Joshua Creek Ranch offers three basic styles of hunting: the traditional walk-up hunt, the European-style driven pheasant shoot, and the Continental shoot.
The Walk-up Hunt
Professionally trained guides and field dogs work in tandem in the fields to find the birds for the guests. Hunting behind dogs is an exhilarating experience! The dogs love to hunt and want nothing more than to find those birds for you. The pointers go on point, the flushing dogs move in to flush the birds, the hunter takes his or her shot(s), and the retrievers are off in search of the kill! At Joshua Creek Ranch, the walk-up hunts may be taken in the morning or the afternoon. A half-day mixed bag hunt for pheasant, chukar, Hungarian partridge, and quail (or all pheasant, or all quail), includes a gourmet lunch on the oak-canopied patio at the Main Lodge. Morning hunters go out at 9 AM and return in time for lunch. Afternoon hunters have lunch first and go out at 2 pm, returning to the Lodge around 5:30 pm. (View video)
The European-Style Driven Pheasant Shoot
Just imagine 125 to 250 magnificent pheasant, in their prime, bursting out of the tree tops or soaring from the cliff bluffs overhead, as you prepare to take aim and shoot. Our driven pheasant shoots are modeled after the European driven shoots in Scotland, where a line of 5 to 10 shooters await the arrival of pheasants bursting onto the scene, soaring overhead. After the drive is over, the dogs scout out and bring back all of the birds that have been killed on the driven shoot. Afterwards, the driven shoot is followed by a traditional walk-up hunt to find and flush the birds that got away on the driven portion of the hunt! (View video)
The Continental Shoot
The Continental Shoot is a fast-paced event, with shotgunners rotating through ten challenging positions during a half-day event. The habitat at the Ranch selcted for this style of shoot will give participants a great vareity of shooting scenarios: creekside positions where water retrieves are the norm, wooded positions requiring quick snap-shot responses, ravine positions presentuing the highest of bird targets, and other challenging positions. The birds -- pheasant and partridge -- come soaring through and over the trees from a central location; hunters are encouraged to bring their own dogs that are in advanced training in order to give them a chance to experience all different kinds of terrain and a variety of retrieves.