Late season haunts
By Nick Simonson
While much of pheasant country remains free and clear of snow cover at the moment, it’s likely that at some point in the back stretch of the season we’ll be looking at a white Christmas and a frosty finish to the upland hunting calendar. Even when there isn’t snow on the ground, these chilly and often windy days of the final month force pheasants into
the deepest cover, and finding them can produce some amazing shooting gallery style moments where dozens of birds get up at once. Knowing where to look for pheasants
in this final stretch, especially after it snows, is key to putting a bow on a great hunting season. Slough Search When the nights get cold, pheasants will seek shelter in places that provide good thermal cover, and perhaps the best is the gnarled and matted expanse of a cattail slough. In this odd time, with little snow on the ground, those partially frozen
swamps with good grass around the edges make ideal places for pheasants to hang out and bunker down in the chilly evenings and often into morning until the sun begins to warm the landscape and trigger a movement toward food sources such as cut soybean and corn fields. Be prepared to stomp into these thick areas, particularly early in the hunting day or in more inhospitable and windy conditions to send birds skyward.
