2024 pheasant season

crawdaddy wrote:

*I’m guessing where gim hunts there’s still a lot of standing corn. Sometimes I don’t think they harvest up north until March.

It’s true, that area is generally further behind. Most of it is out as of about mid November there. I saw some still up though. Honestly I think it’s just pure laziness on the part of the farmer hoping the price goes up.

Small pieces of standing corn in December are magnets for pheasants, and other wildlife though. If you can find it, and receive permission to hunt it of course.

Got my two last Saturday again. Had an incredible flush of roosters right at my feet to end the morning. Until that flush had only seen a few hens and one rooster (got him). Must be grouping up already with the snow.

Not sure I’ll get out this weekend with highs in the single digits. Maybe a couple small walks. We’ll see.

My setter doesn’t like cattails much, she likes to look for cover and circles down wind of it, it’s fun to watch. She loves the open prairie grasses. Might make a trip to Iowa in a couple weekends to get to some warmer temps and rolling grassland.

I went earlier this afternoon and picked off a couple more dumb ones at the first spot. All the ground has frozen solid so it was much easier walking. The ditches and other low areas still aren’t completely frozen though.

A buddy was walking on ponds yesterday in west central MN. THey got 4 birds. Didnt see a ton, but got the ones they should have.

I would not use the word laziness as the reason why farmers have not cut their corn yet.

Brittman wrote:

I would not use the word laziness as the reason why farmers have not cut their corn yet.

There are tons of other reasons why it would still be in the field and its not just relegated to waiting for the price to go up. Many times the farmers have already locked in their rate for whenever they plan to harvest it because they have no place to store it, dry it etc and will just pick it right before then.

Yep – what CM said.

By the way this early ice forming should take quite a bit of pressure off public land pheasant (and I suppose grouse) spots. Sure, the diehard pheasant hunters keep going, but the generalists will gravitate quickly to ice fishing.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Brittman wrote:</div>
I would not use the word laziness as the reason why farmers have not cut their corn yet.

There are tons of other reasons why it would still be in the field and its not just relegated to waiting for the price to go up. Many times the farmers have already locked in their rate for whenever they plan to harvest it because they have no place to store it, dry it etc and will just pick it right before then.

True, I should not paint every one of them as being lazy. Seems to be the same fields every year that don’t get harvested in a timely manner.

I’m glad people go ice fishing instead. I know I would pick pheasant hunting every single time.

Birds are definitely flocking up. Waterways will hold a dogs weight down in SW MN today but wasn’t willing to step on it myself. Might tomorrow with how cold it will be. Managed 1 off a flock that flushed wild and chased down individuals. Saw a couple young roosters on their own in the thick cover but wasnt able to connect. Gonna be chilly, but looking forward to the next couple days here. Then it’s off to SE MN for another rooster chase next weekend.

Charlie W wrote:

My setter doesn’t like cattails much, she likes to look for cover and circles down wind of it, it’s fun to watch. She loves the open prairie grasses. Might make a trip to Iowa in a couple weekends to get to some warmer temps and rolling grassland.

My Setter isn’t a huge cattail buster either. This is the time if you have a pointer/flusher combo that works well together it really shines. My Setter will point a bird 50 yards away/deep in a thicket if the wind is strong enough. Then send the flusher (or versatile in my case) in after it. Just gotta hope your in the right spot when the birds flush. It’s a satisfying feeling when it comes together.

With the sun and low winds the birds were heading to the fields right about 8:50am. Sometimes I swear they wear watches. But, the birds that slept in held tight and I finally got some great points on roosters out of my Munsterlander pup. They were holding so tight I was able to walk around my dogs to get pictures of a double point, put my gun away, then flush. Subconsciously I missed that bird because I wanted to hunt this afternoon… This was all after taking a 5 min rest 50 yards away while conversing loudly with my dogs. Just a great morning out.

Sounds like great conditions there!! They sure get smart this time of year.

Not sure I’ll get out this weekend. Highs in the single digits with some pretty intense winds. Maybe head out in the afternoon and walk some smaller, quicker stuff.

Another limit for the year and if it was Dec I don’t think I would have had much trouble getting the third. Lots of roosters in the grass still this morning and most holding tight. Was a long walk back to the truck since I was at the opposite end of tbe piece I was hunting and couldn’t get the dogs to stop pointing the whole way back. Feel like this was the weekend I really saw it coming together with the new pup. Off to SE MN next weekend with a big group to see what we can flush.

