Day one of this hunt in the books and I can definitely say there are not many birds in this local area like there usually is. Hunting some usually prime private property in western MN near the Willmar area. Talking to some farmers they didn’t see very many while combining this year. Thinking the drought and lack of bugs for the chicks to eat played a role.
My dog did have an awesome retrieve on the one bird we got. She tracked him, then locked up on point. Put the rooster down on the first shot but not cleanly. We saw it run through some thin grass and took off. My dog followed immediately and disappeared over a hill. She came back 10 minutes later with the bird in her mouth.
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No snow on the ground out there anymore huh
Pretty much just snow in the ditches. Hunted a public piece this morning and didn’t see any birds. Went back to some private and shot one and missed one. Flushed a couple hens but still not seeing the numbers we normally do. Gonna take an afternoon break and then try again closer to evening still always a good time.
Weekend 4 in Iowa and birds have not been coming easily. Public land has been pummeled so not a good option right now. Ditch hunting is getting us a few birds but it’s a grind. Man do I know what Iowa countryside looks like. Dogs are getting hardened but they still don’t know what wire is. Had both dogs get flipped today but luckily no injuries. My young dog has improved drastically since the beginning. Shes a keeper. Due to a packing mishap all I had to hunt with this weekend was my 44 year old Rem 870. Haven’t hunted with it in many years but she still works! Man did I miss my Italians!!
I went out yesterday afternoon for a few hours for the first time since my dog got cut 15 days ago. Dumped three roosters at the first spot and finished with four. It was easy to tell if there were birds in an area with the fresh snow. We probably raised about 50 in 3 different spots, plus 3 deer. Areas with corn nearby were the best.
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nice work! good looking birds. were they older or younger birds?
Super nice. Im leaving for Iowa in 30 minutes for the weekend. With any luck Ill have some kills this afternoon.
nice work! good looking birds. were they older or younger birds?
2 of them were older birds with long spurs.
Nice cocks Gim! That is a productive day. Fresh snow and late season pheasants are the best.
Does your dog have a license too? 
Does your dog have a license too?
Yes, but she didn’t sign it. You know, the lack of thumbs. 
I went out yesterday afternoon for a few hours for the first time since my dog got cut 15 days ago. Dumped three roosters at the first spot and finished with four. It was easy to tell if there were birds in an area with the fresh snow. We probably raised about 50 in 3 different spots, plus 3 deer. Areas with corn nearby were the best.
Nice work man!
I am out in SD today trying a brand new area. Did not fire a single shot. Probably the most hardcore conditions I’ve encountered. Whiteout conditions at times. Wind advisory, 30 mph gusting to 43 mph. It was almost unhuntable. I tried a couple spots but it was miserable. Saturday and Sunday look much better so I am hopeful.
Good luck Lindy, I hope you get into them. That SD Dec weather can be quite the B when she wants to
Couldn’t get the third one but only had a few hours. Saw 5 (I think) other roosters. One I couldn’t have missed but it was too low and close to dog. Some jumped on their own too far out. One was pointed on two sides and then I kicked it up but it was in a wooded area and I just watched it fly away thinking it would cross a bigger opening 
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Good luck Lindy, I hope you get into them. That SD Dec weather can be quite the B when she wants to
Thanks Gitchi
Kinda a learning curve to a new area. But got er done today. Will post a full report in the SD thread.
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Was able to get it done with a buddy on Friday afternoon down in IA. Mainly walked waterways with buffers on the sides. Missed two at our first spot and left feeling kind of dejected. Got to the 2nd spot and had one of the dogs flush 3 roosters to far away. Got lucky enough to get all 3 birds back up again and connected on all 3. Last spot flushed nothing but hens and on the way I out I told my buddy that maybe the roosters were in the road ditch. We ended up getting 3 out the ditches on the way back to the truck and could have had a 4th. Made for a great day!
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Excellent. Looks like I may have started a rooster tail gate photo trend.
I think Im done with Iowa and pheasants for the year. I have been down to Iowa every weekend but one since opener and it has gotten progressively worse each time. This past weekend was almost a complete failure.
