprised that someone revived this thread from the dead. I don't want to beat the guy up anymore given the circumstances, and I'll take him at his word that his second explanation is what really happened. I also hope his father's health is getting better. No one unfairly jumped to conclusions. He initially said he was hunting on WIA land, which is private land that is leased by the state for hunting because it's good wild pheasant habitat, and he also said "he wasn't sure what to expect," which implies that he was hunting wild birds, not birds he just planted. I'm glad that he retracted what he initially said, although it's still not ok to release and shoot a bunch of pen-raised hens among wild hens, but not as bad as intentionally shooting wild hens.

To the other posters, shooting wild hens isn't something that "just happens." I've never shot one despite pheasant hunting 15-20 days a year. It's pretty obvious when it's a rooster. Also, wild hens do hold for points. My dogs point them all the time. There's also a difference between shooting a hen pheasant and shooting a hen quail: shooting a hen pheasant is illegal; shooting a hen quail is not. I hope the 819 people who viewed this thread don't get any ideas. I also wish that people wouldn't encourage poaching or say that it's no big deal on a public forum. We just had the worst pheasant season that anyone in Colorado can remember. We don't need you throwing anymore dirt on our coffin. Maybe people don't think shooting hens is a big deal in other states, but it's not allowed here. I'll leave it at that.

The point I was trying to make is that you can tell the difference between a wild bird, and a liberated bird by how close the they let you get before the flush. I was not trying to say that shooting a hen is accidental, the point I was trying to make is that it is something that happens, intentional or not and likely has the same affect on the population as shooting a female quail. Although Im not a self proclaimed expert, and I don't hunt "15-20 days" a year. I do understand the game laws, and I am not encouraging poaching. What I was really trying to say is there are alot of pretentious assholes on this forum that jump to conclusions and go off on people like the original poster........I guess everyone is a tough guy behind a keyboard

markj · Post by **markj** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 10:39 am

I hope his dad is OK. The rest is chest beating, let it go...

buckshot1 · Post by **buckshot1** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 11:44 am

Deets wrote:
buckshot1 wrote:I'm surprised that someone revived this thread from the dead. I don't want to beat the guy up anymore given the circumstances, and I'll take him at his word that his second explanation is what really happened. I also hope his father's health is getting better. No one unfairly jumped to conclusions. He initially said he was hunting on WIA land, which is private land that is leased by the state for hunting because it's good wild pheasant habitat, and he also said "he wasn't sure what to expect," which implies that he was hunting wild birds, not birds he just planted. I'm glad that he retracted what he initially said, although it's still not ok to release and shoot a bunch of pen-raised hens among wild hens, but not as bad as intentionally shooting wild hens.

To the other posters, shooting wild hens isn't something that "just happens." I've never shot one despite pheasant hunting 15-20 days a year. It's pretty obvious when it's a rooster. Also, wild hens do hold for points. My dogs point them all the time. There's also a difference between shooting a hen pheasant and shooting a hen quail: shooting a hen pheasant is illegal; shooting a hen quail is not. I hope the 819 people who viewed this thread don't get any ideas. I also wish that people wouldn't encourage poaching or say that it's no big deal on a public forum. We just had the worst pheasant season that anyone in Colorado can remember. We don't need you throwing anymore dirt on our coffin. Maybe people don't think shooting hens is a big deal in other states, but it's not allowed here. I'll leave it at that.
The point I was trying to make is that you can tell the difference between a wild bird, and a liberated bird by how close the they let you get before the flush. I was not trying to say that shooting a hen is accidental, the point I was trying to make is that it is something that happens, intentional or not and likely has the same affect on the population as shooting a female quail. Although Im not a self proclaimed expert, and I don't hunt "15-20 days" a year. I do understand the game laws, and I am not encouraging poaching. What I was really trying to say is there are alot of pretentious assholes on this forum that jump to conclusions and go off on people like the original poster........I guess everyone is a tough guy behind a keyboard

I understand your point. Although just because you can tell the difference doesn't mean a beginner can tell the difference. Like I said before, no one jumped to conclusions. Everyone responded to the guy based on what he said in his original post, which was unambiguous. I wasn't trying to be an asshole. Maybe it raised my hackles because it's in my backyard and our pheasants are having a particularly tough time this year. Look, no one thinks that a shot hen or two makes any meaningful difference to the population. My concern is that other people read about shooting hens and think it's one of those laws that no one really follows, like group hunting limits in the duck blind. We all know that 200 people read these threads for every 1 person that posts. One jumps off the cliff, others follow. I see all sorts of nonsense going on on WIAs around here and it gets worse every year, with landowners withdrawing their property. That's where I'm coming from.

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