OT: Last Long Island Pheasant for the 3 Musketeers

[86er]

"Change is good", I've heard it a million times and it has been proved true most of those times. While it might be good this time too, it feels kinda sad. My two best and longest friends that I have known more than 2/3 of my life and I got together for a hunt. We decided to seek nostalgia in the process. Dave , now Doctor Zade ( a renouned neuro-psychologist) moved to Boston and is looking seriously at going to Oregon. Chris (Mr. Mom of his two boys) will retire in 3 1/2 more years and he is heading to Colorado. I'm TX bound - moving in process. We wanted to re-live our childhood days just one more time. We used to hunt wild birds on Long Island when we were kids. There was an abundance of pheasant and quail up to the early 90's. There's still a few, but accessing them is the problem. We also decided to use the guns we got when we were kids, each an 870 Remington 12b.

We started out checking the old spots right at the crack of daylight. This one is a housing development, that one is a factory. Here's one - no it's now a shopping mall. Houses and more houses. One spot on the Eastern most part of Long Island still had the cover on the perimeter, but the front field was a school bus depot. Bugging the guard about our woes must have lit up the last remaining Christmas spirit in him. The depot was closed. He told us, "I'll give you a half hour, and don't go near the buses or shoot towards them".

We turned loosed Knuckles, the German Shorthair to hunt and seek the elusvive wild ringneck - cocks only in this area. Maggie, the Lab stayed at heel in case any difficult flushing or retrieving were needed. In the old days, we would have got a half dozen birds in a half hour. Now we were on the last 5 minutes before we pushed our luck with the Guard and had not even had a hint of a bird. Just when we declared defeat, Knuckles became a statue! It was a very thick tangle with some small hills. I sent Maggie in to see what the sweet smell was all about.

Cackle, Cackle, Cackle - one "Hello" for each of us the rooster yelled on his way over the treetops. Chris shot and missed like usual. I shot and Mr. Rooster started his decent back to earth on his last breath. Dave did not want to be left out, and he did not want this special bird to get away so he gave it an extra love tap with an ounce of 6's on its way down.

Maggie retrieved the bird in perfect fashion and sat by my side waiting for me to take it from her mouth. Knuckles waited for the tap on the head that would release her from the statuesque state she was in. I tapped Knuckles and then went back to Maggie and took the bird. Chris, Dave and I passed it around between us. We didn't say anything and we began our walk back to the car. Not a word was spoken for what seemed like hours. Finally, Dave declared lunch was "on him" and we headed for the diner. We talked about the way it used to be and how we hope it will be. Only next time there probably won't be any wild pheasant to hunt on Long Island. No matter - we will be in another state. Plane flights will bring us together instead of car rides.

Change is good. It doesn't feel that way now, but I hope so......

Chris on the left, Dave on the right. I'm behind the camera.

[lever-4-life]

that is the best post I have read in a long time, thank you for shareing it with us.

[crs]

Good post. There will also be some good times in Texas when you get down here.

[Ysabel Kid]

Excellent post Joe!!!

[shawn_c992001]

86er, just bring them down to TX with some fine leverguns and chase some white-tails, javelinia, pronghorn, or maybe some of those free ranging exotics. The meetings maybe fewer, but I'm betting there are some great times still waiting to happen.

[Andrew]

Sounds like a great time, thanks for sharing.

[Griff]

86er, just bring them down to TX with some fine leverguns and chase some white-tails, javelinia, pronghorn, or maybe some of those free ranging exotics. The meetings maybe fewer, but I'm betting there are some great times still waiting to happen.

Ditto.

[gcs]

I feel for you brother... There isn't a place left I can think of that hasn't been developed, or bought by a town or the county for "open space". Open space means you can only look at it as you drive by.

Good luck with your move, and think of us poor schmucks once in awhile that have to stay here.

[bigbore442001]

Who said that change is good? Look at what Long Island was when you were younger vs today. Has any of it changed for the better? Look deep and hard into your heart and come up with a judgement. I am sure that if you weighed the good and the bad, there would be more bad.

I have never been to Long Island but having grown up in southern New England I have seen a lot of change and to me, it isn't good.

[Chris8866]

Great Story 86er, I remember playing in the fields near my house growing up as boy in Western New York, just outside of Buffalo, NY. We were ALWAYS outside playing, sports, building forts in the brush... no computer games to speak of. Hearing the cackle.. or two part call of the male ring neck, seeing them running down a small hedgerow, finding their long beautiful tail feathers was a regular occurrence. Now there are new houses and developements where we once played war and hide and seek. I even remember seeing a few woodcock in the thicker stuff as they quickly took off with their familar alarm sound as they are disturbed.

Even at a very young age I was interested in hunting these eusive birds but didnt know then that my favorite childhhod playground would someday be gone!!

I still have one of those tail feathers though, it really has some sentimental value now and the memories of how things used to be.

I do have a fantastik Ring Neck Mount from a Wisconsin business trip in 98'. That was was a great trip but the memories I have and the sound of the phesants from my boyhood is what I will remember the most.

Sorry guys, a bit corny but true memories.

[Mike D.]

Thanks for the reminder of the sad state we are all in. I can remember hunting pheasant and other game within the city limits, but not any more. In fact, there are darn few pheasants left in this area, even on our properties.
I attribute this to the overuse of insecticides on grain and row crops. No bugs mean no food for hatchlings. I have seen less than a dozen pheasants on the home ranch, a place that used to be crawling with them. Probably our converting open ground to vineyards has contributed to their demise.

On another ranch, we have set aside a 12 acre piece as wetland habitat, allowed the natural weeds and willows to take over, and the birds are thriving in the tangles. Too thick to hunt, but that suits me just fine. We need some serious time for the wild birds to recover their once abundant numbers.