doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Most amazing Pheasant Pictures

I agree with you. There are two big differences – 1) difficulty of shot, and 2) morality of shot
We “keeper” our shoot to control vermin and we plant cover crops. We introduce poults to the pen in April/May and we release them in July when we open the roof on our pen; the birds fly out during the day and most return to roost at night. They have the freedom to roam and they learn the terrain. They also bulk up in size and strength from the feeders we maintain to encourage the birds to stay on our land.

Ours is a walk-up shoot, but we do have one or two drives, where the cover crops and woods have rides which allow the birds space to take off. We are lucky if our bag for the season is near 30%. However, the countryside around the shoot has a growing number of birds! Elsewhere, I also come across the occasional wild pheasant when shooting woodcock and snipe, and there is little or no difference between the flight of our pen-reared and the wild pheasant. Both present very challenging shots.

Launching a caged bird off the top of a tower is just like trying to jump out of an armchair and sprint 100 yards. Why bother with a real bird when a greater challenge can be provided by a clay from the same tower?

In my view, the guy with the camera was the real sportsman!
Km

Hi Smallbore,
I guess what I see as common between tower and driven (as you have never been to a tower shoot, I have never been to a driven shoot), is to me neither is hunting as I know it or want it to be. I never said that one did not take more skill or that one was not more sporting then the other. To me it just is not hunting if it is not you (and your dog) putting out the effort physically to harvest your game then it is not hunting for me. Driven and tower to me are shooting games not hunting. You did carfully point out that hunting culturally varies from country to country and maybe region to region and person to person. Stocked birds can be very sporting and challenging if done correctly with good cover etc yet I can understand someone not considering that hunting (I know I don't favor it).
Jeff G.

Thanks for explaining how a driven shoot works. I didn't know that the birds weren't released for each driven shoot. I had assumed the pheasant were kept in a pen until shoot time. And the driven shoot is certainly more sporting than I realized.

Best,

Mike

I should have said that the pen is nothing like a chicken coop and it covers a few acres; it brief, it is an area of scrub with trees surrounded by a 6-foot high chicken-wire fence and with an electric fence at the base, about 1 foot out, to deter Mr. Fox. Km

You know, the truth is modern pheasant hunting is almost exactly the same as driven hunting. Sure there are some nice points occasionally and such. You all don't need to write and tell me that.
But for the most part, a group of hunters picks out a field. Several get at the end and along the sides and some hunters and dogs "drive" the field. The pheasants boil out into the hunters on the sides and end shoot them (or hope to).
Jake

So my question remains..........why can't we do quality UK style driven shoots in the US? Too many predators? Lack of knowledgeable keepers? We don't know how to do a drive? Wrong terrain? Bad shots? Etc,etc? Thanks.

Whata h$ll is going on here and there?
I have show these good photos to our hunting board members and some of these hunters said the same stupid speeches: It's not ethically right to shoot birds released from towers or to look at birds eyes (!), when they die.
One question, what these bird been raising for?
To be killed and to be cooked.
I don't understand how people with piece of pork or beef in mouth can speculate about morality and ethic of killing the birds.
My suggestion, if you don't like it, just stay away from this.
Nother Green's no PETA will never destroy our hunters community.
Pigeon shooting is one of the oldest shooting sports and you have to be real hunter and gentleman to understand what these bird been killed for.

Well Geno...you certainly bring up an interesting point...the contradictions regarding pontificating on the ethics and sportsmanship requirements of the hunt while primarily being sustained by animals raised and slaughtered in a production industry.

Good for you.

Geno, While for the most part, I agree with your post. I do have a couple of questions about your statement: "Pigeon shooting is one of the oldest shooting sports and you have to be real hunter and gentleman to understand what these bird been killed for."
The questions are: What percent of those pigeons make it out of the ring? And of those that make it, how many are carrying shot in their bodies? And finally, does a "real hunter and gentleman" care if he wounds game which goes off to die a slow and presumably unpleasant death? Jake

Geno

So far I think the discussion has been interesting and civil from those with both points of view. After all this is a forum for dicussing such things.I have been interested in what others have had to say on teh matter.

Few things in life are black and white and we each have a view of sportsmanship, which we are debating. your outburst is somewhat unnecessarily aggressive in my opinion. Let's disagree but please refrain from telling us we are making 'stupid speeches' because we do not agree with you.

I have no problem with killing a chicken from the chicken coop for lunch (or a pig or a cow). However, I would not consider releasing it and shooting it 30 seconds later to be sporting.

For the same reason, when pigeon decoying I do not shoot birds that land and when pheasant shooting I do not shoot birds that are not challenging shots. not because to kill them is ethically wrong but because it is not sporting in my opinion and gives me no pleasure.

We all agree they are wonderful photos.