Is this a pretty good tail?

So I go out deer scouting, and down by the creek I see a rooster pheasant in the field. He runs into the creek bushes. Now, I have deer and squirrel and rabbit hunted this land off and on for 20 years, and have never saw a pheasant. So I run home get my shotgun and dog, and come back and hunt him up. Well, my pooch bounds in a pile of grass and brush, and out he flies. One shot and he dumps in the creek, and another had jumped as well, but I miss on a long shot on him. Crossed the creek dog jumped him again, maybe 20 FEET from me, and I miss him twice. Possibly the worst shot of my life, 20 yards or so going straight away. Anyway, the one I got seemed to me (of very limited pheasant experience) to have a pretty long tail, the two longest feathers are 20 1/2 inches. Is that pretty long, or just average? Here’s a couple of pics.

2nd pic

2nd pic

not a bad sized bird at all not a monster by no means but not a baby either a very nice bird in all though congrats

not a bad sized bird at all not a monster by no means but not a baby either a very nice bird in all though congrats

Hell of a nice bird! The big boys are in the 25″ to 30″ range.

Nice bird!

Hell of a nice bird! The big boys are in the 25″ to 30″ range.

Nice bird!

Very nice bird

Very nice bird

Nice bird and a good story to go with it. Thats what really counts. I worked at a sporting goods store with a longest tail feather competition. The top 3 were usually 27-30 inches long. I shot a bird in ND last weekend with 3/4+” spurs, and a tail around 26″. Great story to go with it too, so I probably should have saved that one for the wall.

Nice bird and a good story to go with it. Thats what really counts. I worked at a sporting goods store with a longest tail feather competition. The top 3 were usually 27-30 inches long. I shot a bird in ND last weekend with 3/4+” spurs, and a tail around 26″. Great story to go with it too, so I probably should have saved that one for the wall.

Quote:

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Great story to go with it too, so I probably should have saved that one for the wall.

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Would that be that you hit it??

Ron

Quote:

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Great story to go with it too, so I probably should have saved that one for the wall.

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Would that be that you hit it??

Ron

Great story and a really nice bird.

Ron

Great story and a really nice bird.

Ron

The story: I threw a rock into the cattails. Jazzi runs in there, hunts for awhile, and flushes the bird. I aim, squeeze the trigger, and the bird must have had a heart attack because it actually fell. With a little encouragement, Jazzi ran after it and made a great retrieve in the thick cattails. Jazzi did the same thing an hour later, only I missed the shot and my brother dropped the bird. A little more like I am used to.

The story: I threw a rock into the cattails. Jazzi runs in there, hunts for awhile, and flushes the bird. I aim, squeeze the trigger, and the bird must have had a heart attack because it actually fell. With a little encouragement, Jazzi ran after it and made a great retrieve in the thick cattails. Jazzi did the same thing an hour later, only I missed the shot and my brother dropped the bird. A little more like I am used to.

Here in Sioux City no snow on the ground, so we packed up and headed East to Cherokee County, 6-7 inches on the ground. Birds were all over, we noticed more birds along the roads, we stopped several times, just to watch them run into some landowners grove. We came across a field owned by my buddies uncle where we had permission to hunt. Get dropped off at the end of the grassy draw (3 of us + 1 dog) driver goes back to road to block with his dog. We got 3/4’s through and start noticing that the tracks are a bit more frequent, hen, hen, then rooster busts way up ahead, then 3 more roosters up to the blocker, one shot one bird, his dog chases 3 rooster 1 hen back our way, hen and rooster breaks my way, way way high, one shot, and I nailed the rooster, other rooster gets tagged by both of the other hunters. Time 4:25, nice way to end the day. Didn’t see as many birds up in Plymouth County last weekend. They had strong winds knock down a bunch of corn by Akron, so the birds have plenty of corn to sit in and laugh at us. Any other reports? Generally impressed with the numbers we have seen so far, just gets better from here on out.

Here in Sioux City no snow on the ground, so we packed up and headed East to Cherokee County, 6-7 inches on the ground. Birds were all over, we noticed more birds along the roads, we stopped several times, just to watch them run into some landowners grove. We came across a field owned by my buddies uncle where we had permission to hunt. Get dropped off at the end of the grassy draw (3 of us + 1 dog) driver goes back to road to block with his dog. We got 3/4’s through and start noticing that the tracks are a bit more frequent, hen, hen, then rooster busts way up ahead, then 3 more roosters up to the blocker, one shot one bird, his dog chases 3 rooster 1 hen back our way, hen and rooster breaks my way, way way high, one shot, and I nailed the rooster, other rooster gets tagged by both of the other hunters. Time 4:25, nice way to end the day. Didn’t see as many birds up in Plymouth County last weekend. They had strong winds knock down a bunch of corn by Akron, so the birds have plenty of corn to sit in and laugh at us. Any other reports? Generally impressed with the numbers we have seen so far, just gets better from here on out.

As an addendum to the original post, I got the 2nd rooster today. One shot only too!!

As an addendum to the original post, I got the 2nd rooster today. One shot only too!!

I’d agree with the other guys. 20.5″ are nice tail feathers for a rooster hatched this year. I consider a trophy tail feather to be anything over 24″. Over the years the hunting parties I’ve been in have probably shot over 1000 roosters and the longest I’ve seen was a 26.75″ shot by my good friend. That same friend shot one that had a 25.25″ tail feather on opening morning in Iowa this year.

Boone

I’d agree with the other guys. 20.5″ are nice tail feathers for a rooster hatched this year. I consider a trophy tail feather to be anything over 24″. Over the years the hunting parties I’ve been in have probably shot over 1000 roosters and the longest I’ve seen was a 26.75″ shot by my good friend. That same friend shot one that had a 25.25″ tail feather on opening morning in Iowa this year.

Boone