White-Tailed Ptarmigan Guide

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GreatBighorn
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White-Tailed Ptarmigan Guide

Post by GreatBighorn »

Hello there Hunters.

Since hunting White - tailed Ptarmigan seems a bit tougher than other birds and since now i have enough experience i think on this species, i feel to share some knowledge with the rest of you and maybe help all those that they finding WT- Ptarmigan just an impossible species to hunt. Totally fall in love with them and with their unique behavior i made this small guide mostly based on advise way and some hunting spots sharing. I tried to gathered all my info about and put them in a "question" form hoping would be easier to understand. So i hope my small guide help you and i wish more hunters coming to test their shooting skills by hunting This truly gem of Timbergold Trails.


Where can you find the bird

White - tailed Ptarmigan's land lies in west - south west part of Timbergold Trails mountains. You can find some ptarm places also to the west - northwest but from personal experience better focus to southwest since ptarms spawning more there and the environment allow you to use some of the below tactics easier. White - tailed Ptarmigans like all ptarmigan species occupy rough mountain edges, bushy rocky places and thick woods - depending on the type of place that you find her, she will behave and spook different. Ptarmigan is a flock bird and that means you will find her in flocks about 3 - 12 birds but most times 5 - 8 while some other flock around these numbers may be close to the first one. They love to communicate each other all the time and after they flee always try to come back or join - re-join - re-create the flock. These rejoining moments are very important when we want to shoot her "flying unspooked" like we'll see below. Always is good to decide your walking route, passing by from those hot spots that you think the birds usually spawn. Here are some good ptarm places, many of them with different environment that you can use it for your advantage:

A) Around X-7020 Y-776 Open mountain terrain with little vegetation. 3D Alpine camouflage clothes fit almost at the most parts of this spot. Better walk & flush the birds at bushy terrain and use ambush at mountain slopes when the alerted ptarms flying in circles trying to returning/ re - joining their group.

B) Around X-7316 Y-232 Probably one of the best ptarm spot for the west - south west parts. Wooded hills can provide you amazing tree cover mixed with the slopes so you can avoid easier to be detected by the bird when you hunt it in ambush. Also because of the specific environment structure on this spot, birds have some tend spending most of their time flying than hiding to the ground. However, if you choose the "walk & flush" way better focus your listening to the closer cackle - when you feel that the bird is close enough run towards to the cackle so because of the short distant you can force the bird stay to the ground without flush it out of shotgun range.

C) Around X-7424 Y-104 Similar to the spot B this spot mix woods and rocky slopes. "Walk & flush" technique is welcome if you focus your ear well but you will get more birds faster by using ambush especially into the valleys since rocks, dead trees, cutted logs and the little vegetation can hide your presence but at the same time allowing some nice open views for shooting the bird on the wing.

Many similar spots like these can be found all over this big west - south west part of Timbergold. Remember, if you spawn from a tent usually you can find the first flock about 300m - 500m away from your tent.


Recognizing and searching methods

a) Listening
When we speak about searching for ptarmigan is all about carefully focus listening with your "bare" ears. I say "bare" cause the 90% of the ptarm's sounds can not be recognized with the Hunter Mate. The bird makes over-many of cackle callings in so much frequency that seems nonstop, exposing in that way its presence. Defiantly you need headphones turned at high volume to determine the direction of its sounds which they are the cackle & the wing flapping. In both cases focus to the volume and the direction of the sound is the key to figured out how close you are to the bird. Always choose your going there you hear a bunch of cackles and not just where you heard a single one. When hunting for ptarmigan, group cackles & incoming wing flapping sounds should be for you a pleasant obsession!

b) Tracking
Always tracking upland birds isn't give you some better success find them easier. Maybe when you tracking that big rooster pheasant for the competition worth all that spending time but bottom line that means less birds in your bag, something i think it's not good when you go for bird hunting. Especially on ptarms, tracking seems to me even more unnecessary since her flocks are to big and breaks so many times for any direction that makes almost impossible to track down a single bird of them. So how then tracking can help on ptarm hunting? Well, it can help somehow. You can give a quick looking to the birds footprints without analyzing them with your Hunter Mate, just look at the footprints direction to the ground and keep going - following them fast - hopefully get yourself in the radius that you can finally listen the birds calling. In that way you didn't spent valuable time to track a "ghost" but however tracking still helpful for your purpose. Always looking for the "flock tracks" since they can lead you there where the birds maybe stay together or they have been rejoined after some break off.

c) Trust your dog
Trusting your retriever is always good when you hunting upland birds or small game and for WT-Ptarm much handy, especially if you can't use well yet those two searching methods above. Like all we know, your retriever may bark when he feel animal's present near and this is very helpful when you hunt that little devil into those bushes - can't see him even in front of your feet! If your dog barks with the low volume "woav woav" the bird is far and if he barks at high volume with the strong: "wouf" then the bird is close around (usually in the way that he barked) so be alerted at every step that you take.

Mix up these three methods together you will have better and more enjoyable possibilities to success.


