Pheasant Hunting

I went pheasant hunting with two friends on Tuesday. I used to hunt pheasants regularly when I lived in MI but the birds are not native to Southern AZ. The place we went to is a dog training facility and pheasant "farm". My friends have Brittany Spaniels trained as bird dogs. The pheasants that you pay for are released in a series of large fields planted in alfalfa or clover. What fun to watch the dogs work a field looking for birds and then pointing them out upon discovery. Eventually, the four birds were located and taken. We all shoot trap and skeet so not many birds escape us being the fine shots we are. LOL

I tried to stay out of the way as this is really my friends' event and I was just along for the ride. I shot one bird that I could have let go as it was heading to the other hunters but sometimes reflex gets the best of you.

I had some visions of this really being a simple slaughter as the birds put out are farmed but this was not the case. The birds were active and hiding well. It was quite a lot of fun and I may go again if invited.