Pheasant hunters play their cards close to the vest. Even the Department of Fish and Wildlife seldom waxes enthusiastic about pheasant hunting.

So it surprised me this week to read on the department’s webpage: “District surveys show a phenomenal pheasant hatch this year.” According to a report, pheasant counts are up in the Heppner Unit, in Umatilla County and in the mid-Columbia.

Hunting for pheasant is like playing poker. In the fundamental theorem of poker, the essential nature of the game is: “Every time you play a hand differently from the way you would have played it if you could see all your opponents’ cards, they gain; and every time you play your hand the same way you would have played it if you could see all their cards, they lose.”

The leader of the group is the dealer and the pheasant is the opponent that learns from every deal. Whatever cards are played depend on the habitat and the number of players at the table.

After opening weekend, the roosters have learned the slam of a pickup tailgate and a whistle means hunters and dogs are coming. While we are loading our guns, the pheasants are looking for the side door.

To beat a pheasant at its own tricks, plan the play in advance. Here are five different approaches to take when playing against savvy roosters.

Passive Aggressive Play

Adopt this approach when there are fewer hunters and an abundance of cover. A measured, methodical, silent entry is important. Stay 10 yards apart, work from one edge to the other in zigzag fashion. Move slow. Work brushy fence rows or grassy ditches.

One or two drivers should bull through the tallest cover with a dog, searching a slow back-and-forth pattern. Post another hunter at the end of the row to jump sneaking birds into the air. Keep communication between the hunters to a minimum so that plays aren’t telegraphed to the birds.

Loose/Tight Play

Pheasants live along the fringe. Moving from roost, to gravel, to feed and water are easiest in edge habitat. The lone hunter and a dog will make the most points on midday jaunts through fringe cover. Here the birds go to rest when the sun is high or to escape from the pressure a large group may be putting on a nearby field.

When hunting ditches, along the railroad right-of-way or along the edge of a river or lake, you may flush pheasants that have sought refuge on the fringes of nearby fields. They’ll almost always fly over the water instead of back over the resting cover.

The Sandwich Effect

With six or more players, come in quiet. Stop the car about a mile before the field and let the dogs run off their early-morning energy. Watch to see they obey commands and work close before they belly up to the table. It pays to sketch the hunt. Drivers and blockers should have the plan in hand and know their positions. Turn off the music, don’t slam the door, keep conversation to a whisper.

Give the players 15 minutes to get into position. Place blockers on the sides, as well as the ends, to get the advantage on birds that squeeze out the middle. Drivers can come in loud or quiet, depending on the plan.

The Triangle Deception

Use this move when hunting long ditches or strips of cover, such as along a railroad track or a river. One hunter is the point of the triangle, moving through the cover about 25 yards ahead of the rest of the group. The other two hunters then take the edges and push a wedge into the pheasant habitat. As the birds in the deep cover move out to the edges, they get kicked up by the hunters at the base of the triangle.

The Gap Concept

One thing pheasants can anticipate is that every hunter is probably going to act like every other hunter. When there is commotion at the edge of the field, when dogs bark or hunters shout and cartridges are loaded into shotguns, they expect the group is headed toward them from one direction or another.

In an appropriate sized strip of cover, direct a second group of hunters to follow, on a staggered path, the first group. Maintain a gap, or an interval of between 50 and 75 yards between the first two to four hunters and the group bringing up the rear.

If the dogs get “birdy” but they don’t point or flush, call a halt. Now there is a gap in time. The birds have been bumped, or at least forewarned. Some roosters begin to move, others wait for another clue, for a “tell” while they hide.

Sometimes the luck of the draw runs in favor of a cagey rooster. The best a player can hope for is that a pheasant will play a flush over the dog. When that happens play the No. 6’s. Sixes beat a straight flush every time.

Ruffed and blue grouse

Open area: statewide

Open dates: Sept. 1 to Jan. 31, 2024

Daily bag limit: 3 of each species

Possession limit: 9 of each species

Chukar and Hungarian (gray) partridge

Open area: statewide

Open dates: Oct. 14 to Jan. 31, 2024

Daily bag limit: 8

Possession limit: 24

Rooster pheasant

Open area: statewide

Open dates: Oct. 14 to Dec. 31, 2023

Daily bag limit: 2

Possession limit: 8

Quail (California and mountain)

Open area: Eastern Oregon

Open dates: Oct. 14 to Jan. 31, 2024

Daily bag limit: 10 (may not include more than 2 mountain quail)

Possession limit: 30 (may not include more than 6 mountain quail)

Bobwhite quail may be taken as part of the quail bag limit.

Wild turkey

Units 36-38, 40, 43 – 45, 48 (area north and west of the North Fork John Day River), 49, 51, 52, 53 – 65, and 673

Season dates: Oct. 14 – Nov. 30 and Dec. 1- Jan. 31, 2024

Daily bag limit: 1 turkey of either sex

Season limit: 1

Note: From Dec. 1 – Jan. 31, 2024, hunting is allowed only on private lands by permission.

Units 46, 47, 48 (area south and east of the North Fork John Day River), and 50

Season dates: Sept. 1 – Nov. 30 and Dec. 1- Jan. 31, 2024

Daily bag limit: 1 turkey of either sex

Season limit: 1

Note: From Dec. 1 – Jan. 31, 2024, hunting is allowed only on private lands by permission.