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I’ve been itching to do some ice fishing for lake trout since I heard about it from a coworker way back in the day. He used to winter camp with buddies up in the BWCA and do some sledding with their dogs.
The real bummer here is we have to wait until March for the laker season to open. I’m thinking Lake Nipigon for a laker trip this year. That lake gives up an occassional 30 – 40 lb laker which would be completely over the top. 
Well, I find myself a stranger in a strange land this October. I’m facing a weekend with nothing to do.
Minnesota firearms deer season is starting what feels like a week late this year. Pheasant season hasn’t been much fun, what with the pheasants not having the decency to turn up for it and all. The report on pheasants from my relatives near Marshall is that there are none. This is literally none, not figuratively none. They hunted last weekend and it was the first time in decades that anyone could recall where they put in a full morning of walking and did not see a bird. Not one.
The gun club has turned to Amateur Comedy Hour for the annual deer season sight-in crowd. And I do mean crowd. I won’t go near the club until they’re gone.
I don’t want to mess around anywhere near our deer hunting properties and risk disturbing the deer out there.
What’s a guy to do? Honestnly, I can’t remember the last time I had a free weekend in October. I suppose grouse hunting is an option and perhaps some of the big migrant woodcock are still around. I wonder if it’s too early to effectively call coyotes or are they too well-fed this time of year while it’s still warm?
What to do, what to do? Strange times.
Grouse
I’m taking a break and hitting Pools two and four this weekend. Yes, I’m doing both.
I’ll be doing winter prep chores this weekend but will be in the same boat as you in Nov. Even worse. Missing deer season this year (it looks like) and boat will be stored by then.
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Your relatives place near Marshall hits me as odd. I (and some friends) have yet to not fill out on the WMA’s/WPA’s that are around Marshall. Doesn’t matter the direction we have found birds (Not TONS of birds but we’ve had some shooting…). I’d give that a try…
This year?
I’m a little thrown off as well by the extra weekend between MEA and deer opener. We went fishing on Pool 2 on Sunday with my Dad (Rootski, primarily on IDO Fishing) and that was a blast! And it was beautiful day to be out on the river too.
I may consider MN then. Just got back from Iowa and that was disappointing though I may go back in Dec. I have at least one more game farm trip on the horizon to keep the pup coming along.
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Your relatives place near Marshall hits me as odd. I (and some friends) have yet to not fill out on the WMA’s/WPA’s that are around Marshall. Doesn’t matter the direction we have found birds (Not TONS of birds but we’ve had some shooting…). I’d give that a try…
They got a few birds each of the past few weekends, but they seem to see less and less as the season goes on. Normally it’s the other way around, they see more as the crop harvesting pushes the birds out of the crops and into the cover. Overall, the numbers in their area appear to be off >70% is their guesstimate. Normally the problem is finding roosters, but this year is notable because the problem is finding any birds at all.
My luck at fishing hasn’t been great lately, but that may be an option. I was to P2 last Saturday and caught 0. Yes, zero This is especially notable because I was with KWP of the Fishing forum, he and Jason placed 3rd in the pool 2 tournament recently. He caught 0 while we were fishing together as well, so at least I feel better that it wasn’t just me. KWP would want it to be noted that Jason joined him in the evening and they pounded the wingdams that night and ground out 11 fish. So maybe it is just me… 
I’d LOVE to go to the gun club this weekend, but I can’t stand being there with all the once-a-year guys hammering away. I need a zen-like calm to do anything productive. I can’t be sandwiched between some guy with an AK and another guy trying out his new .338, because a 300 win mag isn’t really enough for deer…
Is it a mistake or waste of time to try coyotes?
Grouse
There are just enough birds to keep us interested as well. Tyler and I had plenty of shooting Saturday to keep us busy.
Yes, the numbers are down. Not nearly as many hunters either in the SW.
Never a mistake to kill a yote in my opinion. Probably the least pressured now than any other time of year. The pelts are just coming prime so you might even get some value out of one.
