SECOND BIRD
I moved on from this spot to walk 
along a gulley’s edge with large pines 
where I have often shot birds over 
the past 15 years and had also seen 
birds here at the start of the season.
I had only just parked the Tasman 
ute and was getting out when I 
saw a cock pheasant run across 
the track and into cover just 30m 
away!  I quickly got the gun out, 
loaded the magazine and walked up 
to where I thought it was hiding.
I picked up a large rock and pine 
cone to throw in the scrubby 
gorse patch under the large pines 
to make some noise and scare it 
out, but nothing.  This is when you 
really want a dog to track it and 
flush the cock from its cover!
I wanted to get a shot before 
the bird made cover of the large 
gully which would make finding it 
without a dog nearly impossible.  
So, I ran several metres around 
the pines to a clearing in the trees 
and as I walked up into the thick 
grass the bird got up crowing right 
in front of me and I as lifted the 
barrel of the gun, I looked straight 
down its back as I pulled the 
trigger and bowled it over hard.
With feathers flying in the breeze 
and the bird crash landing heavily 
in the clearing, I knew it wasn’t 
going to be able to run off and 
walked 20m to pick up a beautiful 
big cock pheasant with a nice 
tail with around thirty bars.
It was nice to get a bag of birds 
that afternoon after missing out on 
the winged bird which evaded me.  
It was a clean kill shot and much 
needed without the service of a dog 
to help.  Maybe our family should 
get a new dog for Christmas?
The west coast dune country offers 
top habitat with ample food for 
pheasant numbers to thrive.
Pheasant hunting in Northland finishes 
in late August and sunny afternoons 
are ideal for locating them out feeding.
 /FISHINGINGODZONE  71

View this content as a flipbook by clicking here.