>I really, really appreciate a smart pheasant- even if he does infuriate the dogs.

Those old timers are fun to hunt, and they are old for a reason. Nothing like watching a dog dance with a pheasant. You know it's there, but where the heck is it?

This past fall I winged a pheasant and was looking for it in some thick switchgrass. I had given up after about a half hour of searching, and started to walk onward. About 25 steps later I heard something rustling in the grass and figured it was the pheasant. I went up to the noise, got down on my knees (it was rough terrain), and parted the grass. I then saw a black blob with a white stripe not 3 feet from my face. We reached an understanding; he let me go un-sprayed and I let him go un-dead.