2021 Pheasant Reports

I may get out for the first time this season on Sunday. The lady has a Springer that has never hunted but seems like it has decent instincts. Going to get it out and see what she does.
DT

I am going to drop my son off at his friend’s house with the dog for one last hunt this year. They are both great shots on the HS trap team so we will see if late season roosters humble them.

I love this time of the season for pheasants. They are usually bunched up and a lot more predictable where they will be. Pretty much have to bust cattails to find them. Spot I hunted yesterday is my go to late season spot that I found a handful of years ago. I probably only hunt it 1 time a season in December seeing that it is hard to find a free day with having little kids. We saw two other groups of hunters in the area we were at. My body is pretty sore today and the old dog is looking pretty beat up and riding the couch today.

Having a springer I am used to a flusher and its all I really know. Until I saw it in real life I guess I just thought it was impossible to get wild birds to hold that tight with a pointer. Definitely eye opening.

dhpricco wrote:

I love this time of the season for pheasants.

December is my favorite time of year to hunt them too. A fresh snow makes it even better. Can’t stand early season in October when its hot out and all the crops are still there.

A food source is definitely the key this time of year. And going in super quiet.

It’s hard to imagine anyone who has walked up to a solid point on a wild rooster who wasn’t immediately converted to the religion of pointing dogs.

Driving around on Sunday I saw numerous plowed corn fields with 10-20 birds in each of them.
DT

dhpricco wrote:

Having a springer I am used to a flusher and its all I really know. Until I saw it in real life I guess I just thought it was impossible to get wild birds to hold that tight with a pointer. Definitely eye opening.

Trust me, wily roosters will still flush wild with a pointer especially late season, but when you do get them to hold its exhilarating. Watching the dogs work is my reward. I dont even need to shoot anything to have a successful day. Nothing better than watching a good well-trained dog regardless of what breed they are. You just hunt a bit different with a flusher.

E4mo wrote:

It’s hard to imagine anyone who has walked up to a solid point on a wild rooster who wasn’t immediately converted to the religion of pointing dogs.

My favorite memory of all the dogs I had was the first season with my shorthair Gunner (best dog Ive ever hunted behind). He was only 3 months old at the beginning of the season so I had low expectations. My buddy and I walked an old railroad grade and he was birdy, but nothing got up. On the way back to the truck he goes out into this alfalfa field and locks up on point. Im like you dummy there is no way there is a bird there its only 4 inches tall!
He wouldnt move. I walked right up to him talking to him and saying “lets go”. He just looked at me out of the corner of his eye and wouldnt budge. I walked right next to him and looked down in front of him and to my surprise I see a rooster blinking his eyes at me!! SOB was that amazing. I learned that trying to grab a live rooster isnt a wise idea after that. LOL

I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many pumpkins driving around before.
I got beat out to a public spot before 830.
Found somewhere to hunt, but checked all my favorite spots on the way home and they all had vehicles.

Just got back from SD trip #2 of the year. I’ve been going twice a year for the last 6 or 7 years and it seems the numbers on public land get worse and worse each trip. CRP dwindling down to nothing, droughts some years, floods other years, too tough of winters some years, emergency haying on drought years… I look back at what bird numbers were even as recent as 2010-2012 and really wish I could have experienced it before numbers fell off a cliff.

Hopefully Game, Fish and Parks has a long term plan to right the ship before it sinks. Eventually its going to get to a point where it makes more sense to stick around MN and just hunt a game farm rather than spend 5 vacation days, hundreds of dollars and put a couple thousand miles on the truck in hopes of seeing a couple birds each day only to have them flush when they’re 200 yards away. 3 guys + 3 dogs, 4 days on public and somewhere around 25 miles walked, we managed 4 birds. Every bird we saw was in cattails.

The last day of the trip we managed to get on some private land and man, what a difference it makes when the birds don’t flush from a couple hundred yards away.

I went for a couple hours today and found a good amount of birds, going home with my 3 roosters. Fresh snow revealed the presence of almost no birds in some areas and a ton in others. The second spot I found a really nice covey of about 25 birds.

The last spot I was going to hunt presented an interesting situation. It’s just a tree line/over grown fence line. I parked on the field, loaded my shotgun, looked up and saw 2 deer running out the other end. Sure enough they must have spooked up a rooster and it was literally flying right at me. A volunteer! Well it flew right over me and I dumped it.

I usually miss the volunteer roosters with both barrels.

Brad Dimond wrote:

I usually miss the volunteer roosters with both barrels.

LOL

I carry an autoloader, so I get the privilege of missing three times.

E4mo wrote:

I carry an autoloader, so I get the privilege of missing three times.

I’ve seen someone miss 5 times! I only carry 3 shells in my Benelli so the max I can miss is 3 times too. Seems like if I have to shoot a 3rd round its just a waste of ammo. If you don’t hit them on the first or second shot, there’s really no point to shoot a third time because they’re outta dodge.

I was actually going to ask on the forum how many guys are killing roosters on their third shot (with any regularity). In 20 years, I can think of maybe 3 times the third shot bagged me a bird–and it was never the same bird I fired at with my first shot.

More times than I can count. The usual scenario is I rush the first two in excitement and miss with little pattern to my shot. I bear down on number three knowing it’s my last chance and it’s usually at perfect range.

