Wife's First Pheasant Hunt

[Marshlander]

My wife has been hunting with me for near all of the 21 years we've been together. Since the kids are finally all grown up and out of the house, we have hunted even more so over this past year.
I applied for one of those California Dept. of Fish and Game "Women Only" pheasant hunts for her and received a reservation through the mail. We drove to the 100+ miles to Blythe in the wee hours on the morning of the hunt. After registration at the DFG office, we then drove some twenty-five miles to her assigned field.
As we sipped our coffee, another truck pulled next to us with a couple of guys, and as many dogs, in it. They approached us and asked if we would like for them to work their dogs for my wife -- our pointer had passed a couple of years prior, so we accepted without hesitation.
8:00 am seemed to take forever to come, but come it did. Not three minutes into the field, the dogs busted one rooster. Four minutes later, the second pheasant came to bag. I know that this sounds as if she were shooting fish in a barrel, but I can tell you that it was no less exciting for her than it would have been for anyone else hunting anywhere else! Her first pheasant hunt will be remembered with pride and fondness for the rest of our lives. You go, girl!

[Tater]

That's really cool. I think hunting is best when shared with family and friends. I was also a little surprised to hear of such good pheasant hunting near Blythe. I've been through that area a few times and it didn't look like much but it sounds like you found the sweet-spot. Happy hunting.

[fabsroman]

Great story and I am sure that she will remember those two pheasants for as long as she lives. About 25 years ago I was 10 years old when I killed my first two on the same day, and I remember that day, how the pheasants came out of the brush piles, exactly where on the farm I was, the pellet size used to kill both, and the other gun blast by my dad on the first bird which he still denies hitting to this day.

By the way, I didn't really know that there was any pheasant hunting in California. Heard of quail hunting, but not pheasant hunting.

[Marshlander]

Hey Tater, she was actually hunting planted birds on that day ... but there truly are some wild birds from Blythe on south to the Mexican border.
Fabsroman, yes there is pheasant hunting in So. California (and dove, duck and goose hunting in the same area). There are good numbers in the southern deserts in the farming areas as mentioned above, but the better hunts are around the rice fields in the northern part of the state (Chico). By the way, thanks for sharing your first hunt with me/us -- way cool!

[fabsroman]

Marshlander,

That wasn't my first hunt or my first pheasant hunt, that was the first hunt that I killed a pheasant.

I started hunting, if you can call it that, when I was abuot 6 years old. I went out with my dad and helped retrieve the birds, and at that age he let me pull the trigger on his 12 gauge Win 101. I had done this 100's of times in the backyard with a pellet gun where I got to aim and pull the trigger as he held the gun to his shoulder, but this time it was a shotgun. He told me that I could aim at any bird I wanted to, so I picked a buzzard about 2,000 yards away. It was the size of a speck. Being a marksman with the pellet gun in the backyard (i.e., I barely missed the can from 5 yards away), I couldn't understand why I missed that buzzard, especially when I was using a shotgun. My dad said sometimes it just happens. At the age of 7, I got to hunt on my own with a .410 single shot. I spent two years trying to get my first dove, I couldn't even get the on the wire with that gun. However, it finally happened. I finally got one just before it landed on the wire. My female cousin was with me that day, and both she and I were ecstatic. After that, I got a 20 gauge single shot and took it pheasant hunting that year. I know my dad passed up a couple of shots on pheasants that year, but he always told me that he just didn't have a clean shot. Used the 20 gauge for 2 seasons without killing much of anything. Then I graduated to the 12 gauge auto 5 for pheasant season and I killed those two pheasants. The next year, I got to use the Win 101 for doves and I was knocking them down pretty good. My dad was really surprised. He had bought me a BPS pump for my 8th birthday, but the gun just did not fit me for quite a while. He didn't want to cut down the original stock, so he tried to order a cheap stock to cut down for me to use for a year or two, but on three different occassions the company sent the wrong stock. I think it was because the gun was a brand new line for Browning.

Anyway, that is the beginning of my hunting career as best as I can recollect.

I truly love my dad. He drives me crazy sometimes nowadays, but I still love him to death. Hopefully, I will be as thoughtful with my kids.