Pheasant hunting has always been a passion of mine. Growing up in Spokane, Washington, I have fond memories of chasing the elusive upland birds with my dad in the rolling wheat fields and fertile stream bottoms of the Palouse Country. Today, that passion still burns but in a new direction.
These days, a successful hunt for me is not how full the game bag is at the end of the day. Instead it’s watching my yellow Lab, Mackenzie, tirelessly work to flush a wily, seasoned rooster while my sons, Collin and Kyle get a couple shots at their fast flying counterpart.
Their expression and body language at the conclusion of these periods of excitement is priceless and more often than not reads with this expression: "How in the world did I miss that bird, dad?"
Our property outside of Bozeman, Montana borders a large ranch frequented by pheasants. When the warm spring days arrive in the Gallatin Valley, which the Blackfeet Indians called "the valley of flowers", I often hear roosters calling or technically known as crowing, attempting to get the attention of a nearby hen.
On these occasions, I’m heading out of the studio for a hiding place along the fence line with my binoculars searching for the ever wary cock pheasant. It has been during these periods of observation that I’ve learned more about pheasants than by hunting them. I’m observing pheasants being pheasants in their habitat unimpaired by any unnatural...
Additional Article Information:
· Article is 418 words long (250 are displayed in this preview).
Author: Ott Jones
Post Date:October 26th, 2009
'From a field in the Gallatin Valley of Montana, sculptor Ott Jones writes a postcard note about the inspiration for his pheasant piece, "Top Of The Morning."
'
Research tags: ott_jones, sculptor ott jones, gallatin_valley_montana, bozeman_montana, sporting_art, pheasant_hunting, ponderosa_fine_art, paderewski_fine_art
My Account & Articles
Become a Subscriber