E4mo wrote:

I was actually going to ask on the forum how many guys are killing roosters on their third shot (with any regularity).

I rarely even try if I missed the first two. Usually would be too far away for me by then anyways since I pass on most longer shots.

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

Just got back from SD trip #2 of the year. I’ve been going twice a year for the last 6 or 7 years and it seems the numbers on public land get worse and worse each trip. CRP dwindling down to nothing, droughts some years, floods other years, too tough of winters some years, emergency haying on drought years… I look back at what bird numbers were even as recent as 2010-2012 and really wish I could have experienced it before numbers fell off a cliff.

Hopefully Game, Fish and Parks has a long term plan to right the ship before it sinks. Eventually its going to get to a point where it makes more sense to stick around MN and just hunt a game farm rather than spend 5 vacation days, hundreds of dollars and put a couple thousand miles on the truck in hopes of seeing a couple birds each day only to have them flush when they’re 200 yards away. 3 guys + 3 dogs, 4 days on public and somewhere around 25 miles walked, we managed 4 birds. Every bird we saw was in cattails.

The last day of the trip we managed to get on some private land and man, what a difference it makes when the birds don’t flush from a couple hundred yards away.

I just want to say that is an awesome picture. What kind of dog vests are THOSE? Looks like some kind of padding on the underside?

Another Iowa bird. Got a 12:30 late start but I wanted get in what I could before the incoming weather. My Draht pointed this bird on a line fence. He was cat walking on another runner, it blew out, and I missed a very makable shot. Only two roosters I saw. Hope to get out another time or two before it’s over.

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

Just got back from SD trip #2 of the year. I’ve been going twice a year for the last 6 or 7 years and it seems the numbers on public land get worse and worse each trip. CRP dwindling down to nothing, droughts some years, floods other years, too tough of winters some years, emergency haying on drought years… I look back at what bird numbers were even as recent as 2010-2012 and really wish I could have experienced it before numbers fell off a cliff.

Yikes, that’s unfortunate. I’ve only been to SD once when I was kid and it was unlike something I’ll ever experience again. Sounds like you’d almost be better off hunting MN now.

BigWerm wrote:

Yikes, that’s unfortunate. I’ve only been to SD once when I was kid and it was unlike something I’ll ever experience again. Sounds like you’d almost be better off hunting MN now.

The loss of habitat in many states where pheasants thrive is alarming. Upland birds need grassland and much of that has been plowed up and turned into crop production. Even marginal land. Especially in states like the Dakotas, Iowa, Kansas, etc. Then throw in some poor weather patterns like a major drought which just compounds the problem. Its unfortunate, but conservation groups have almost no power compared to the agriculture world. They have tremendous power and its likely not to change anytime soon either. I will say that in Minnesota, there are state-mandated buffer strips required along waterways that other states do no have. That may be helping a little, and certainly is helping with water quality.

Tiling has been the demise of the conservation model in the Midwest. Big Ag Farmers are the largest welfare child in the US, but nobody can or wants to address that. Someone has to provide Brazil with grain!

Duluth1an,
You described why we quit going to SD. Most of the private land we hunted got out of the crp program and they pulled fence rows and shelter belts to farm a few more rows. When they allow emergency haying what is left is baled. You will have more fun on a game farm trip. Otherwise you have to pay exorbitant daily gun fees in excess of $100 per bird for those who manage there land for birds. Or need to hire a guide who has good land leased.

Mwal

Was able to get out last week right before Christmas. Knocked on a few doors and was able to hunt a piece of land that hadn’t been hunted all year! Jackpot! Needless to say it was a lot of fun.

That’s a handsome hunting partner @gerty

Thanks @E4mo

I do have to say he has the most German in him of any of the 3 GSP’s I have owned. Just a little on the stubborn side!

I probably took my last trip of the season yesterday.

My MIL lives in west central MN, so I generally plan on hunting when we visit her. Sunday evening brought snow, ice, and intense wind, but I figured I would sneak out for a bit on Monday morning, regardless of the weather.

Well, the morning started off real interesting. As my truck was covered with ice, I remote-started it to get it warmed up and thawing. I put Ripley in his crate and without thinking just tossed the keys on the console while I brushed/scraped. Well, it has an aftermarket remote start, and as I was scraping, it hit the 10-minute shutoff time, and I heard the locks click. OH $HIT! You’ve got to be kidding me. So, Ripley was locked in the back (SUV thankfully), and my only spare set of keys were in the Cities–probably about 4 hours round trip. Well, thankfully, the local mechanic swung over and was able to fish the keys off the console and then hit the unlock button. I was so grateful!!!

At this point, it was now 10:00, 10 F, and 30 mph winds, and I needed to be back by noon, but I figured, lets give it a go.

I found a nearby WMA near some corn stubble with a nice stand of cattails–and no sign of other hunters. Perfect. We spent about 1.5 hours working the area, flushed two roosters out (they were pretty far, and I couldn’t drop them), and saw a decent amount of tracks. At that point, my face was pretty cold and we needed to get back, so we called it a day.

Everything was covered in a thin layer of ice. Surely not great for wildlife, but it was really pretty. I was also grateful that I found a pair of ski goggles at my MIL’s house. I think I read that tip here once–it really helped with the wind!

Never ever throw your keys in the car or the bumper or anyplace else than your pocket. I know obvious. It also helps me remember by typing it! Nice goggles!