Has anyone been pheasant hunting lately? I assume that all the heavy wet snow flattened a lot of grassland out there.
Got two today in SW MN. Snow wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, you can see some in background of photo.
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went out yesterday and the five roosters we got up all came out of the cattails.
All the tall grassland is laying flat the dogs only got up hens out of there
Just got back from my yearly trip to SD. Crops are all off and there was about a foot of snow, perfect hunting conditions. Birds are stacked up making for easy hunting, took about 1.5 hours each day to limit out. Weather was perfect, beautiful country, just love it out there.
Just got back from my yearly trip to SD. Crops are all off and there was about a foot of snow, perfect hunting conditions. Birds are stacked up making for easy hunting, took about 1.5 hours each day to limit out. Weather was perfect, beautiful country, just love it out there.
Sweet! I hope we have similar luck in Iowa this weekend.
Assuming/knowing the early snow and subsequent flattening of the usual early season cover has occurred, what happens when things return to “normal?” Will the birds move right back to the lighter cover after the snow melts, or does the flattening prevent that? Will the vegetation(that I presume is already starting to die, if not dead already) start to pop back up, allowing birds to resume use of it? Or will they tend to stick to the heavier cover(cattails/woody thickets) that they have started moving to, from here on out?
Might be a dumb question, but I’m taking my elderly, limited mobility father(sorry dad!) down to Iowa this weekend to chase roosters and I’d like to know if anyone has any knowledge of or ideas on this topic. Maybe I should have started a new thread for it. Thanks to any and all!
They will probably be staying where they are at for the rest of the season. That being said you just have to figure out what they are doing where you are hunting, you should be able to figure this out quickly, some early and late day scouting can help this as well.
Just got back from a 3 day trip in SW MN (near Marshall). There is a lot of snow and the birds are definitely bunched up. We found most of the birds in the thick cattails and willow patches. We ended up limiting out each day around 3pm and could of a lot faster If we could shoot straight. Definitely a lot of birds to be had but you have to work for them.
I doubt the grassland will “pop back up” after the snow melts. It is going to warm up into the 50’s soon so the snow is definitely going to melt. But I don’t see the grass “growing” again this season. It just won’t be warm enough for long enough. I think onestout is accurate on this one. Focus your efforts on habitat that has held up to the snow – trees, willows, cattails, standing patches of corn edge, etc and forget the big open field of canary grass.
Thanks guys, appreciate your input.
Some grasses are pretty resilient to the snow but with this heavy wet stuff we received already most will be essentially flattened until Spring. If it was the fluffy snow variety it would have held up a lot better.
Heading out Saturday with 2 of my boys. Not sure where we are going to go yet, but it will be good to get out. Most of the snow at our house is now gone and I would guess it will all be gone by Saturday. We had a solid 10 inches fall, but most melted from the bottom up as it fell so at most only had 8 inches at the height and its melted slowly since. Yesterday was 50 degrees and that hammered it.
I hunted an area in western MN that I had good luck at last year. It was a lot drier this year, and there was more snow than I expected. Most of the grass was flattened. We saw zero birds–couldn’t believe it. I focused mainly on standing cover, but it was a bust. Nice day to be out, though.
I hope that’s not an issue in NW Iowa this weekend for opener. What a weird year. Corn is all harvested and we are talking about snow flattened grass for opener.
I hope that’s not an issue in NW Iowa this weekend for opener. What a weird year. Corn is all harvested and we are talking about snow flattened grass for opener.
If the birds are bunched up already, it will be boom or bust most of the time. Ive walked for hours in the past and not seen a bird then all of a sudden its like a flock shoot.
I havent been in a few weeks so it will be interesting to see where they are, but with the snow leaving that might make things better or they could still be in the thick crap which I am not too fond of anymore. 
I was following this thread with great interest until the cattail comments started appearing. Ewwww, nobody likes hunting that stuff. So’s anyway, yesterday, Piper and I got out of the truck and headed straight for the cattail-lined pond edges on some St. Croix County public. After quite a bit of tromping we finally came upon a single bird track in the crusty snow going into the cattails. What can only be described as an electric current then went through Pipes, starting at her nose and ending at her now ferociously-wagging tail. And then the chase began, at least 200 yards back up into the grass before the young rooster finally flushed – and I completely whiffed on the shot and the follow-up. I felt bad and ashamed in front of my dog who had worked so incredibly hard, that I wanted to blast my own toe off. We went again to try and find it, to no avail.
(watch for a new thread coming soon on shotshell recommendations!)
