Flushing Rosters South of the Border

Mexicali Pheasants by Jon Fitchett

My partners and I had been talking about hunting pheasant in Mexico for some time but the stars had not aligned for us until recently. We met a booking agent with a lodge in Mexicali and he swore up and down how good the pheasant hunting was. I had heard similar reports but to hear first hand helped us make the decision to go. Mexicali is across the border from El Centro in the Imperial Valley. It is irrigated farm land feed by the Colorado River and was carved out of the desert. It’s about a 2 hour drive from down town San Diego and the San Diego airport. 
We meet early in the morning in San Diego and made the drive east to the Imperial Valley and south to the boarder. We were all excited to see what the day would bring. All I have to say is Wow what an experience. I have put about 10 days in the field in South Dakota and won’t be going back. It was that good, that fun, and that close. We made the smooth crossing into Mexico and meet the guide Alex with HunterOnly.com.mx at his sweet newly built lodge. The lodge was very clean and well built with all the amenities. From the lodge we drove about 30 minutes south and east and picked 6 or 7 "bird boys" and hit the first field. It was an un-harvested Milo field. Well that small field alone was worth the price of admission to me. We pushed the field, busted a couple roosters on the way and at the end all hell broke loose with a ton of birds busting out. The wind was howling and once the birds jumped they were hauling ass. Needless to say we saw a lot, shot a bunch of shells, and got 3!! Ouch! The next field was a big Milo field and we did three up and back pushes with bird boys hollering and pheasants busting. Singles, doubles and shells were firing, bird boys gathering up birds, and high fives were going around. We did better with 12 birds from this field. We moved a little west and hit a couple more cotton fields for a couple more birds. It was still windy but this helped with the temperature and it was comfortable all day. The last cotton filed we hit had tracks all over the place and Alex commented to be ready. This last field held the mother lode. This field was loaded and we were able to trap the birds at the end and just cleaned up. Just awesome. Birds being smoked left and right and bird boys running around to gather fallen birds. After the smoke cleared we had enough and lined up the kill. In all 6 of us ended up with 32 pheasants and pulled the plug to shoot some dove, which was stupid wide open Mx dove hunting.

I will be going back. Lastly, Once I did the trip I felt the concern I had for the cartels and violence down there was kind of silly. If you want trouble down there you can find it. If you don't want trouble, you really don't have much to worry about.

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