Pheasant opener

[britman101]

This is getting back to firing a shotgun in or around the pheasant release truck.
If according to witnesses the hunters in question continued to discharge their firearms even when told not to by the driver of the release truck an offence was technically committed. That would be " reckless discharge of a firearm". The RCMP should be called on this or I imagine it can be called in to the report a poacher line. Descriptions of offenders should be provided along with license plate of their vehicle. Once the authorities contact the offenders this could get expensive as they will have to hire a lawyer, especially if it goes to court. And if the same offence is committed, again, and again the penalty gets higher with eventually having to serve time in jail.
Seeing how the federal government is cracking down on firearm ownership in Canada, shooting pheasants by the release truck makes no sense to me at all.

[270WIN]

Originally Posted by britman101

This is getting back to firing a shotgun in or around the pheasant release truck.
If according to witnesses the hunters in question continued to discharge their firearms even when told not to by the driver of the release truck an offence was technically committed. That would be " reckless discharge of a firearm". The RCMP should be called on this or I imagine it can be called in to the report a poacher line. Descriptions of offenders should be provided along with license plate of their vehicle. Once the authorities contact the offenders this could get expensive as they will have to hire a lawyer, especially if it goes to court. And if the same offence is committed, again, and again the penalty gets higher with eventually having to serve time in jail.
Seeing how the federal government is cracking down on firearm ownership in Canada, shooting pheasants by the release truck makes no sense to me at all.

Hopefully those who saw this incident will be willing to provide the necessary statements etc. so that charges can be laid and thereby make an example of these a*****es. My major concern is the safety aspect and the possibility of injury or worse, of course, but I am also concerned that, if this sort of behavior continues, ACA could well decide that it isn't worth the risk and just discontinue the release program. That would be a shame.

[GStyler]

The guy driving the release truck should have a chat with a Fish and Wildlife Officer and see if he would like to join him for a reverse ride-along.

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by GStyler

The guy driving the release truck should have a chat with a Fish and Wildlife Officer and see if he would like to join him for a reverse ride-along.

It would probably be more effective to have the RCMP observe a release or two at that site, from a distance. Federal charges for careless use of a firearm would likely put an end to this nonsense.

[GStyler]

Originally Posted by elkhunter11

It would probably be more effective to have the RCMP observe a release or two at that site, from a distance. Federal charges for careless use of a firearm would likely put an end to this nonsense.

Some time in 2020 Alberta Fish and Wildlife were grouped together with Alberta Sheriffs. They can now act as a Sheriff and Fish and Wildlife.

[elkhunter11]

On a positive note, walking back to the truck with my birds today, I met two fellows without a dog, on their first pheasant hunt. After a quick lesson on safety, I took them out, and acted as a dog handler for them. In 45 minutes, they got a good introduction to how a pointing dog works, and they shot their first pheasants. They were excited, and both decided that hunting pheasants is fun, but that without a dog, they would have gone home empty handed, instead of with enough birds for a good meal.

[slopeshunter]

Well done elk!

[fishnguy]

Originally Posted by elkhunter11

On a positive note, walking back to the truck with my birds today, I met two fellows without a dog, on their first pheasant hunt. After a quick lesson on safety, I took them out, and acted as a dog handler for them. In 45 minutes, they got a good introduction to how a pointing dog works, and they shot their first pheasants. They were excited, and both decided that hunting pheasants is fun, but that without a dog, they would have gone home empty handed, instead of with enough birds for a good meal.

Good on you, elk. I was supposed to meet a couple of guys with dogs (I met them the same way a couple of evenings prior) yesterday at the site, for potentially the same thing, but they never made it there for whatever reason. I still walked away with two birds (will write a bit in another thread), but too bad they didn’t make it. Hopefully, it will happen next week with a guy from this forum!

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by fishnguy

Good on you, elk. I was supposed to meet a couple of guys with dogs (I met them the same way a couple of evenings prior) yesterday at the site, for potentially the same thing, but they never made it there for whatever reason. I still walked away with two birds (will write a bit in another thread), but too bad they didn’t make it. Hopefully, it will happen next week with a guy from this forum!

