After years of shooting deer, coyotes, waterfowl, steel, and paper, I've finally decided to pursue the most plentiful game bird around my farm: Hungarian Partridge. Otherwise known as huns or Grey Partridge, we have a rather large population around home. I've shot a few growing up, but that was pretty few and far between. So this year I decided to try to actually hunting them, rather than just taking them as a target of opportunity.
The first hunt was impromptu, and in my mind wildly successful. Being near the end of our work day, my friend/employee and I saw a covey of partridge land across my home quarter. It was freshly harvested corn, and with a quick drive to the other side of the field and hike through a drainage ditch, we were able to quickly down 3 of them. No more than 45 minutes later, supper was served, with delicious BBQ partridge breast being the star of the show. This got me hooked.
A few months later, I have some free time and am ready to hunt. We have 160 acres of very marginal land very closer to home, which is basically just grassland and marsh. It is bordered by a few other fields of our neighbours, which are quite similar. These fields support quite a healthy population of the partridge, and I don't think I have ever, in my entire life, wandered that field without seeing some. As a kid, I was sure they would flush when I was maybe 40-60 feet away, nicely within shotgun range. This should be eassssssy.
Wrong.
I thought I would glass them, stalk up to them, and once they take flight put up some flak! Again, wrong. They didn't bust me any closer than 50 yards, let alone feet, on this hunt. They intelligently stayed on the open grassland, and did not get into the cattails. No cover for me. It was basically spot, stalk, spook. Spot them 1/4 mile away where they landed, stalk, spook. After about an hour, and a few miles walking, it was time to go home. Hm, need a new strategy. And maybe some extra stealth.
Hunt number two was more successful. My wife joined me this time, as she wanted to get her step rings closed. I decided that I would try to work the spot, stalk, spook strategy to my advantage, sort of. We thankfully spotted the first covey right away, however it spooked onto non permission land. Dang. However on the way to figure out exactly where those first birds landed, we were busted by another group of birds, who flew in the correct direction. From there, we basically kept walking the long way around them. This kept spooking them from the open grassland, eventually "herding" them into a large area of cattails. The hope was that they would try to stay hidden longer, rather than fly away before we were even within range.
Thankfully this was the case. Unfortunately my wife and I had a disagreement about the location of said birds. She said further away, I said we were right on top of them. Wouldn't you know it, I was surprisingly correct, and our lovers quarrel spooked the birds enough for them to flush and fly away, all while I wasn't paying attention. I was able to crack 2 shots off at the main group, which broke to our right, and flew downwind at warp speed. Both shots missed. Dang.
However... there was one slow bird that decided to flush a second later than the others, and broke left, taking off into the wind. A nice, slow target, only 15 yards away. Thankfully the 'ol Benelli had a third round ready to rock, and down came the partridge. Successful hunt, and my wife was 5,000 steps closer to her daily step goal. Double win!
Now, the question I pose to you at the end of this novel: is this typical for grouse/partridge hunting? Are there any better strategies for open prairie hunting? Or will I be relegated to herding birds to try to get them into a more advantageous spot, so to speak?
As an aside, we brought the bird home, and turned it into some tasty little Fresno Chili Grouse poppers! While a bit more spicy heat would have been nice, the bird made for a tasty popper filler! Hopefully we can get back out over the next 10 days before the season closes.
Wife excited that I'm going to cook my own supper tonight:
Wife deciding that she can do poppers better than me, and taking over:
The first hunt was impromptu, and in my mind wildly successful. Being near the end of our work day, my friend/employee and I saw a covey of partridge land across my home quarter. It was freshly harvested corn, and with a quick drive to the other side of the field and hike through a drainage ditch, we were able to quickly down 3 of them. No more than 45 minutes later, supper was served, with delicious BBQ partridge breast being the star of the show. This got me hooked.
A few months later, I have some free time and am ready to hunt. We have 160 acres of very marginal land very closer to home, which is basically just grassland and marsh. It is bordered by a few other fields of our neighbours, which are quite similar. These fields support quite a healthy population of the partridge, and I don't think I have ever, in my entire life, wandered that field without seeing some. As a kid, I was sure they would flush when I was maybe 40-60 feet away, nicely within shotgun range. This should be eassssssy.
Wrong.
I thought I would glass them, stalk up to them, and once they take flight put up some flak! Again, wrong. They didn't bust me any closer than 50 yards, let alone feet, on this hunt. They intelligently stayed on the open grassland, and did not get into the cattails. No cover for me. It was basically spot, stalk, spook. Spot them 1/4 mile away where they landed, stalk, spook. After about an hour, and a few miles walking, it was time to go home. Hm, need a new strategy. And maybe some extra stealth.
Hunt number two was more successful. My wife joined me this time, as she wanted to get her step rings closed. I decided that I would try to work the spot, stalk, spook strategy to my advantage, sort of. We thankfully spotted the first covey right away, however it spooked onto non permission land. Dang. However on the way to figure out exactly where those first birds landed, we were busted by another group of birds, who flew in the correct direction. From there, we basically kept walking the long way around them. This kept spooking them from the open grassland, eventually "herding" them into a large area of cattails. The hope was that they would try to stay hidden longer, rather than fly away before we were even within range.
Thankfully this was the case. Unfortunately my wife and I had a disagreement about the location of said birds. She said further away, I said we were right on top of them. Wouldn't you know it, I was surprisingly correct, and our lovers quarrel spooked the birds enough for them to flush and fly away, all while I wasn't paying attention. I was able to crack 2 shots off at the main group, which broke to our right, and flew downwind at warp speed. Both shots missed. Dang.
However... there was one slow bird that decided to flush a second later than the others, and broke left, taking off into the wind. A nice, slow target, only 15 yards away. Thankfully the 'ol Benelli had a third round ready to rock, and down came the partridge. Successful hunt, and my wife was 5,000 steps closer to her daily step goal. Double win!
Now, the question I pose to you at the end of this novel: is this typical for grouse/partridge hunting? Are there any better strategies for open prairie hunting? Or will I be relegated to herding birds to try to get them into a more advantageous spot, so to speak?
As an aside, we brought the bird home, and turned it into some tasty little Fresno Chili Grouse poppers! While a bit more spicy heat would have been nice, the bird made for a tasty popper filler! Hopefully we can get back out over the next 10 days before the season closes.
Wife excited that I'm going to cook my own supper tonight:
Wife deciding that she can do poppers better than me, and taking over:
