Pheasant Tower Shoots
English-style driven hunts — birds launched from a tower, action from every direction, no easing into it.
Book a Tower ShootBirds in the Air, Fast
Based on the old English driven pheasant hunts, our tower shoots put birds in the air fast. Hunters take up positions around the field while pheasants launch from our tower — the action comes from every direction at once, and there's no easing into it.
These shoots run best with large groups, corporate outings, and family gatherings. We host 25–30 tower shoots a season — and it's the hunt most groups come back for.
What's Included:
- Professional guide and safety briefing
- Birds cleaned and packaged
- Access to lodge facilities
- Meals available (with lodge stay)
How a Tower Shoot Works
If you've only ever walked up birds behind a dog, a tower shoot is a different animal — here's the choreography.
Take Your Peg
Hunters spread out around the field and take up numbered positions — called pegs or stands — each with a clear lane and a safe angle on the tower.
Birds Launch High
Pheasants are released from an elevated tower in the center of the field, giving every gun a shot at a genuinely high, fast-crossing bird — not a low flush.
Work Your Lane
Birds come from every direction at once. Our guides walk every group through safe shooting zones before the first bird flies — you shoot your lane, not your neighbor's.
Dogs Do the Rest
Once the drive's done, retrievers go to work picking up downed birds so nothing's left in the field. We clean and package everything you take home.
Most groups run several drives in a morning, resetting between each one — plenty of time to compare notes back at the trucks before the next flush.
About the Ring-Necked Pheasant
The ring-necked pheasant isn't a Carolina native — it's originally from Asia, and it took a long trip to get here. English estates imported pheasants for driven shoots centuries ago, and American game managers brought the tradition stateside in the late 1800s. The birds took to the Midwest's grain country immediately; the humid, wooded Southeast never built the kind of wild population the plains states did.
That's exactly why the driven tower format exists here. Rather than hope for a huntable wild population in habitat that doesn't naturally support one, preserves like ours release quality birds into managed fields and put them in the air the way the old English shoots did — launched high, so the shot is honest and the tradition stays intact.
A rooster in good light is hard to mistake for anything else: an iridescent green-and-copper head, a bright red wattle around the eye, a crisp white ring at the neck that gives the bird its name, and a long, pointed tail that can run close to two feet. Hens are mottled brown top to bottom — camouflage built for sitting tight in cover, not for showing off.
35–60
mph in level flight
~2 ft
rooster tail length
1880s
introduced to the U.S.
Asia
native range
Why Pheasants Flush Like They Do
Given the choice, a pheasant would rather run than fly — they're fast on foot and know it. That instinct is exactly what makes a tower shoot work: launched from height with nowhere to run, a pheasant does what it does best under pressure — goes vertical, then levels out fast, using that explosive initial burst and its long tail for mid-air steering. It's a different bird to read than a bobwhite flush or a dove crossing a field, and that's a lot of the appeal.
First Time on a Tower Shoot?
A few things that'll make your first drive go smoother
In the Field
- Stay on your peg until the drive's called done — birds keep coming the whole time
- Pick your bird early and swing through the shot — a pheasant's tail makes it look closer than it is
- Only take birds in your lane, well above head height on neighboring pegs
- Let the dogs work — don't chase a downed bird into the next lane yourself
Worth Knowing
- A modified or improved-cylinder choke handles most tower shoot distances well
- These shoots run best with 6–12 guns — great for corporate groups and family reunions
- Don't have a shotgun with you? Rentals and ammunition are both in our gun store
- Every bird you take home is cleaned, packaged, and ready for the freezer
Out on a Tower Shoot
The tower, the harvest, and the groups who come back for it every season
Looking for a Different Hunt?
Ready to Book Your Tower Shoot?
Give us a call or send a message — we'll talk through dates, group size, and how many drives make sense for your crew.