2020 Pheasant Reports

Well, I am a dummbass! Took two of my boys out pheasant hunting today and walked for 2 hours and kicked up 1 hen. Pretty terrible. Dog didnt even get birdie much so not sure where the birds were.
As we walked back to the truck there was a black truck parked on the road and by the looks of it I figured it was the game warden. Yep, it was.
No big deal we were all legal or so I thought!
My oldest is 19 so he dug out his license which I helped him purchase online a while back and was good. The other was 14 so nothing to check there. Check our ammo to make sure we were using non-toxic which we were.
Now my license. I hand it over and he’s staring at it for a while and then he said do you have another piece of paper? I looked in my wallet, no! He said well you dont have a pheasant stamp? I was like WTF I checked that box when I bought it online and I even added the WIA fee. He goes, yeah, thats here, but no pheasant stamp. I was like well why in the world would I buy the WIA hunting if I didnt have a pheasant stamp, but I am pissed at myself for not paying closer attention and I Know I added it.
I said I have bought pheasants stamps in years I knew I wasnt going to hunt. So they pull it up and they said, yep, just like you said, you have had a pheasant stamp for as far back as we could look, but not this year. My son then said, remember when I got my license, I added the pheasant stamp and then clicked the continue shopping button and then it disappeared and I had to do it again for it to work. Hmm, this must have been what happened to me.
Anyways the guys were nice and it was my own damn fault and they gave me a citation. Im a little irritated, but its my fault and no one else’s. I dont even know how much the fine is because it doesnt say anything on the citation that I can find anyway. This was a valuable lesson for my kids too. I will just chalk this up to 2020. LOL

You didn’t get any pheasants he should have let you go with a warning, maybe you were grouse hunting and tour sons would shoot the pheasants….he knew you weren’t trying to get away with anything as you were up front about it….just disappointing they can’t give an honest person a break once in a while. Oh well, I’m up to $400 in vet visits from a barb wire fence, hunting isn’t cheap I guess.

That sucks, both the lack of birds and the ticket. I’d bet it’ll be about $130, give or take.

Now you have me doubting. I’ll have to check my license.

onestout wrote:

Oh well, I’m up to $400 in vet visits from a barb wire fence, hunting isn’t cheap I guess.

yikes! Hope your pooch is OK that’s tough!

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

That sucks, both the lack of birds and the ticket. I’d bet it’ll be about $130, give or take.

Now you have me doubting. I’ll have to check my license.

I think it might be $75 I looked at the whole thing closer and saw that $ amount. I tried to pay it already and the system said “not found” maybe it takes time or they had a change of heart. If it’s 130 I will fight it. I would never do that. It is my fault but it wasn’t intentional. I probably paid for pheasant stamps in 10 plus years where I never hunted for various reasons.

These pheasant hunting reports are not looking very promising.

CaptainMusky wrote:

maybe it takes time or they had a change of heart

Sometimes it doesn’t even list the amount you owe on the citation. My old man got a citation last year for riding his ATV before legal shooting time ended during deer season and the fine amount wasn’t even listed. He had to look it up based on the specific citation, and yes there is a delay, it may not be immediate.

gimruis wrote:

These pheasant hunting reports are not looking very promising.

yeah, this was the first time this year I hunted this area and someone beat us to the best part but still was surprised by the lack of birds. We heard one rooster cackling while waiting for legal shooting hours on private land and saw one other hen fly into some standing corn on the North end of this public land, but honestly in the past if I didn’t see 10 birds in a couple hours I was shocked. Some years I saw over a hundred and that’s no exaggeration. Not all that long ago either.

I got a citation years ago, and the CO said the fine varies based on the county. Had to wait for it to be processed to know the actual amount.

