2019 Pheasant Reports

Dennis Williams wrote:

I just sent a letter to the DNR with regards to the loss of an hour of hunting time when daylight savings time ends. The day we move the clocks back in the fall (early November) we lose an hour of hunting time. We also lose about a half hour of sunset time in the month of November. I would like to see an 8:00 AM start when we go back to standard time. I don’t think it is being greedy, I just don’t like losing an hour to hunt just because we change our clocks.

You’re in better shape then I am Most of the time I take a nap for an hour or so in the afternoon to make it to sundown.

Wait a minute… you guys can’t hunt pheasants before 9 am?! What in the he’ll. I feel for you guys and gals. The goal of the dnr shouldn’t be how big they can make the regulation book.

As you probably know, SD is 10am

While everyone was out deer hunting I was able to get out 4 days. The birds really put on the running shoes. The trails made from deer hunters and just the amount of people afield make them run and run. The challenge is good for the pup and he is doing great! We got our birds everyday, but miles were put on! Having a great season so far!

Today was a beautiful day. I took the day off and headed to West Central MN. Now, I’m an adult-onset hunter, and I’ve only hunted MN, but this was my best day hunting, by far.

I had rooster #1 in my vest within 30 minutes.

Ripley got a little exuberant and busted the 2nd rooster, so we had some words. Apparently, our discussion worked because he stuck a hardcore point on the next rooster, and I had my limit in my vest in under 2 hours. As I shot that one, another flushed about 20 feet from me.

As we walked back to the truck, we flushed 2 more roosters and a hen!

Another photo.

I went today and I will admit I wasn’t expecting to hunt very long to get 2 roosters, but I was wrong. I saw tons last week deer hunting but not near as many today…in the same spots too. Took me about 3 hours which was about 2.5 longer than I thought it would. It was kinda muddy out there. The top layer unthawed and it turned into a big sloppy mess. Still quite a bit of corn too.

Nice job guys! I’m in Iowa and picked up two pretty fast this morning but couldn’t get number three the rest of the day. Had some good dog work and my wife had a ball.

Nice work boys….. love the pics!

Well, as mentioned above it was a perfect weekend for pheasant hunting. Hemi and I went down to the farm and started out at 9am on some public land in west central MN. Saw a few birds but more in lighter cover not in the heavy stuff. The birds must have been enjoying the weather too.

All of our birds came off the farm land which we are lucky to have. We had our limit with time to spare on Saturday.

Macy is the young dog and she was on fire, working the cover thoroughly and pointed multiple birds. She only got out of range a couple times but would stop and wait for us with a little vibrate on the collar. We had some epic long chases on running birds that resulted in close flushes. Even Hemis dog, Dex, got in on the action and made a retrieve at age 11.

Sunday morning we shot 3 more roosters before needing to head home around noon.

All in all a great trip and several meals of pheasant coming up.

Took my friend John and I about an hour to snag 4 roosters on Black Friday. The snow helped although not all the sloughs and ditches are completely froze yet. Some areas where the snow is drifted in are knee to waist deep already.

I’m mildly impressed with bird numbers in western MN this fall. Our land has hen numbers right now that rival 8-10 years ago. Nice mix of young and mature roosters as well. Some other private spots I have access too were holding good numbers as well, and saw plenty of birds flying or feeding just off the edges of some various public parcels around where I grew up. Our 10 man christmas hunt should be a lot of fun as long as our cattails don’t get flattened by heavy wet snow.

Two things stopped me from hunting western MN after hunting it for a few years. Lack of good hunting land and the huge variety of stickers, gassy awns, sand burs, etc. As usual everywhere, those fortunate to access private property get all the best.

My youngest son was home from school last week. We did well in SW, MN. Got our birds for 2 days and beat the snow home. Unfortunately, my dog Blue got an abscess in his foot and can’t hunt until next week. Got his backup coming in 3 weeks. Going to try a Griffon this time.

Nice looking pup. Have a 14 y/o griffon. Favorite dog I’ve ever had. She was 5 months old out in MT hunting pheasants and chased a wing clipped rooster between a 1/4-1/2 mile away right before the end of legal. Nobody thought she’d find it. Came back with a live rooster and a porky pine quill in her snout. Knew right then and there she’d stole my heart.

Good luck with the pup and great looking dogs.

There are still some birds,to be found in Iowa.

Was able to take a few friends out last week as the snow moved in. 4 guys, 1 dog and a lot shooting! Real fun day! Monday I was able to get out and hunt the snow with a good friend. 1 rooster in the first 4 hrs. We had lunch and got back at it. Got on a large group of birds and got rewarded. Didn’t get back to the truck till dark. Very satisfying hunt!

What do you guys do differently with snow on the ground? I haven’t hunted much in the snow, but I’m planning on hunting Friday.

Oh, and good looking hunt, Billy!

Mondays birds!

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

What do you guys do differently with snow on the ground? I haven’t hunted much in the snow, but I’m planning on hunting Friday.

