2020 Pheasant Reports

Beautiful weather today, but I didn’t see a darn bird. I tripped on a nice shed, though.

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

40 pheasants in 3.5 hrs?

Ya I hunted 5 different spots and each spot had about 4 or 5 birds except one which had about 20. All of those were hens except 2 in that spot.

The public land birds we are after week after week are getting wise – no matter where we are hunting. The easy limits are over for us until, possibly, we get a big change – like snow. We are busting out butts for our birds. Beautiful day today though.

I worked pretty hard for one rooster Fri in Iowa but my goal was to get my pup in front of birds and the hens cooperated. It was fun and I wish I had a lot more opportunities but the season, like life, is not as long as I wish.

Hunted for about 3 hours yesterday and snagged my 3 roosters. I raised about 30, including one spot that had a dozen hens. It feels more like late October walking around out there. I remember last year by this time the snow was very deep and the walking was very difficult. Last time some of those birds were getting up wild out of range so I approached it this time from the opposite direction and it proved to be an effective strategy.

Nice work!

I’ve been having a miserable season. My dog is doing well, we’re just striking out. Having 2 kids stuck home with distance learning has limited my hunting time, too, as I prefer to hunt midweek. 2020 sucks!

Those of you that are finding birds, what areas are they holding in? Have you found that they have moved back to their pre-snow haunts, or have they stuck to heavier, winter cover after our early snows?

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

Those of you that are finding birds, what areas are they holding in? Have you found that they have moved back to their pre-snow haunts, or have they stuck to heavier, winter cover after our early snows?

Super thick cover like cattails hasn’t produced for me unless its the last hour of daylight when they’re already roosted in there. Its frozen enough now to walk on at least so if we get some snow or colder temps soon its huntable without falling through.

Most of the hunting I do is in the afternoon and I have found birds near a food source (like a picked corn or bean field). If there isn’t food adjacent or in sight, they aren’t there. All of the crops in the birds I’ve recently harvested have confirmed this, as they have beans and/or corn in them.

Also, going in there with minimal noise is important now. I basically snuck in there like a ninja yesterday.

This confirms that I have been doing things right. Just shitty luck.

Anyone one been in the Marshall area lately? I went out last weekend near Alexandria and we shot four roosters. I’ve never been to the Marshall area and heading there with a coworker this weekend.

Thanks

I went yesterday (not in Marshall) again for about 3.5 hours and got 2 roosters. Couldn’t get a third.

I raised about 20 total. Everything is solid froze now so it’s easier walking. I intend to go 2 or 3 more times before the season ends on Jan 3 as it looks like the weather will cooperate.

Curios public or public. We hunted all public last weekend. It is nice to be able to walk on the swamps.

Tim wrote:

Curios public or public

Is that a question for me Tim? I am not sure what you are getting at.

We hunted a public piece in west central MN on Thursday. Started at 9am and hit sloughs. Only place we found tracks was in the cattails near crp grass. If the cattails were next to the woods we didn’t see many tracks. Jumped a total of 12 birds. We got 3. I missed one I should have had. A few got up but the slough was so thick I didn’t see them.
DT

gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Tim wrote:</div>
Curios public or public

Is that a question for me Tim? I am not sure what you are getting at.

Probably just wondering if there had been previous pressure or if they were unpressured birds.
DT

I meant public or private.

Tim wrote:

I meant public or private.

I hunt private land in central MN.

The last couple times I have approached spots from the opposite direction without making any noise because they were previously flushing wildly. It has been an effective strategy.

Cosmo and I had a successful hunt yesterday. It was windier than I would have liked, but it was still effective. The Benelli was on point. 3 shots, 3 roosters.

From Saturday, 12/26/20. The area I hunt didn’t receive as much snow so it was still OK walking. I had a hunch on where birds would be, and I was right. Cattails and standing corn. It was easy to see all the tracks in those two areas and I raised about 35 in the patch of standing corn alone.

I hope to try one more time before the season ends. Hoping for minimal snow this week so the snow isn’t too deep.

You certainly are having a good season! I havent been out in weeks, but will be getting out this week. I wont be carrying a gun, just an observer for my son and his friend. Will be hunting his friend’s land, very small parcel outside of St Cloud area. They deer hunted together and all they saw were pheasants. So I said I would take the dog and then they could try their luck.

CaptainMusky wrote:

You certainly are having a good season!

That last few outings have been especially productive. The opportunity to harvest 3 per trip instead of 2 makes a big difference when the calendar turns to December. Birds are also bunching up in bigger groups now and with fresh snow, its obvious they’re around.

gimruis wrote:

That last few outings have been especially productive. The opportunity to harvest 3 per trip instead of 2 makes a big difference when the calendar turns to December. Birds are also bunching up in bigger groups now and with fresh snow, its obvious they’re around.

Right! This time of the season can be feast or famine. You could walk for hours and not see a bird and then boom!
Had that happen a few years ago in a massive WPA where I walked two hours and got about a mile from the truck and hadnt seen a thing. Then they were flushing 10 at a time. It was unreal. I didnt even fire a shot because they were all getting up in the private land attached to the public land I was hunting well out of range, but it sure was fun to see!

It has been a good year as far as weather. I just planned another trip to SD for the weekend of the 9th, I am hoping they get some more snow before then.

I made it out in the South Central part of the state yesterday with my dad and brother. We quickly realized that if we weren’t in thick cattails the birds were on the run and one of us needed to post. At the next two spots even with one of us posting we didn’t get a shot off as the birds had already done the 400 yard sprint to safety before the poster got set up. We found tracks in the fresh dusting of snow and the dogs picked up on the scent but they were gone. At our final spot we decided to hit the thickest cattails we could find. We pushed the cats for about an hour and a half and all of a sudden about 20 birds jumped. I missed a huge rooster at point blank and all the rest were just barely out of range.
In hindsight if we would have only pushed the thick cattails we probably would have had shots at a bunch of birds. Live and learn I guess.

At POINT BLANK?? Come on man. I guarantee you I can miss that shot better than you can.

Well I went one last time yesterday for about 3 hours and went home birdless for the first time all season. I did miss an easy one at the second spot but I saw about 20 birds total – mostly hens, which is good for next season. The snow was significantly deeper than it was a week ago which really sapped my energy quicker. Some areas were drifted up to my waist which made for some tough sleddin’.

I went on 12/31 for a few hours. No roosters, couple of hens.

This season seemed to be cursed for me. Easily my worst. Oh well, onto 2021.

Lots of hens in West Central, roosters seemed concentrated to no-go private land. Bumped one in thick cattails. Hoping for a mild winter and just enough rain next year to fill some ponds. Strong bird numbers.

ganderpike wrote:

Strong bird numbers

I agree, although my overall tally was lower from recent years, I saw just as many birds as I have the past few seasons.

I was supposed to be on the road by now but work got in the way for my partner and my wife didn’t like the idea of me wandering around out there by myself…..I am busy the next couple weekends so hopefully the weather holds and we can get out there the last weekend of the season….bummed I won’t be there this weekend.