Seeing a good amount of birds, but not great, in Iowa. Shot two roosters in less than an hour today, then pulled the dumbest move I have ever pulled while hunting. Long story short, I lost my gun in the tall grass and searched for it for over 3.5 hours before I found it. I know…

Decent reports from other hunters down here as well. Either way, I’ve had a very memorable and life lesson filled trip so far. Could have been better, but could have been worse. Good luck everybody, and happy hunting! Oh, and don’t ever lay your gun down in a field and walk away…

I had the same thing happen duck hunting. Laying a camo gun in brown grass was a big whoops!

But what a feeling of relief when you find it. Been there but not for 3.5 hours. We had a good weekend of hunting private land with four and five man limits. Red willows were the ticket. Also shot three coyotes that tried to hold tight.

Captain Musky, your post might have saved me the same fine!. Read your story and couldn’t remember if I bought my MN License yet. I’ve been to ND this fall, but haven’t hunted in MN yet. Open my wallet, find my Sportsman license with WIA fee, but NO PHEASANT STAMP!! Just bought and printed online. Guess you’re not the only one that made that mistake. Thanks for posting!

Rainylakefisher wrote:

Captain Musky, your post might have saved me the same fine!. Read your story and couldn’t remember if I bought my MN License yet. I’ve been to ND this fall, but haven’t hunted in MN yet. Open my wallet, find my Sportsman license with WIA fee, but NO PHEASANT STAMP!! Just bought and printed online. Guess you’re not the only one that made that mistake. Thanks for posting!

You are welcome! I hesitated posting because of my embarrassment, but figured it might be important as others may have fallen into the same fate.

Slinger- No kidding, what a RELIEF!!! Especially because it was my dad’s old ‘72 Belgian browning A5 that I cherish like a child! Made my weekend. Then Sunday my dog almost got trampled by pissed off horses and we had to make a run for it and jump a drainage ditch. I got wet but we made it, although escorted by three angry mares… Weeke d for the books for sure.

Also- coyotes just may be you and the pheasant’s biggest allies, believe it or not! No judgement here, however.

LabDaddy1 wrote:

Slinger- No kidding, what a RELIEF!!! Especially because it was my dad’s old ‘72 Belgian browning A5 that I cherish like a child!

Oh, that would have been devastating! So glad you found it.

onestout wrote:

Oh well, I’m up to $400 in vet visits from a barb wire fence, hunting isn’t cheap I guess.

@onestout How is your dog doing?

I’m really struggling to find public land birds.

I once left my shotgun leaning up against a sign in a parking area. Twenty minutes later when I realized what I had done, Mario Andretti couldn’t have driven any faster back to that lot than I did. Thankfully it was still there.

crawdaddy wrote:

Laying a camo gun in brown grass was a big whoops!

I did that last year. OMG, did I panic!

Nice Fella wrote:

I’m really struggling to find public land birds.

Same here. Spots that I’ve normally done fairly well at have been barren this year.

Nice Fella wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>onestout wrote:</div>
Oh well, I’m up to $400 in vet visits from a barb wire fence, hunting isn’t cheap I guess.

@onestout How is your dog doing?

I’m really struggling to find public land birds.

I once left my shotgun leaning up against a sign in a parking area. Twenty minutes later when I realized what I had done, Mario Andretti couldn’t have driven any faster back to that lot than I did. Thankfully it was still there.

She is doing pretty good, still has the cone on. I never knew skin could grow back like that. Once it got infected they removed a spot about half the size of a dollar bill, pretty much just muscle showing…..it is now a big scab and getting smaller. She should be able to hunt in a few weeks.

