Is Road Hunting Birds Common?

[wjv]

I was hunting walk-in access fields in eastern Colorado with my dog when a station wagon with two younger guys in orange slowed way down as they drove past the field I was in. They may have briefly looked at me, but seemed to be mostly focused on the edge of the road. I was a little dumbfounded, and the only justification I could think of is they were road-hunting. Maybe looking for runners I pushed to the edge?

Is this a new, common tactic for birds? I admit I've jumped out of the car to chase some chukars or huns that I randomly spotted, but I've never heard of anyone specifically driving around looking for birds that way. Am I behind the times and these guys are playing 3D chess, or was it an anomaly and possibly impolite (seemed a little rude to me)?

 

[BadEarth]

When I was in college in South Dakota it was popular to road hunt. The road ditches are legal to hunt, just stay between the fences. You’d cruise for roosters crossing the road, jump out and as long as you were off the road you could flush and shoot that rooster out of the ditch. If it died over the fence, you can legally retrieve the bird on private as long as you leave your shotgun.

Even for waterfowl - you could stand in a road ditch and pass shoot ducks. Leave your shotgun and go retrieve anything you dropped out of the public road right of way. We got checked numerous times. Never an issue

 

[NRA4LIFE]

On my moose hunt in WA a few years back I kept seeing a big bunch of turkeys just milling around in this one spot next to a gravel road on paper company land. Went and bought a permit and came through there the next day and jumped out, loaded the shotgun and shot one. First time I ever "road" hunted a turkey.

 

[wytx]

Maybe they slowed because you had a dog and they didn't know if another was working the edge? Might not have wanted to hit your dog.

Some folks have courtesy and slow down on gravel roads when folks are near so as not to dust them.

 

[dietridg]

When we went to Canada to hunt grouse road hunting seemed to be the preferred method of the locals. Seemed weird but by the end of the trip we were doing it too.

 

[TheGrayRider]

The South Dakota Hunting Regulations have a page or two listing the rules for "road hunting." I met a few hunters in Pierre, SD a couple of years back that travel to South Dakota from Georgia every year to road hunt for pheasants and other small game. Seemed like they had a great time. Happy hunting, TheGrayRider.

 

[Rich M]

Road hunting birds is very common.

There is no better way to find areas with higher bird concentrations too. Back in the day, we'd drive around until we found some birds near each other and after that, beat the bushes in those areas.

 

[Tod osier]

I was hunting walk-in access fields in eastern Colorado with my dog when a station wagon with two younger guys in orange slowed way down as they drove past the field I was in. They may have briefly looked at me, but seemed to be mostly focused on the edge of the road. I was a little dumbfounded, and the only justification I could think of is they were road-hunting. Maybe looking for runners I pushed to the edge?

Is this a new, common tactic for birds? I admit I've jumped out of the car to chase some chukars or huns that I randomly spotted, but I've never heard of anyone specifically driving around looking for birds that way. Am I behind the times and these guys are playing 3D chess, or was it an anomaly and possibly impolite (seemed a little rude to me)?

Road hunting is only common in places there are both roads and birds.

 

[KurtR]

Its a south dakota past time.

 

[TaperPin]

In rural Wyoming it’s also common - some of my favorite memories of childhood are slowly crawling along dirt and gravel roads scanning for birds, or marmots, or prairie dogs, or coyotes, or fox, or snakes, or whatever. There’s a relaxing rhythm to it, and an art as to how fast or slow to go in different conditions that can only be taught by doing. By junior high school, I assumed a stick shift was the only proper transmission because it crawls roads better than an automatic.

This skill came in handy recently - someone in the car had never seen a coyote - it was an unfamiliar area (weddings are never in a normal place) but my gut said to slowly crawl a certain deserted stretch of this two lane blacktop and within 5 minutes a coyote stood up and looked at us. Honestly I didn’t expect results that quickly. Lol

 

[Desk Jockey]

Not legal but fairly common I expect. Birds sit on the edge of roads and pick gravel for their craw At certain times of day. The guides I hunt with in rural Kansas say when they hunt, they don’t get out of the truck unless it is to retrieve a bird.

 

[HustlinOwl]

Around SW WA yes - its very common. I am not a bird hunter but often run into 2-3 different groups of them when scouting or hiking and they are always on the road or right off.

 

[Lytro]

It's legal to hunt the right of way on any road in South Dakota for small game. You're even allowed to retrieve upland game that lands on private as long as you shot it over the right of way and you don't take your firearm across the property line. It's pretty common to see people shooting ditch pheasants along heavily trafficked highways. I keep a shotgun in the truck during archery season so I can get a couple sharpies any time the opportunity presents itself.

 

[gwp_hunter83]

I think it's just the same as road hunting for deer. Hike in the morning and road hunt in the afternoon.

 

[LongWayAround]

I have to assume you are fairly green if you are asking if road hunting pheasants is new.

I also don't understand the assertion that it was somehow rude of them to drive by a field you were walking in?

 

[jmez]

Hell it's an industry in South Dakota. If you were so inclined you could shoot a limit every day off the roads in the evening. I work my dogs a lot on birds in the ditch. I don't shoot them.

Sent from my moto g power 5G - 2023 using Tapatalk

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

Road hunting has been a legal and effective passtime in Iowa for generations. The road ditches are public right of way (even though we own to the middle of the road) and it is perfectly legal to take upland and small game from ditches so long as you follow all firearm discharge rules. The best times to road hunt are at first legal light in the morning and the last 30 minutes of legal light when birds are near roads getting grit. The best conditions to road hunt are on still mornings after a fresh snow.

When I was a kid and we had no land or dogs and when I was in college, we road hunted almost exclusively. We'd see a bird in the ditch, drive a ways and post a blocker, and then turn around, drive past it, and walk the ditch to flush it. If we downed it in a field, posted or not, we alway left our shotgun in the ditch and collected the bird without a weapon, even if that meant running down a cripple and tackling it. As the season gets later and birds get more wild, the road hunting success odds get slimmer as birds typically don't wait around for you to get set up.

 

[spur60]

I've shot 15 or 16 pheasants, about that many snow geese, a few ducks, and a few canada geese all from road ditches this fall here in SD. Easy meat.

 

[Macintosh]

Legal in some states as above, especially SD is known for it. There is a reason pheasants are sometimes referred to as “ditch chickens”.

 

[spur60]

Legal in some states as above, especially SD is known for it. There is a reason pheasants are sometimes referred to as “ditch chickens”.