Good pheasants still to be found
For many Colorado hunters, the guns have been cleaned and stored, and soon the preparation of the fishing gear will begin.
But there’s still good hunting to be had.
Three of us tried a lateseason pheasant hunt near Crook, about 30 miles northeast of Sterling, last week. Within this northeastern farming area lies several state wildlife areas and additional tracks of walk-in hunting land, all managed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
With 14 days left in our eastern slope pheasant season, hunting participants will see two key benefits: First, you will have few additional hunters, even on the public lands, and you’ll see plenty of birds; and second, for those who want to knock on doors for private access, you’ll find area farmers more amiable in allowing access than during harvest season in the fall. As testimony to this, for the entire day we saw no other hunters except two duck hunters in the Tamarack Ranch wildlife area, and of the three doors we knocked on for permission, we were allowed access on two, with the only turndown coming from the owner of a field full of pheasants but also occupied by cattle.
In all, we probably saw more than 200 pheasants, with the majority flushing far out of shotgun range. However we found sufficient “holding” birds to send each of us home with at least two roosters.
Our hunt found us on both public and private land, and although the birds were spooky and flushing at distances far beyond shotgun range, there were plenty of opportunities to enjoy a good hunt. I joined retired veterinarian Ron Manus and retired banker Darrell Beck, both from the Longmont area. Both hunters brought their respective dogs, Shadow and Bette, who covered a lot more ground than their masters, who were trudging through 12-24 inches of crusted-over snow.
Beck reported seeing more birds this year than in the past. CPW wildlife technician Jeff Mekelburg agreed the pheasant numbers were above normal levels and the majority of hunters he had surveyed were seeing good numbers.
“We had good spring moisture and good pheasant hatches,” Mekelburg said. “For the final days of this year’s season, I’d try the walk-in areas between Fleming and Haxtun, and for a state wildlife area, consider Red Lion. For future seasons, we are doing a project on the west end of Jumbo Reservoir, which should be a good pheasant hunting spot in the upcoming years. I get many reports of large pheasant numbers in that area, which will only get better with the habitat improvement work.”
We still have ducks to hunt in many areas of the state for another week; Canada geese until Feb. 14; a conservation snow goose season that will run until April 30; and a spring turkey season that starts April 9.