Competitive Pheasant Hunting?

November 11, 2011 | By | 4 Replies More

This year's One Box champs (nebraskaonebox.com photo).

Competition is all over the place in the outdoors – all fishing (even fly), deer hunting, turkeys, etc. – but not so much in bird-dom. Could that change?

We expect most everyone is familiar with local longest tailfeather contests among pheasant hunters. Slap your $5 or $10 or whatever it is down, measure the longest tail feather you get during the season, and if you happen to pop an old or genetically gifted phez, you win the pot.

Doesn’t seem like this would cause any safety issues, so sounds kind of fun to us.

We recently ran across another way to put some competitive fun in a day’s pheasant hunting. Sounds like a boatload of fun. Not sure what to make of it yet on the safety side, but since it’s been going on for 50 years we’re assuming those folks know what they’re doing. Maybe someone familiar with it can clue us in. Some details, from here:

> The 51st annual Nebraska One Box Pheasant Hunt will get under way in Broken Bow Thursday [last week, the 3rd]. It runs through Saturday.

> The Pheasant Hunt is a team competition with teams of five competing against the clock. Each team is to use one box of 25 shotgun shells. Teams may divide shells among their members as they see fit. [Here, Bob, you only get one (lol).]

> This year eight new teams will take part in the hunt. Traditionally, only seven teams were allowed, but the number of team was increased during last year’s 50th anniversary.

> Points are awarded on the number of pheasants and quail bagged by each team. A perfect score for a team is to get 15 pheasants, filling the daily bag limit of three per shooter, and 10 quail. The average team brings in 11 or 12 pheasants and two or three quail.

> Participating in the hunt is a one-time experience. Once hunters have participated, they only can participate as past shooters. Only one past shooter is allowed per team.

> Since 1961, the Nebraska One Box Pheasant Hunt has grown to be an annual event for sportsmen worldwide. The organizers designed the hunt as a vehicle to attract people to Broken Bow. The One Box Corp. also has funded local scholarships and created the One Box Gun Club.

So what do you think? Sound fun? Anyone else have any other ways of putting some skin in the game (other than buying the first round)?

Tags:

Category: Contests/Competitions, NE, Pheasants

Comments (4)

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  1. We shy away from competitions (bird dog challenges, etc.), but since this is a big event right in our backyard, it might be worth checking out someday.

  2. Bill Fontanazza says:

    I have participated in a few of these competitions. They are a ton of fun, but they are NOT HUNTING. I classify them as Dog Challenges or marksmanship competitions.

    A hunting competition would be more: a map, a dog and a box of shells and head off to hunt grouse covert you have never been to. The team that bags the most grouse in 8 Hrs wins. Flushes don’t count.

    P.S. You only get 3 gallons of gas in your truck.

  3. benjamin buchanan says:

    They should do something like this in Virginia

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