I prefer hunting in the snow. Not deep snow, but anything up to about 7-8 inches is fine. I can see where the birds have been with snow on the ground because there’s tracks. If there’s no tracks, there’s no birds! I prefer hunting in December too because the limit is 3 instead of 2. Its easier walking after everything freezes good and hard, which is supposed to happen next week because there is a cold snap coming. This time of year I like to target areas immediately adjacent to food. A patch next to a standing field of corn is a gold mine.

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

What do you guys do differently with snow on the ground? I haven’t hunted much in the snow, but I’m planning on hunting Friday.

Lots different and nothing different..
Generally, the birds are either going to hold and flush closer, or be really wild and flush a hundred yards out.
Type of cover hunted changes a bit. A lot of the grasses we’ve been walking early season are now knocked down and may not hold birds. Look for the thicker areas within the snow filled grasses to hold birds. Even a random 10’x10′ brush area that’s just slightly thicker than anything around it – walk over to it, eventually it’ll pay off. Hunting in cattails will start to pick up, I think we are about 10 days away from really being able to safely walk on them though (next week looks real cold for a few days!). Right now, I would focus on the edges of the cattails/grass areas, tree lines, shelter belts, edge of woody areas. Depending on how the snow is packed down, the birds may be able to run on top of it no problem, may be able to run underneath it like their own little cave/tunnel system, or may not be able to run at all and hold tight. With snow on the ground, I generally walk slower because they hold tighter and I feel like the birds know if you keep moving you’ll pass by – when you go slow or stop they might get nervous and bust their cover. Birds will also be grouped up a bit more – be ready for multiple birds coming out of the same area. Always have your gun ready and loaded following missed birds or even downed birds (if you’re confident enough in your dogs retrieving ability to know what to do with multiple birds on the ground).

Thanks guys. That reinforces my strategies. I think I have a honey hole picked out.

I also love hunting in fresh snow and if I can i will take the day off to hit it the next morning. I try to get into the cattails, inside the big drifts. I typically find birds hanging in the cattails close to the big drifts. People think I’m crazy until they see it in person, but I also like to hunt with the wind at my back. I have found if you have a good dog it works great. My old reliable was put down this spring and my pup is has really had a strong year and it has worked with him. I only hunt public land So I try to do as much different as I can. With the wind at my back i may not see as many flushes within range, but the ones I do are close and seem to be more often Roosters. My dog will be on scent or just hunting and all of a sudden he will slam on the brakes and come back towards me real hard, catching the scent after we passed it. The bird typically flushes between me and the dog, nice and close! My thoughts are the roosters are either cutting back on us or holding tight, waiting for us to keep walking. Makes me feel like I’m out smarting them, haha.
Monday I had picked a field i had hunted many times in the snow. We hit all the edges of these sloughs with no luck and very little sign. I tried going in but they were not frozen well enough and the water was getting close to my hip boot height.
I didnt realize they got as much freezing rain as they did down south. We then hit areas with pines. The last area we pushed a crap load of birds out of the pines and into the slough. We followed them into the wet, deep, snowy slough and had an amazing finish to the day.

It never seems to be the same for me. I knew Monday when we found them, we would find a bunch.

Only a month left of my favorite time of the year!

Frustrating day yesterday. After seeing 2 roosters in a corn field about a 1/4 mile from my spot, Ripley and I busted our butts and found nothing but 2 hens. There were pheasant tracks everywhere but none to be found. I ended up hip deep in water several times, so it’s not frozen enough to get in deep cover.
I wonder if the birds were out enjoying a sunny, calm day eating corn because the majority of the tracks I saw were headed to fields.
The crusty snow took a toll on Ripley’s paws.
Of course, as we left, I saw 2 more roosters it in the corn stubble.

I learned my lesson and didn’t go after whatever he was pointing here. My pants were already soaked and my boots filled with water.

Holy cow is there a lot of snow out there. It’s shin to knee deep almost everywhere already and some areas are drifted up past my waist. I hoofed through it for 3 hours today and that was all I could muster. I managed 2 roosters but I sure did bust my ass to get them. If we get any more snow, the area I hunt may be finished for the season.

Back out today. Finally had a few birds get up in range! This is the first Pheasant with my new gun. Great day to be out before the bottom of the thermometer falls off.

Steve

Nice looking rooster, Steve!

I went on Friday for about 2.5 hours. The snow is extremely deep where I hunt. I would say that 50% of more of the typical habitat is completely gone because the snow has either knocked it over or filled it in. The first two spots I went to did not even produce a single bird (and they have in the past, including earlier this season). The third spot must have had about 60 birds. It was a medium sized standing corn field and the surrounding habitat. I got 2 roosters out of it and probably should have had 3. Its obvious where the birds are now – in or near food, that’s it. Next time I go out, I’m going directly to the corn…there’s no reason to waste energy and time anywhere else.

Thanks for the report. We had some paw damage from crusty snow/ice last week, but I have Friday off, so I am hoping he’s all healed up. I’ll look for corn.