I went down to Iowa this weekend to get away from the deer hunters in MN. Pulled up to the first spot and shot a rooster in about 7 minutes. It was a going away shot and he skittered away in the cover but the dog made a great retrieve. It was early and I was busting through heavy cover, wood and cattails and nothing much but a single hen flush. Then I got to the edge of the property and birds started boiling out of the ditch+buffer zone. Hen, Hen, Hen, Hen, ROOSTER behind me and quartering away, BANG, BANG, DAMN! I missed a tough shot. Next spot I drive by is small, and people say small spots are always shot out by 3rd week of the season. I said to myself, what the hell, give it a go. We worked good cover and nothing happened. Nearing the end we are pushing a nice narrow slough with a little bit of woody cover. At the end it turns to solid marsh grass and I push in 15 feet further, out jumps a rooster! I miss an easy one and won’t ever forget it. A few feathers flew, but he wasn’t rocked, no leg dropped, and he flew away strong. I still ran that direction with the dog, but he was never to be seen again. Other highlights, I saw a minimum maintenance “Class B” road sign and drove past without batting an eye. A short while later I was white knuckling it for 1.5 miles on the absolute greasiest track I’ve ever driven. If I didn’t have brand new Michelin’s on it would have been game over. WHEW! Somehow I made it thru the mud road. Got on a back corner of a large WMA and we found the hen house in some light switch grass. The golden retriever had fun flushing 20 hens up, but no game cocks. Saw a rooster standing in the middle of a gravel road after leaving that spot. Sunday I hunted more west which is supposed to be better but the action was slower. Extreme wind didn’t help. Saw a few roosters and a hen, but no shots, got checked by the game warden, and did a lot of scouting. And Sunday evening got permission to try a private shelter belt with known pheasant population that is not hunted. I saw tracks in the snow, and the dog got birdy once, but no dice. Until next time Rudy the Rooster!

I intend to go out later this week for the first time this year. I saw a good amount of pheasants last week when I was deer hunting but the area I hunt still has a significant amount of standing corn. Looks like the snow is mostly going to melt again too.

First outing this season proved to be successful. Got one at the first spot, anther at the second. Its a friggin’ mud hole out there right now. Could use a good freeze to harden up the ground.

Good deal, gim. Always feels good to get out— especially for the first trip of the year. I forgot, are you hunting MN?

LabDaddy1 wrote:

Good deal, gim. Always feels good to get out— especially for the first trip of the year. I forgot, are you hunting MN?

Yes I exclusively hunt MN. More specifically, central MN.

You do darn good, it seems pretty consistently, for the area… Must have access to some private land there. By no means am I trying to pry, either!

Went yesterday for about 3.5 hours and got a pair of roosters. Shoulda had my third with some better shooting. I raised about 40 in addition to 5 deer. The dog made a real nice long distance retrieve on a wounded one too.

First time poster longtime reader. I’ve gained a lot of knowledge from this website so I think it’s time to start contributing. Made it out to a couple WMA’s at sunrise to secure a spot to hunt this morning. My brother, my British Lab Rosie and I. Flushed 8 hens and 1 rooster at the first spot. Couldn’t Identify the rooster until it was pretty much too late to shoot. From my experience hunting public land I figured that would be all we would see today.

2nd WMA we hit didn’t have any hunters at it which I still can’t believe considering there were hunters at every WMA we drove by as well as other hunters driving by looking for a place to hunt. At the end of our 2nd drive we pushed two roosters to the edge of the property line. We were about to continue on but my lab wouldn’t leave. Eventually she flushed two roosters that were hunkered deep in the cattails. We got both of them. Saw one hen at that WMA as well.

3rd WMA we hit had been hunted already and somebody was packing up as we pulled up. Figured what the heck lets give it a shot. Flushed two more roosters but they were too far to get a shot at. We saw two other roosters fly into private property as we were pulling away.

All in all it was a lot of fun and a pleasant surprise to get a few birds and see some more with all the pressure. With the exception of the two roosters at the 3rd WMA that jumped early the rest of the birds were pretty hunkered down. We probably spent 3.5 hours walking – my legs feel like jelly tonight.

Our general location was South Central MN.

RC Musky wrote:

…which I still can’t believe considering there were hunters at every WMA we drove by as well as other hunters driving by looking for a place to hunt.

No kidding. Today reminded me why I usually try to hunt during the week. Frigging zoo!

gimruis wrote:

I raised about 40 in addition to 5 deer.

40 pheasants in 3.5 hrs?