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Grouse…I should add that 90% of the roosters were VERY young. The youngest I have ever seen out there. Another “point on the graph” about how harsh the LONG winter of 2012′ was…
No doubt about that. Not many long tails with big spurs. So far this season the dog CAUGHT the best one.
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Grouse…I should add that 90% of the roosters were VERY young. The youngest I have ever seen out there. Another “point on the graph” about how harsh the LONG winter of 2012′ was…
We noticed the same thing. Also the same with grouse this year.
If we think the numbers are bad this year, wait til next year if we have the winter they are predicting. Gonna be a few years before the birds can recover. Throw in less and less suitable habitat and you got a recipe for no more pheasants after long.
Yes, I’ve heard a lot of mention of how many young pheasants there are out there. Highly doubtful if any significant % of them will survive the winter.
Also, it’s gone almost unnoticed, but the Hungarian partridge have not just declined, but totally disappeared. I know the pheasants will eventually come back, but I’m really afraid the partridge may be gone forever. I’ve spoken several times with my uncle about trying to re-establish the 2-3 coveys that used to live on his land.
At least something will save me from terminal boredom. The new stock for my .223 just got delivered. Yea! Something new to play with!
Grouse
I’m kind of chomping at the bit too.
The pups recovered from last weekend and I only have Saturday open. I’d like to get him out but not sure where or for pheasants or grouse. Being on the south side of the cities I’m leaning towards pheasants.
Even though the bird numbers are way down, I still like to watch the pup work. He’s got a hell of a nose and a tremendous amount of drive.
No doubt the huns have disappeared. I can see the pheasants doing the same thing considering land mgt practices.
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No doubt the huns have disappeared. I can see the pheasants doing the same thing considering land mgt practices.
I can count the number of coveys of huns I’ve seen over the last several years down here on one hand. Not good. We used to have a couple coveys living on the various roads within a few miles of the farm before those back-to-back bad winters – though when the first big snow hit that first bad winter, and all the birds were on the road, I realized there were way more huns than I ever thought there were.
With the current trends, the disappearing CRP in the already highly developed agricultural areas like here is a scary prospect for many environmental aspects; including the pheasants. I do not believe, however, that the pheasant will not make a come back given the right conditions for a couple good hatches. Will it ever get to be what it was here in SC MN? Never know, but it would take a long time to get there as the birds were filthy thick.
I think it would be cool to raise some hungarians – However, if their released success rate is as poor as pheasants it would be hard as I remember looking up their prices once and do not recall them being real cheap. Any one know if there is data out there on success rates of released hungarians in the northern states?
Releasing birds, the survival rate is always very low. <10% survive over the winter.
With that said, the good news with Huns if I remember correctly is that they lay 14-22 eggs in one nesting. So if you can get the huns to survive one winter, you can go from a few, to a couple of coveys in one year.
I think the biggest thing is getting someone to be the “host” and I’d want to provide food for the first winter. I’m thinking of getting 50 or so and then putting them in a couple of shelter belts near my uncle’s farm and then he can put out some feed on the driveways to keep them in decent shape over the first winter. Hopefully 5-10 would make it.
I really miss the huns. There was nothing better than walking around thinking about a rooster getting up and then to have a covey of partridge explode under your feet.
Grouse
They are outstanding to eat.
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They are outstanding to eat.
Right!
My brother and I have talked about raising pheasants to release on our stuff, however, we very rarely pheasant hunt and certainly would not pheasant hunt the lands where they would be released due to our bowhunting. I know many people raising pheasants around here, just never known any one to raise partridge. Would be cool to raise a bunch and let go; only problem – is the cost of birds/food/netting worth it given the success rates even if you kept 10-20 of them for the freezer? I’d have no problem building the fly pens, digging in the sheet metal, and taking care of them just to help the population – certainly have built the habitat to support those that made it as we wintered 25-30 pheasants on our one piece last year. Any one know a cheaper route to getting partridge chicks? I know when I was in FFA growing up we could get pheasants for super cheap.
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