Hunted east to west and stayed in some fun cities. Saw a ton of scenery and many many small towns and history down there. This weekend we saw 2 trophy bucks. The likes of which I have not seen in so many years I cant remember. Gun opener had the deer pushed out of deep cover and into the open during the day.
I deep cleaned my guns and put them away. Time to blow the dust off my ice gear!
Kinda a learning curve to a new area. But got er done today. Will post a full report in the SD thread.
Nice work Lindy! I don’t know if there is a more impressive hunting feat to me than a public land limit of roosters done solo. Cheers mate!
I’m heading to South Dakota later this week and saying I’m excited is an understatement.
LOL yeah it wasn’t easy. At one point I was working this big WPA. It was excellent cover thick grass mixed with cattails. The water was dry and so you could walk on the frozen mud. My dog was really birdy in several spots and there were tracks everywhere. Some really fresh tracks in the snow too. But we never put a single bird in the air. I think they were just running on us. After that one I kinda thought WTF am I doing out here, lol. But I regrouped and tried to keep a positive attitude. Had fun regardless, just me and my dog and made some new friends at the bar each night 
We were taking tail gate photos some 30 – 40 years ago. 
Don’t post photos on this site and far less now on other sites than I used too, but will on occasion when a simple C&P works.
The old url route … don’t bother anymore.
I got a couple roosters this afternoon. I couldn’t get that third one. Two things happened to me today that hasn’t occurred in years: I lost a cripple and I missed a lay up.
I dumped a rooster on an open field and when I got to the edge of the grass I shot it from, there was no sign of it. It should have been laying there stone dead. I got there literally within 10 seconds. The dog and I tried to find that damn thing for 30 minutes without success.
Well then at the last spot, a big long tailed dumbass rooster gets up right in front of me. I had 2 easy shots at it and a third shot a little further out. Nothing. I walked out of that spot swearing out loud.
The good news is that I saw about 60 birds at 5 different spots.
Well then at the last spot, a big long tailed dumbass rooster gets up right in front of me. I had 2 easy shots at it and a third shot a little further out. Nothing. I walked out of that spot swearing out loud.
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Funny. My buddy and I were standing on the edge of a field a couple weeks ago deciding which direction to walk. About 45 seconds into the conversation a rooster jumps out of the grass about 4 feet from me. Scared the &$@& out of me. I ripped off of two shots and then a third out of frustration when he was about 120 yards out. We also had two veteran labs that went “oops, sorry about that boss”. The worst part was that it was almost sunset and the last bird of the day. I hate having to stew about a bad shot the whole week…
Well then at the last spot, a big long tailed dumbass rooster gets up right in front of me. I had 2 easy shots at it and a third shot a little further out. Nothing. I walked out of that spot swearing out loud.
Funny. My buddy and I were standing on the edge of a field a couple weeks ago deciding which direction to walk. About 45 seconds into the conversation a rooster jumps out of the grass about 4 feet from me. Scared the &$@& out of me. I ripped off of two shots and then a third out of frustration when he was about 120 yards out. We also had two veteran labs that went “oops, sorry about that boss”. The worst part was that it was almost sunset and the last bird of the day. I hate having to stew about a bad shot the whole week…
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The dog looked at me like wtf too.
Weve all been there Gim. Its the easy shots that get missed. Ive pulled off some miraculous tough shots and missed the gimmes
Often the misses come when you have too much time to think about it, gun on shoulder. For me instinctive snap shots are usually more accurate. Last weekend I too missed a chip shot. Had way too much time to think about it shot in front of it twice thinking way too much about the lead.
I agree with you suzuki. Its a lot of the times where I am surprised or nearly crap my pants when they get up at my feet that I blast em. The ones where the dog is on point and holding and I walk in on it get the best of me sometimes. I had a buddy in college who said he would never miss a pheasant because they were so “easy” to hit. He was humbled the first time I took him out and he missed a bunch of easy ones. He was a good shot too, big time waterfowler.
We had 4 guys this last weekend for our annual pheasant trip where a rudy popped up 4 ft from my buddy and flew right over all our heads. That bird dodged every one of our shots. My buddies only hunt once a year so they have half an excuse, but I missed too. I’ll be stewing over that until I drop my next bird.
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