Weather also plays a factor to limit hunting at that time of year, but that's when Rupp surges. "Give me a day when it is 10 above zero, a 15 mph wind, and about 2 inches of snow on the ground. If it isn't nasty and uncomfortable, you're probably not killing many pheasants."

Rupp also suggests middle-of-the-day hunting. "Pheasants have their daily cycle like other animals. I'm actually convinced they take a siesta and are a little bit less on their guard. The Nebraska wind also helps," he said. "And if you have a choice on whether or not to bring a dog or your gun on your next pheasant trip, leave the gun at home."

Finding birds without a dog, especially past the first weekend, just isn't going to happen too often. Rupp has also made it a point to have one experienced dog working with a younger dog each time he goes, a sort of monkey-see, monkey-do approach.

"At the same time, I always associate something positive with me throughout the season and later on such as food, then, come time to hunt, the dogs want to please me in the field." But Rupp also warns about dog selection. "Nothing happens without a well-bred dog. Find a breeder that sells you a good dog, and go back to that breeder until his good dogs stop coming. You'd be better off buying a cheap shotgun from a farm sale and buying the best dog you could afford."

At this point in our talk, Rupp pulled out his journal and began pointing. "If you think they haven't changed through the years," he said, "look at this: 25 hunts, 25 limits. That was 1989. In 1990 -- 27 hunts, 27 limits. Two consecutive years I limited 52 hunts in a row. You couldn't go out and limit 52 times in a row if you used napalm."

There are still things, he says, that a person can do to be successful. "Take advantage of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission or a game official. Ask questions. Have confidence in your public areas later in the season. We have some big ones out here. The Wilkins FWPA (530 acres) and Prairie Wolf SWMA (775 acres) are both good public areas. And there are adequate hunting spots near Petersburg as well -- if you really want to work."

If you really want to work. From 1972 through 2006, Lee Rupp killed 2,022 pheasants. Despite a lot of changes to his pheasant hunting, he still manages to find birds each and every year. He's still knocking on doors and, once he's on the land, trying his best to outthink what he calls "the king of all game birds."

"Think of pheasant habitat in terms of their own microhabitat," he said. "Oftentimes there will be an entirely other picture you're not seeing. After hunting several hours one day in minus 20 temperature with a hard northwest wind, I flushed a number of pheasants in a matter of seconds. 'Why were those birds there?' I asked. What I didn't realize until I looked closer was that the birds were on a slight terrace and were using it as a windbreak.

"You don't have to beat your brains out, but you do have to be analytical. Fish don't come to good ice-fishermen. Good ice-fishermen go to the fish. It's the same thing with pheasant hunting: If you pound yourself for two or three hours and do nothing, do something different. It's just a matter of being bullheaded. There have been a lot of hunts I haven't popped a cap in three hours. Then all of a sudden you kill three, and off you go."

That's how Rupp hunts for and thinks about pheasants. He sees the writing on the wall when it comes to his favorite game birds, and doesn't always like it. But he still knows that he can find birds every year if he works at it. As can those around him.

"Talking to the pheasant slayer, are we?" asked one of the locals as Rupp and I ended our talk.

"If we could just take his gun away or fill it with blanks," another joked, "the pheasant population would increase dramatically."

The group of old friends laughed, as did Rupp, who sat down at their table as I left, probably about to begin another conversation about his favorite game bird -- and whether or not it might be OK for him to do a little hunting on their land this winter.