8 years ago, I was invited to a club in Ohio. A very nice one at that. We shot pheasants and chukar over a nice GSP . Prior to the hunt the staff placed the crated birds in rows of sorgum about 20 feet wide. They told the member how many were in each row. We "hunted" and our friend was proud that we got them all plus a couple from a driven hunt the day before.

I've never done that type of hunting since as it didn't seem very sporting, but to each their own.

Your thoughts?

That's shooting, not hunting IMO.

Stetam

I’ve done it. Not really hunting. Great for dog training.
Also great experience for older hunters, handicapped hunters and young hunters.
Wonderful for wannabe hunters so that they may brag about their dogs pointing birds that don’t really want to fly.

Horse hockey! There is no point to hunt birds over pointing dogs if they don't fly. I hunt on a regulated hinting ground to keep my dog in shape and I sure would not hunt it if the birds do not fly. It is every bit as sporting as hunting birds stocked by the state because neither you or the dogs know where the birds are in the cover. Every shooting ground is different, we do not know how many birds are in a specific cover, all we know is how many we aid for to be set out. Shooting a flying bird over a dog is shooting a flying bird over a dog.

It's every bit as ethical as getting your beef from a pasture full of Angus. That's what the birds were raised for. That's what the cows were raised for. If the bird aren't flyers...……..the sporting aspect of it can differ. But "ethical" ?? Yes.

I don't think it's the purest experience, but I don't think it's unethical.

I look at it more positively than a high fence big game hunt.

I did this once with a friend who had a dog that was in training. It was a pretty neat experience. I will say one thing that stood out in my mind that differs it some from the normal stocking that I assume we all know of with the game commission. The way they set the birds where we went. They did not open a cage and just let them run. They grab the birds by the legs and swing them in a circle to throw off their equilibrium and then tuck the heads under the wings and place them in the cover. That was the borderline area of ethical in my mind.

Do you think those pheasants on opening day got there by magic? Not much difference with released by the Game Commision or a club.

Similar to catching trout in a completely stocked stream.

There are some who refuse to fish stocked streams, and simply go "blue-lining". I'd love to be one of those people, but I'm simply not 100% there.

Though I'm not sure how much I'd be willing to pay for a hunt like that. I've never done it, and I haven't really done much birding, so maybe once I do it a time or 2, I would. I won't knock people for it.

as long as you dont know where the birds are, its the same as hunting SGL's after being stocked. completely ethical and moral and fun too !