Pheasant Tower Shoot Comes to Colleton County

Dr. Richard Fitzgerald and I with our pheasants.

Our afternoon hunt began with a blessing and a barbecue lunch under the shade of a barn. A thorough safety talk was delivered by Blue Field’s  father and son duo, Parker Tuten and Will Tuten. Their family farm is already diversified with agricultural practices, growing livestock, timber sales and a longtime deer hunting club. Will Tuten came up with the idea to start a pheasant tower facility, and chose a piece of woodlands to log and clear, thus creating the hunt area from scratch. It’s been in the works for some time, with some hot summertime hours put in, culminating with building his custom tower in October.

            

Parker Tuten and Will Tuten giving the safety talk before the shoot

New Tower at Blue Field in Action.

Like the best wingshooting hunts, a pheasant tower shoot allows for lots of camaraderie before, during and after the hunt. This is a group hunt, and it takes a team of hunters coming together at one time, or else you simply won’t have enough guns. There are twelve blinds at Blue Field and each blind holds two shooters, with the blinds spaced apart by a gunshot length. It’s up to each blind to decide if they want to take turns shooting, or if they just want to shoot what comes to their side of the blind. Either way, one must stay ready because no one knows what the pheasants will do.

You can view the entire field from your blind, so it is easy to see the pheasants no matter which direction they take. We recorded some missed shots during our hunt, but we weren’t the only ones, and seeing everyone hit or miss their pheasants adds to the fun. When rotating between blinds, the dogs scurry around picking up dead and wounded pheasants. The dog handlers are not shooting, rather they are wanting to participate in order to witness the hunt, and work their canines. Robbie Hooker and his boykin spaniel did an especially good job from what I could see, and I thanked him for their help.

To view the entire feature article in the newspaper click on Colletonian.

To view past blog entries about Pheasant Tower Shoots click Spring Bank Plantation (Georgia) - Meadow Wood (North Carolina) - Clinton House (South Carolina)

Our entire hunt group with pheasants after the shoot.