phesa

Growing up on a farm has had it rewards. How many kids do you know that can say there backyard was 500+ acres of farmland? With all that open space I was constantly occupied with with exploring and using the land to its fullest. If I wasn’t building huts along Utah Lakes shoreline or catching monster channel cats, walleye, white bass, and carp, I was chasing ducks, geese, and my favorite the mighty PHEASANT!

To me pheasant hunting is a tradition, it is something I have grown up doing ever since I was old enough to shot a shotgun. So every first week of November I get really excited about the opportunity to chase these majestic birds with friends and family as wecontinue to renew our heritage. (Plus its a great way to replenish my fly tying feathers) The past few years haven’t been the best for pheasants, with an over abundance of predators (foxes, skunks, raccoons, hawks, bobcats, and human influence) The pheasantnumbers were way down. This year has been the first year in a while that I have started to notice a substantial rebound in the population. With this in mind I had a hard time sleeping Fridaynight. The hunt the next morning was great, we saw a few birds, shot a couple and missed a nice one. (You know the one you miss is always the biggest) But more than the birds it was the time spent in the fresh November morning, pushing through fields, running dogs and telling stories. Those will be the reason for our return next November.

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