I grew up ground sluicing pheasants when the opportunity presented itself. Learned that trick from my Dad, who lived in Iowa during the Depression. He used to take my mother along, and she was really good at spotting a rooster's head poking out of the grass. Dad would roll down the driver's side window and shoot them in road ditches. That was the only illegal act I ever saw him commit. We didn't have bird dogs. And much later on, when he hunted with me and my dogs, he saw what a difference that made. If you're a pheasant hunter, both finding the birds in the first place and then retrieving those that come down with 2 good legs, which stand a good chance to escape if you're dogless.
