AS NOVEMBER HEADS TOWARDS DECEMBER, PHEASANT HUNTING WILL CHANGE, AS MANY OF THOSE YOUNG OF THE YEAR BIRDS HAVE  BEEN HARVESTED.

IN THE COLDER MONTHS, BIRDS HAVE A TENDANCY TO FLOCK TOGETHER, NOT ONLY FOR PROTECTION, BUT ALSO FOR WARMTH.

DURING THE LATE SEASON, MOST OF THOSE CLOSELY PLANTED ROWS OF CORN HAVE BEEN HARVESTED. WITH THE BIRDS MOVING INTO THE CRP AND GRASSES.

HUNTERS WILL NEED TO CHANGE THEIR TACTICS IN ORDER TO GET CLOSE ENOUGH FOR A SHOT AT THESE LATE SEASON ROOSTERS.

YEARS AGO, I HUNTED WITH A COUPLE OF HUNTERS IN NEBRASKA, ONE WAS ALWAYS YELLING AT HIS DOG TO GET BACK IN FRONT OF HIM, EVEN THE DOG WAS BIRDY AND TRACKING A RUNNER.

ANOTHER WOULD RUN AFTER HIS LAB, WHICH WAS NOT ONLY DANGEROUS, BUT SPOOKED EVERY BIRD IN THE FIELD BEFORE ANY OF THE OTHER HUNTERS EVEN GOT CLOSE ENOUGH FOR A SHOT.

NEDLESS TO SAY, IT ONLY HAPPENED ONE TIME, BEFORE THEY NO LONGER BECAME PART OF OUR HUNTING GROUP.

LATE SEASON IS THE TIME, WHEN HUNTERS NEED TO ENTER THE FIELD QUIETLY, WHILE THE OUTSIDE WING MEN WILL NEED TO BE OUT IN FRONT OF THE WALKERS IN ORDER TO GET A SHOT AT THOSE BIRDS RUNNING AHEAD OF THE DOGS AND HUNTERS, AS THE BIRD FLUSHES FROM THE OUTSIDE EDGE.

ONE THING THAT I USED DURING LATE SEASON HUNTING WAS A HAWK CALL, WHICH I BLEWFROM TIME TO TME, AS BIRDS WHEN THEY HEAR A HAWK CALL, HAVE A TENDANCY TO HUNKER DOWN AND NOT GO AIRBORNE, GIIVING MY DOG AND I A BETTER OPPORTUNITY TO GET CLOSE ENOUGH BEFORE THE BIRD FLUSHES!

THOSE THAT ARE BLOCKING NEED TO PARK AWAYS FROM THE END OF THE FIELD AND QUIETLY MOVE INTO POSITION, AS THERE ARE ALWAYS BIRDS  FORCED FROM THE COVER BY THE WALKERS AND THEIR DOGS AND WILL RUN TOWARDS THE END, BURSTING FROM THE COVER, ALLOWING THE BLOCKERS AND WING MEN TO GET A SHOT AT THEM.

LATE SEASON HUNTING CAN BE SOME OF THE BEST BIRD HUNTING THERE IS, YOU JUST NEED TO KEEP THE NOISE DOWN AND MOVE SLOWLY!