My friend John and I got 3 this afternoon. Could not get the 4th rooster.

One spot had the mother load of about 30 birds but they were all getting up out of range. I’ll be going back to that spot next time from a different approach.

Every ditch and cattail swamp was froze solid now enough to walk on. My 12 year old lab had more energy today in the cold temps too.

You guys are good hunters. I been sucking wind lately. Hunted a spot I hate today. I do it once a year. Always birds there, but a good chunk is covered with some very tall woody forb, might be giant ragweed.

5 degrees to start the morning, got up to about 10. Saw dozens of birds feeding on the edges before I got to my first spot.

Walked two shorter pieces, didn’t get to walk my favorite sneaky spot because someone was there…

Flushed a dozen or so hens that held nicely and one wily rooster that didn’t give us a chance. Dog was pretty covered in snow and ice so quit around noon. Hindsight I should have started around noon and hunted in the afternoon. Snow is sure a blessing and a curse this time of year.

I drove down to hutchinson on Saturday to visit my dad and I was amazed that almost all of the cattail sloughs were flat. Not sure if it was the dry late summer or what but they looked like a tangled up mess and a hard pass for hunting unless you could walk over it.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Not sure if it was the dry late summer or what but they looked like a tangled up mess and a hard pass for hunting unless you could walk over it.

Some of the cattails where I hunt are like that too. It was from 3-4 inches of very heavy, wet snow on Halloween. A week before that they were all standing and the week after, some of them had flattened along with 90% of the canary grass. Only a portion of the state received this from SW Minnesota going northeastward.

I hunted some of those laid down cattails and canary grass out by Hutch 3 weeks ago. A pain in the ass for sure.

Ah that is right I forgot about that snow. That would be a disaster to walk for sure. THankfully I was just observing from my truck.

I was pretty surprised on our Thanksgiving road trip to Hastings, Nebraska, didn’t see anyone hunting NE, only a couple in Iowa but quite a few in MN on the way home Sunday.

I got a pheasant Monday. I only hunted 45 minutes before work. It’s kind of a secret spot. Privately owned by a small habitat/water quality group. I called the director a few years ago and he said it’s open to hunting for anyone. I’ve only seen it pheasant hunted by another person one time. There’s always birds in there, but thick cover and tricky to hunt. It’s the first bird I ever got there, although I flushed 3 or 4 roosters there last year. My shooting has been off so it was nice to connect.

Glad to hear you are on the board again.

Nice Craw! I was out in that Hutch area the day after Halloween. Just brutal. I should have went back to the truck but falsely hoped I’d stay on top of that ice sheet. We didn’t and I was hit with a vet bill due to my pup pulling back all his front nails as he broke through on every step. Saw a few roodys but wasn’t even able to connect for our troubles. Lesson learned on those conditions.

Stunning day to hunt. Took me about 2 hours. No roosters at the first spot, just hens. I got a double at the second spot, and a single shortly into the third spot. They’re still getting up kind of dumb, especially for December.

My lab had a bad morning of hunting yesterday. We were 100yards from the truck she was going through some heavy cover wile in there she started to sneeze. I called her back to see what was up. There was no blood but she hasn’t stopped sneezing. We headed to the vet 20 miles. She stopped sneezing just as I pulled in to the parking lot. Vet couldn’t find anything in her nose. I got caught up on her shots and we left. The vet said in order for her to look farther in her nose she would have to sedate her. She didn’t think that was going to be necessary because she had stopped sneezing and was acting normal.

Just had that happen to my Setter last weekend after a hunt. He’d have sneezing fits every 5 minutes or if his sinuses were stimulated. I figured if it lasted a week or noticed swelling/blood/low energy I’d take him to the vet. It took a good 5 days but be must have gotten it out. Odd stuff.

Just got back from my annual buddies trip. As much as I love bragging about my dog’s and I’s successes, theres a reason its called hunting not killing. We did a new area in SE MN. Mostly public but had access to about 200 yards of a private waterway. Between 5 of us we shot 0 birds, and not for lack of birds, flushes, or points. For the other 4 guys this is virtually there only hunt for the year but even I have to hang my head for just pi$$ poor shooting. I wish this was more the exception than the rule, but this seems to be the way it goes for this particular group. The bright side, old friends gathered, hunted, drank, ate, and swapped stories for a 9th year in a row and I couldn’t have had a better time. Well… unless we actually hit a bird. Bird numbers looked solid and they held tight for it being December. Time to start planning year 10.