Hunting & Shooting the bird

a) Walk & flush
Walk & flush is the most common way to hunt upland birds. Like the pheasant, an alerted ptarmigan can stay hidden to the ground and can be flush by using either the "F" (make noise button) or when you are so close to her so you forced her to flee. Most times you will find hidden WT-ptarms when you deal with a flock - most of the flock spooked already and those remaining birds are those birds that they couldn't flee for many reasons but mostly because your presence entered into a range that forced them to stay low than flee by flying but however not so close yet to make them flush. Alone single bird rarely stay hidden, most times it'll spook out of shotgun range. To catch up the birds to stay low, run toward to them when you feel that they are near or close around. Do not run all the time, you need just a surprising few steps running to make sure that you cover the distance that will forced the WT-Ptarm's AI - make her decide to stay and hide than flush out of range. After that, using the "F" maybe you'll get some interesting shooting angles like always but i recommend just continue toward to the bird and flush it in front of your feet. When the bird flush don't panic - 80% of the times all species of ptarms flee just exactly from the opposite direction of you - gives you an easy back shot. You can try this back shot:

1.when the bird is going to flying up
2.when it reached the proper hight and it's ready for the straight flight
3.after steady its flight while getting away gradually


Avoid to use back shots when the bird flush away downhill and you are at a higher ground, WT-Ptarms make some tough maneuvers and fast dives that could trick your aiming along with the terrain background. A shot around 15-30m is a normal shot to kill the bird.

b) Ambush
Ambush for WT-Ptarmigans is the most interesting part but also the most complicate and difficult to understand so need some more focus here. First of all, ambushing for ptarm means we'll shoot the bird to the sky without flush it but just hiding ourself and shoot it while passing by near to us. For hiding, we need to use tree covers, solid objects like rocks and logs and more important mountain/ hill slopes and edges. Proper camo always add more help but it's not so important to buy one just for ptarmigan hunt. When ambushing for ptarm we are addressing to:

1.Allready alerted birds that they flying around
2.Birds that they try to return to last place from which they were drive out
3.Birds that they looking to join/ re-join/ re-create the flock (notice following flock behavior)
4.Birds that randomly passing by looking for new place to land (flocked or single)


When we have a flying ptarmigan to the sky we should understand these states of her flight, those are:

1.Flying state
Ptarmigan enter in this state after she flush away, spook while flying, (see you from the sky and usually make a quick turn - change her way) even some other times radomly without even seem to be aware for your presence as well. In this state depending of the environment structure the bird can increase great speed mixed with some manouvering that can trick your shots alot. Also in this state of flight always add a bit more pre-aiming than regular if you shoot the bird from side or diagonally angle of view.

2.Flying Unspooked state
In this state of flight Ptarmigan is not aware for your presence. She keeps that state while fly from place to place, following their mates, etc. In this state usually has a steady flight so you can get an easier shot.

3.Landing flying state
When the ptarmigan going to land enters into this state and she can't change her way if she is close enough to the ground even if she see you. She will land and then fly away again. This state it is like pheasant (steady wing state) when the bird going to land without flapping its wings. However the thing is Ptarm also can do that flight even far from the ground, eg. when dives from a high mountain to valley. Here if you are hidden to that valley you can get amazing shots with sky clear backgrounds making long deadly shots even from 40m!


Best ambush places using for WT-Ptarmigan are always the places with lot of flock tracks. When you find flock tracks, stay low - crouch - keep your dog low too and focus on that wing flapping. Birds are here and flying around - looking to come back to this previous spot especially if some male ptarm still here hidden somewhere. Let the flapping coming and watch carefully on the side that the flapping is coming. Find better view and openings into those woodlands is always a good idea but don't forget to stay crouch close to some tree or rock or slope. Even if you shoot and make noise the birds will return at least 3-4 times (depending on spot environment, the scale of the flock and other parameters, sometimes they seem returning endlessly) before decide to leave this place and looking for new, so you have enough chances to get some. If you miss some shots because you think the birds don't fly into range, study their pass ways (you will see from where the flock tend to pass) and move closer to that direction. Is all about patience like always. If you don't see much action after some reasonable time, stand up and follow the flock tracks - the birds are gone and you will find them in their next spot.


Shotgun Choice & Skill level

Shotgun choice and shotgun skill for White-tailed Ptarmigan is also a matter. Being the smaller bird in game with such flying speed, mostly hunting it into forests and thick vegetation, WT-Ptarmigan needs defiantly some high shotgun skill since the steadier aim is double important here even if we can't take it so seriously some times. IMO you will start see some good success above 10 level while however you will disappoint many times about your bad shooting. About the shotgun choice now. I think blazer O/U is the best choice because of that thin iron sight on it that can help you to calculate your pre-aiming better since fit better for the small size of WT-Ptarm. However 20Ga semis are good choices too, especially when you use the "ambush" technique at open sky - mountain slopes & valleys - there, that you can take the birds a bit farthest but you need better aiming compared with the 12Ga Blazer.