I arrived just as the shooting was dying down after the release, so I headed far from the release area , to avoid the crowd, and to keep from limiting out too soon. A person going to the release area could have easily shot a couple of birds without a dog , right after the release, but after an hour of dogs being run through the area, it was cleaned out, and the birds were in the heavy cover. Once the birds hit the heavy cover, you can almost step on them, and not see them. When the two fellows arrived, the area anywhere near the release area, had been worked fairly heavily.

[Ursus]

Slow but beautiful day at Daysland today. Flushed 1 bird but missed in trees. The oddest event was finding a nice Benelli shotgun lying in the grass next to my parking spot: almost drove over over it. I unloaded it and laid it in front of my vehicle thinking someone might get home and figure out what they'd forgotten. Anyway, my hunt over and there was a nice note on my windscreen explaining that the owner made their way back and found their shotgun. The owner noted they'd leaned it up against their truck and took off in a hurry. I can only imagine the angst during the drive back! I was puzzling what to do with a "lost shotgun" - post on the Forum or RCMP drop off. Worked out well in the end.

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by Ursus

Slow but beautiful day at Daysland today. Flushed 1 bird but missed in trees. The oddest event was finding a nice Benelli shotgun lying in the grass next to my parking spot: almost drove over over it. I unloaded it and laid it in front of my vehicle thinking someone might get home and figure out what they'd forgotten. Anyway, my hunt over and there was a nice note on my windscreen explaining that the owner made their way back and found their shotgun. The owner noted they'd leaned it up against their truck and took off in a hurry. I can only imagine the angst during the drive back! I was puzzling what to do with a "lost shotgun" - post on the Forum or RCMP drop off. Worked out well in the end.

At least they didn't run over it, I know of one situation where two shotguns were leaned against the rear bumper, and the driver backed over them, damaging both.

[M.C. Gusto]

How did everyone make out opening day? I’m heading out tomorrow around Duchess. Anyone here have any bird reports? Numbers have been really tanking due to drought and lack of cover in the southern parts of the province. Curious to know if numbers are up this year?

[bessiedog]

I suck

Three ‘easy flush away’ shots on three beauty wild birds……

Dropped a leg on the second one and it cruised wayyy across the canal.

Number four was shootable, but I was busy lining up on 2 huns that flushed….. wound up not shooting on either

My pup got well trained in giving me her disgusted look.

Lots of birds.. nice to see landowners that I’ve become friends with over the years.

Pup was done at 1pm

Passed on three hun flocks driving home.

Saw quite a few BC plates on the trucks headed to the releases.

[M.C. Gusto]

Thanks for the update. Your day seems like my last 10 years. A couple of days at the skeet range used to make all the difference for me before the season started

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by M.C. Gusto

Thanks for the update. Your day seems like my last 10 years. A couple of days at the skeet range used to make all the difference for me before the season started

From what I am observing at the release sites, there are probably on average, about three shots fired per bird killed. Some people average close to one shot per bird, while some average closer to five shots per bird. Some people rarely if ever lose a wounded bird, while some lose quite a few, because they either don't have a good dog, or they just don't make the effort to follow up on cripples.

[pikeslayer22]

Was at the daysland release site looking at getting rid of the beaver inside of it as the dams have backed up water and the TWP rd south of it is near flooded. 2 hours walking around seen 11 birds and could have killed half of them with a stick.

[M.C. Gusto]

Hunting wild birds here in Patricia. Tough tough conditions this year and numbers look real low. Super dry also and the ponds are dried up.

[M.C. Gusto]

Hunting wild birds here in Patricia. Tough tough conditions this year and numbers look real low. Super dry also and the ponds are dried up.
Steak pit is hopping though

[Sako308]

Went to hunt pheasant in the Lore Lake release site, not only found pheasant, but also saw a lot of snow geese around the site.

[kinwahkly]

Lore Lake release so grazed down this year compared to previous years . Not enough cover other than the cat tails for birds to hide in. To bad.