Minnesota Pheasant Opener Results?

Anyone get out? Any luck? I am looking forward to Iowa opener in less than two weeks.

Not Minnesota, it was North Dakota but my buddy and a 4 other guys got 11.

I didnt make it out, but I saw one guy posted elsewhere they had their 3 man limit by 10. That is pretty impressive. Not sure where hunting though, but it was in MN.

Ahren Wagner wrote:

Not Minnesota, it was North Dakota but my buddy and a 4 other guys got 11.

Not bad at all for opener. Ill bet the amount of standing corn was unbelievable. That’s our biggest deterrent on opener but just the fun of getting out for the first time gets us past that hurdle.

I heard it was a complete train wreck. A couple friends of mine hunted for as long as they could tolerate sideways rain in 40 mph winds and then they gave up.

It’ll get better. Just give it some time. Another month when most crops are gone.

Only saw 1 report from a buddy that lives in Ottertail County who was solo and had his limit in the first hour. Not sure where he was hunting. Lot of green corn out there still!

I had afternoon plans but hunted public land in West Central MN from 9-11 on Saturday. It was cold, windy, and wet, but we flushed 6 in under 2 hours. Unfortunately, they were all hens. Such are the breaks, though. The dog and I had fun.

Our group of 3 hunted public land in Lac Qui Parle County from 9 to 3 on Saturday. It was windy but it didn’t really rain or snow while we were hunting. We ended up with 3 birds. Could have had a couple more with some better luck. Lots of crops still in the field and obviously super wet.

Paper said 170 hunters got 44 roosters in the Govs opener. Hopefully, better hunting ahead.

gimruis wrote:

I heard it was a complete train wreck. A couple friends of mine hunted for as long as they could tolerate sideways rain in 40 mph winds and then they gave up.

The weather was a complete cluster f and then I also hard from relatives that SW MN has about 0.00% of the crop harvested which is a record low, so getting the birds pinned down when they are surrounded by tens of thousands of acres of standing corn and beans will be a huge challenge for a long time to come.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>gimruis wrote:</div>
I heard it was a complete train wreck. A couple friends of mine hunted for as long as they could tolerate sideways rain in 40 mph winds and then they gave up.

The weather was a complete cluster f and then I also hard from relatives that SW MN has about 0.00% of the crop harvested which is a record low, so getting the birds pinned down when they are surrounded by tens of thousands of acres of standing corn and beans will be a huge challenge for a long time to come.

Grouse

Yes, fully agree. By thanksgiving there will be far less places to hide.

Made it out to a local WPA for a quick evening hunt last night, my first of the year. I saw a very good number of birds, however most were all young. We flushed 2 definite hens. 1 rooster, which I was lucky enough to bag, and it was probably the smallest/youngest rooster I can recall ever shooting. Then we flushed probably another 8-10 birds that I have no idea if they were roosters or hens, so no shots taken. Most of them took off in a straight line away from me and never allowed myself to get a good ID on their color or tail length. If they flushed to the side for a crossing shot I’m guessing they could have been ID’d… If they can survive a few more weeks to grow, and wait for the crops to come out, I am optimistic for a good Minnesota year for my local expectations (my local expectations are to be able to get in good dog work – flushing a few hens in each field, and have the opportunity to shoot a Rooster in most fields).

mnrabbit wrote:

Then we flushed probably another 8-10 birds that I have no idea if they were roosters or hens, so no shots taken.

That’s a good point. I guess some of the hens that I flushed could have been young roosters, but they looked enough like hens that I wasn’t going to risk it, and none of them cackled.

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

That’s a good point. I guess some of the hens that I flushed could have been young roosters, but they looked enough like hens that I wasn’t going to risk it, and none of them cackled.

I don’t ever recall seeing this many this young and hard to ID. I can recall a few here and there on hunts over the years, but never literally almost every bird we saw – and a good amount of birds too.

mnrabbit wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ralph Wiggum wrote:</div>
That’s a good point. I guess some of the hens that I flushed could have been young roosters, but they looked enough like hens that I wasn’t going to risk it, and none of them cackled.

I don’t ever recall seeing this many this young and hard to ID. I can recall a few here and there on hunts over the years, but never literally almost every bird we saw – and a good amount of birds too.

Come December, all those “roosters” will be fully grown, bright colored roosters!