2021 Pheasant Reports

Anyone go hunting yesterday?

Another great opening weekend. We limited out in 35 to 45 minutes each day.

Hunted ducks in western MN this weekend and talked to quite a few pheasant hunters. Some did well, some were skunked. We heard many roosters in the WPA’s we hunted both days this weekend.

Had a four man limit on Saturday and a three man limit this morning. Done both days by 11:30. Shot half on public and half on private. About as nice of weather as you could ask for.

We went to Pipestone Lake Brenton area for the first time. Found some state land that had birds in it. We got two each morning.

Got our 6 Saturday. Good numbers in the area (western MN), but many more hunters in the field compared to last year. First opener I can remember where all of my spots had the corn out

My and my son walked for an hour yesterday. Didnt flush a pheasant, but flushed a woodcock which I havent seen one in years.
We heard and least 3 different roosters cackling but they were on private land so safe from us.
On the drive home we saw 3 roosters and a hen along the road.

Hunted western WI both Saturday and Sunday public land. Didn’t flush or hear any birds. 2 things that played a big factor… Corn is still up and I’m hunting with a dog that just turned one. For her first go around, she did awesome! Best of luck to everyone this year.

We celebrated my mom’s 70th on Saturday, so I didn’t go out (I normally skip opener, anyways). I hauled my boat to storaged in west central MN on Sunday, and there is not much corn left standing!

I probably won’t get out for a couple of weeks. I hope the temps cool a bit.

Birds have been plentiful but they are acting more like late November birds already. But that’s to be expected as every piece of land is getting hit hard. WIA by my house got walked by 21 trucks yesterday throughout the day.

Jensen wrote:

But that’s to be expected as every piece of land is getting hit hard. WIA by my house got walked by 21 trucks yesterday throughout the day.

21 groups in one day?

Yes sir it has been crazy weird with the amount of pheasant hunters this year compared to last year.

Hunted south of Marshall the past Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Ended up with 6 total birds and didn’t even fire our guns on Saturday. We probably missed just as many as we ended up with in the bag. Had a great time overall and the weather was perfect. The pressure on Thursday vs Saturday was unreal. Lot of trucks out on the weekend. I think I am going to try and focus more on taking midweek vacation days!

Limited public land, crowds and every sticker/bur known to man is what drove me out of Minn to Iowa. Even there you can run into groups on opener in public spots but you also have thousands of miles of long fields to hunt alone in the ditches.
Iowa opener is this weekend. I am excited.

I am happy there are lots of hunters out because that is a good sign, but it is also frustrating as a public land only hunter. Its good to see people out and as long as everyone is respectful of where each other is going and doesnt cut each other off it works out just fine once you find a place to go. I get cut off all the time which is irritating. People have to know what they are doing.

Weekdays are more enjoyable on public land. The young dog and I did alright this morning.

I finally got out over the weekend with my Lab for the first time this season, and actually flushed two, wild, public land birds in western Wisconsin – THEY DO EXIST!! Of course I couldn’t kill them because roosters run, dogs chase, and by the time I was getting near the action the rooster lifted off, well ahead of my 12 ga. reach. But it really was thrilling to actually hear the cackle and flapping wings and all that. And since it was rather warm for both the dog and I, we didn’t stay out as long as either of us wanted to. Promptly celebrated with a Bloody Mary and plate of wings at local watering hole. A good day.

Dont feel bad. My dog flushed a cackler TOWARDS me Sat and I waited until he was on top of me then couldn’t get the damn gun to fire because apparently you need to take the safety off……

Sounds fun. I haven’t made it out, yet. Work and home life has been busy. Soon, I hope!

Duck hunting is my first love but with this being my first fall being retired, I’m getting back to some pheasant hunting. 2 weeks ago I got my youngest dog on pheasants for the first time at a game farm and he (we) did well. Got our 6 birds plus 3 scratch ones.
Last week we got our first wild rooster on a WPA in west central MN. I felt as proud as Cody looks!!

Well this is different. Limited by 0845 now have all day to kill time in Iowa. Great trip for my wife because as promised we now go shopping. I think I’ll hit the same spot in the morning! Walking back to the truck with my limit the pup caught a rooster in the ditch! I think it was previously wounded by the way it acted. Couldn’t keep that one.

There ya go! Nice work. Funny how we were just talking about dogs catching live birds…

First bird hunt of the season yielded success.

I haven’t seen any in the back yard in a few years. This year when walking the dogs I kicked up a 4 roosters then a couple days later 6 hens.
It was good to see them again. I’ts about 8 acres and I would walk it during half time of the Vikes game, but now I’ll just feed them.

I’ve been out twice now for pheasant. Pretty prime private property in west central MN. Shot my limit both times but after yesterday I can say there are less birds in that area this year. Mostly mature birds not much for young ones. Talked to some farmers who said they didn’t see nearly as many while combining. I think the drought, lack of insects, hurt the hatch survival rate.

I will be going to SD in a couple weeks hope it’s decent out there.

The area I hunt in central MN still has a fairly significant amount of crops standing. There’s even beans still up. Not sure what the hold up is on this. Late season crops are usually a magnet for pheasants but when half the countryside is still standing crops it’s an issue.

I hunted 4 spots on Friday, raised 24 pheasants, 2 coyotes, and a small buck. Gonna try again on Black Friday.

I drove for an hour on Saturday morning trying to find some public without vehicles in the approaches. West Central was busy! Guess I’ll chalk it up to a nice day, and the “first” day of the season for many.
Even had people watching me from the roads and waiting in the parking lots for me to finish.

Mookie Blaylock wrote:

I drove for an hour on Saturday morning trying to find some public without vehicles in the approaches. West Central was busy! Guess I’ll chalk it up to a nice day, and the “first” day of the season for many.
Even had people watching me from the roads and waiting in the parking lots for me to finish.

This is why I became frustrated with pheasant hunting in Minnesota and gave it up.

Living in Maple Lake, I am already used to everybody and their brother coming out on the weekends and fishing/hunting every available inch.

Heading to Aberdeen 12/9 to 12/13. we hunt stocked private land so birds are never an issue. was wondering on reports in SD on public land? had some buddies that went out opener weekend and did ok.