under the cliffs and the birds fly 
down from these cliffs and into 
the long tussock covered dunes to 
feed on wattle and lupin seeds or 
insects.  There are a lot of locusts 
and crickets living in these sandy 
conditions which attract pheasants.
On a recent late winter trip 
at the end of August when the 
season was about to end, I spent 
a couple of days hunting here 
and managed to bag a couple 
of birds and unfortunately lost 
a third which was winged and 
managed to run for heavy cover.
On my first walk along the dunes, 
I put up a big old bird who I have 
seen before and is cunning, as he and 
he got up over 60m away and flew 
straight up to the cliff to drop in the 
heavy flax and scrub, so there was no 
way I could get near him for a shot.
The cold southerly wind was coming 
straight up the beach and as I only 
saw the one bird, I moved up and 
inland to a farm I had permission to 
hunt on that is a short drive from 
the coast.  It was a lot warmer here 
away from the coast and what was 
noticeable during this stop was how 
many pheasants were out enjoying 
the sun after we had experienced 
several very cold mornings in 
Northland around 1-3 degrees.
SUNNY AFTERNOON
My grandfather’s voice was in my 
head telling me to get out in the sun 
after midday to hunt.  He was bang 
on, as I came across a dozen or so 
pheasants over the course of the 
afternoon and some were sitting out 
in paddocks feeding with peacocks 
(a close cousin to pheasants).  The 
problem with this is the keen 
binocular vision of the peacocks that 
would alert them to my presence, 
and they would soon scarper to cover 
and the pheasants followed them.
This cock pheasant was shot along the 
fence line when feeding on ink berry, 
a key plant for locating pheasant.
 /FISHINGINGODZONE  67

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