The pheasant stays on the ground and runs or hides in heavy brush until he has to fly and when he does take off he is not anywhere then BOOM he is in flight with a noise like nothing else and it is so quick. That caused me to get dumped off my horse more then once loping down through the brush and a pheasant flies up and the horse startles and since I rode bareback there I went. Once I was riding this little mare an the pheasant flew upright under her jaw, she never even moved a muscle, we went from a run into bucking with no warning at all except the bird. I really went flying then right over her head in pursuit of the pheasant. The only problem was I landed long before the pheasant did and with a lot less grace. This was after I was older and I was lucky enough to have a saddle on that day cause this old rule of get back on the horse was hard, it was a crawl, pull, drag myself back onto the horse and it was no longer funny as I ache for days and decided I was to old to get bucked off.
They are a beautiful bird and another one of the birds that is making a big comeback in Central Oregon. For years this was a pheasant hunters delight then they were almost gone and now they care coming back along with the Hawks, Eagles and Buzzards.
I love the pheasant as long as they don't startle me. I was raised with them, we had a lot on our place and even if you are walking and one flies up it about gives you heart failure but they are such a beautiful bird. My heart was in my throat when I found these two at dawn. I wish it was later where I could have got a better shot but they did not stick around long enough to pose for me.
Oregon is such a beautiful state in so many ways. Our population is diverse, our wildlife is diverse and our country is diverse. Oregon has it all, the high desert, the mountains, the ocean, the cities and everything in between.
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