Friday, January 25, 2013

Pheasant Hunt

In September, I had signed up for my first pheasant hunt with ODFW (Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife) . They provide various workshops throughout the state to help teach beginners how to hunt or fish for as much as $40. This was a two day class in which they teach you everything you need to know about hunting pheasant and then provide you with a handler and dogs for an afternoon and morning hunt. It was located at a wildlife preserve in Klamath Falls.

It is a fabulous program that is great for woman who want to get into hunting but don't know how or have someone to show them. See, I had graciously been gifted a beautiful Benelli Legacy 12G shotgun for Christmas the year before and was anxious to put it to good use. My only problem was pheasant season was during big game season so I jumped on this class. It was something I could do all on my own without the help of Hacker who had elk and deer on the brain.

It turned out to be a beautiful weekend. That first morning they ran through all the hunting rules and regs. Then they took us out for some practice shooting with clays. Let me tell you, it is not as easy as it looks. Then we were paired up with our handlers and their dogs for an afternoon hunt. It was so much fun. We headed out into these grass fields and would watch the dogs work. My handler had a pointer instead of a flusher so I learned how the dog worked and its actions. Just learning the dog was an experience in and of its self. She did end up  getting a couple birds up for me that day but, I missed. The following morning we headed out again. I got one shot off, missed and then put the stock on another. I was able to see the bird sitting there in the pond just fluffing away. It was a beautiful bird and although I missed the shot, it was fabulous sneaking up on it and seeing it fly.

Sadly, I was having so much fun I never took any pictures but I highly recomend checking your local states calendar for programs such as this one. Oregon also offers BOW which does various outdoor activities and hunts specifically for women. For more visit:
http://www.dfw.state.or.us/education/outdoor_skills/workshops/

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