You may not be living right next to fine upland game habitat, yet you probably won't have to drive too far to enjoy some of our state's finest ring-necked pheasant hunting. One of my earliest pheasant hunting memories was the rude awakening I received when a cock bird flushed right under my feet. That bird had nerves of steel to stick to that tuft of grass until I was right on top of it. It blasted out of the clump of grass while I nearly had an on-the-spot heart attack! When I recovered, I'd learned a big lesson about pheasant hunting tactics and quickly fell in love with the sport.

Ringnecks are unpredictable and mysterious creatures to the uninitiated among us. Even veteran wingshooters can expect plenty of surprises. One day most pheasants will flush too far out for a good shot, but only a few days later you might have to step on one to get it to fly. The habitat, hunting pressure, presence of a dog and probably a whole host of unknown or overlooked factors determine just how that bird will react on any given day. Toss in the difference between wild ringnecks and pen-reared, put-and-take birds and you can never quite be sure what you'll be up against.

Indiana's wild pheasant population has been holding steady over the last several years, but presents less-than-predictable hunting overall. Indiana's Division of Fish and Wildlife's (DFW) put-and-take pheasant hunting has been one answer. For a small fee, bird hunters can have a taste of private reserve hunting on public lands. Put-and-take properties are hunted for no more than 10 days during the season, and hunters are part of a limited draw to keep the number of sportsmen in the fields down. The goal is to provide a quality hunt that rivals those found anywhere else in the country.

Millions of acres have been lost in Hoosier pheasant habitat and the Farm Bill has been one solution. The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) offers landowners the opportunity to protect land resources while providing good wildlife habitat in the form of cropland, grasslands, wetlands and idle fields.

Pheasant Priority Areas are another DFW focus with habitat in mind. In this case, wildlife biologists assist landowners with expertise and funding to develop quality ring-necked pheasant habitat. Warm- and cool-season grasses, legumes, shrubs, grains and food plots are combined with beneficial practices like fence­row rehabilitation, strip disking, controlled burning and edge feathering.

During wild bird hunts, only roosters can be taken, but put-and-take hunters can take either sex birds.

The first step to a successful upland bird hunt in Hoosierland is to be where the pheasants are. Here's where you'll find some of the best "urban" pheasant hunting this fall.