I had a guy once tell me that pheasants are impossible to miss. Ive proved him wrong hundreds of times. LOL It seems sometimes that hardest shots are the ones I make, but the easy ones I miss. Go figure.
If you are able to shoot lead, I prefer 5 shot, but if you must use non-toxic I use 4. I think early on you can get away with 6 shot for either if they are real close, but I just buy 5 and 4 respectively and use the whole season.
Missing sure sucks. And it comes out of nowhere. Bam down, bam down, etc then a miss. I still get rattled when I miss what appears to be a shootable pheasant.
Im not so cocky with Grouse and am pleasantly surprised when I hit them!
I find that more often than not, they’re fairly easy shots to make, but the adrenaline starts building when the dog gets birdy, and when a plump rooster explodes, it’s a total rush. I really have to slow myself down–I miss too many.
Im not so cocky with Grouse and am pleasantly surprised when I hit them!
Roosters are like shooting at a barn compared to a grouse Suzuki!
when a plump rooster explodes, it’s a total rush.
It’s tough to put a bead on ’em when you’re heart is still skipping beats! At least for me 
It’s tough to put a bead on ’em when you’re heart is still skipping beats! At least for me
100%! Even if you “know” there is a bird going to get up, it never changes the rush when it flushes. That’s why I love it so much, well, next to watching the dogs work which makes it so much fun. Except when you get the evil eye after a miss. LOL
Sometimes my internal wiring works too fast. Aka Grouse reflexes. Shooting too fast and hitting is a problem too. A few years back I liquified a rooster. Sick feeling when the only way to pick them up is with a spoon. That incident helps me to pause on the super easy ones.
Captain- I also seem to make more tough shots and miss more “gimme” shots. Strange phea-nomena…. Lead if possible- 6’s, 5’s with modified choke. If non toxic required, I use 3” #3 black cloud and improved cylinder or one notch tighter in the Benelli.
I have made some surprisingly long shots with 2 3/4” 6 shot and killed them dead.
and yeah, Suzuki- not looking forward to late-season conditions in NW Iowa this weekend. Let’s hope and pray. Not sure of their snowfall totals and temps compared to here in the cities…
Captain- I also seem to make more tough shots and miss more “gimme” shots. Strange phea-nomena….
What I think it is, at least for me, is that if its straight away (easy shot) then I shoot too quick, if its a crossing shot or something (hard shot) I seem to take my time and swinging with the flight of the bird helps to ensure I am on them versus just pulling up and blasting. It boils down to me just rushing the shot, but its OK someone has to wizen up those birds.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>LabDaddy1 wrote:</div>
Captain- I also seem to make more tough shots and miss more “gimme” shots. Strange phea-nomena….What I think it is, at least for me, is that if its straight away (easy shot) then I shoot too quick, if its a crossing shot or something (hard shot) I seem to take my time and swinging with the flight of the bird helps to ensure I am on them versus just pulling up and blasting. It boils down to me just rushing the shot, but its OK someone has to wizen up those birds.
We are just ensuring the survival of the species! Good call 
I think you’re dead-on with your explanation. Excited shooting is rushed shooting, and it doesn’t usually work out too well(at least if you’re me)!
Today is the day. Opener is tomorrow but today is almost more special. Picking up the guys and dogs then driving for 4 hours then driving around for a couple in the area scouting. Its insanely exciting. Same as day before deer opener.
Good luck to those hitting the Iowa opener and wherever you pheasant hunt this weekend! Ditch parrot, road chicken, stubble duck, horned chicken, Chinese chicken (covid canary?) Thunder Chicken!
Good luck, Mike!
Missing easy shots at pheasants or ducks or geese is the reason I never criticize a field goal kicker for missing a short field goal or a basketball player for missing a free-throw.
Granted I don’t get paid millions of $ to make those shots but everybody misses… some people just less often than others.
And now for the adding insult to injury part of my report…
Since returning from this hunt on Wed. mid-day, as described above, the dog has not been herself, not even close. Took her to the Vet right away Wed. late afternoon to get checked out and found nothing; assumed some kind of indigestion from deer dropping consumption. Back to the Vet this morning after more symptoms last night. Turns out she had a 3″+ stem of grass that punctured the skin underneath her tongue near the back of her mouth. Doc had to cut it out. Good news is she’s fine and no restrictions. How freak is that?!
Yikes! That could have been very bad. Never had that happen but definitely read some horror stories of barbwire fences, grassy awn seeds making their way internally and all sorts of other thing. Glad the hound will be ok.
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