Some things for WT Ptarmigan that we should keep in mind:

a)She is the smaller bird in the game so far
b)She is the smaller of the ptarmigan species
c)She has faster flight and manouvering from the other ptarms
d)At close flush state - When you flushing her by walking toward to her you can aproaching her not so close compared with all other birds in game - she will flush sooner
e)Always use a bit more pre-aiming on her compared with other ptarms
f)She will spook easier than any other bird
g)When she spooked she will travels longer distances until she land again compared with the other ptarms
h)Her enviroment make the shooting very challenging: Woods, thick vegetation, tricky backgrounds
i)You can't see him clear to the ground since grass & bushes are almost everywhere 70% at the west Timbergold parts that she spawn. Plus because of that her flush is much sudden
j)Because of her small size can "slip away" easier from the pellet cloud (that explains why some shots at the same distance may be miss on her but not on Willow Ptarm for eg. since the second one is a bigger target)
k)She needs less damage to be killed
l)12Ga Shotguns may be more handy since they kill her even with less perfect aiming than 16GA & 20Ga
m)With 20GA you can take her with longer shots but it's really hard for that perfect aiming when you have not a clear background view



By using all this above I've got 500 WT-Ptarms lifetime, 7-24 birds per hunt. If anyone have the same love for this species i'm waiting for him to join me at Timbergold's west - southwest parts almost every night around 23:00 - 2:00 and all day the weekends.

Hope this help :)


Be Well and i wish for some trophy ptarms in you bag!
Patience is virtue for hunting
Always perfect shots "on the wing"
If you don't find me flush the roosters you'll find me blast some puddle drakes
Nothing harder than shooting WT Ptarms at dusk!
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JamboWhoDat
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Re: White-Tailed Ptarmigan Guide

Post by JamboWhoDat »

This is a nice guide you wrote up. It is very informative. I have yet to harvest my first white-tailed ptarmigan. I think I will give it try following your guide. Thanks!
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Prinz1989
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Re: White-Tailed Ptarmigan Guide

Post by Prinz1989 »

Very good guide.

I would recommend a 12ga pump action though. High fire rate and you can use scopes so those birds aren't that small anymore.
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Hunter300
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Re: White-Tailed Ptarmigan Guide

Post by Hunter300 »

White-Tailed Ptarmigans are the only ones still giving me issues, so hopefully your guide will help me to change that, thanks a lot GreatBighorn!
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mauriethegoose
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Re: White-Tailed Ptarmigan Guide

Post by mauriethegoose »

Awesome guide GreatBighorn, I may finally be able to silence these noisy little birds. :D
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Som-Zabil
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Re: White-Tailed Ptarmigan Guide

Post by Som-Zabil »

Wow nice guidebook. I'm going to get the first Ptarmigan . Thank you GreatBighorn.
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LEFLOR
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Re: White-Tailed Ptarmigan Guide

Post by LEFLOR »

Very good coordinates, my only remaining problem is to get to kill these little beasts with a rifle :?
It's easier for me with the sky in the background as for the ducks ;)
But the Plinkington works well on the ground... :oops:
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GreatBighorn
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Re: White-Tailed Ptarmigan Guide

Post by GreatBighorn »

Prinz1989 wrote:Very good guide.

I would recommend a 12ga pump action though. High fire rate and you can use scopes so those birds aren't that small anymore.
Thank you Prinz :)

Well personally i think is not so suitable for WT Ptarm since:

a)You can't have quick follow up shots that WT ptarm needs badly since you can miss easier on her compared with other birds because of the shorter limit of time that you can have her on sight
b)Those woodlands have less openings so when she fly into - between the trees you need your eyes watching the whole situation of her flight until she appears at some short of opening, something that a scope prevent to be done so easy. It's not like aim for pheasant at open fields
c)If you speak about the 2x scope you won't get better zoom (like the old days) since the iron sight zoom future now provides greater zoom without incommode your field of view
D)If you speak for the 2-6x slug scope its zoom is so great that it will trouble your field of view like i explained at "b"

The only goods about the pump that i can say, is of course that 12 gauge power and some myths about 12ga pump that can take the prey farther than the other 12ga shotguns. In a mountain slope clear background - long shot situations mix with the scope, maybe yes, you can get the long shots more focus & easier, but again, when you hunting for WT ptarm you forced to shotgunning at least 70% into some woods, very different situation let's say than duck or goose or pheasant. So botom line, you need that small devil close to your eyes but without hindering your field of view and defiantly you need that quick follow up shot at least when you miss the first one.

Of course all this is just my opinion :)


Thank you all for the warm words! I love to hear that this help you indeed :)
Patience is virtue for hunting
Always perfect shots "on the wing"
If you don't find me flush the roosters you'll find me blast some puddle drakes
Nothing harder than shooting WT Ptarms at dusk!
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Swampfox
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Re: White-Tailed Ptarmigan Guide

Post by Swampfox »

Thank you GreatBighorn for the outstanding guide that you have shared with us.
This is a must read for everyone interested in going after the White-tailed Ptarmigans. :D
Spoiler:
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FR_Bugs
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Re: White-Tailed Ptarmigan Guide

Post by FR_Bugs »

Nice guide, good job GreatBighorn.
It's effectively the most difficult animal to hunt for me and i'll try again with your tips for sure :)
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