Pheasant Opener 2018

Great day for pheasant opener! What a joy it is to see the dogs do their thing. We had three dogs with us – my GSPs Fritz and Remi and our friend’s yellow lab Bailey (not pictured). Fritz tore his ACL and had knee surgery this summer so it was great to see him out there looking for birds with us!

It was super windy and a bit chilly for opener, but the sun peaked out for a little bit around lunchtime and warmed us up. Dad found me a snake warming himself along the trail too! I spotted several dozen woolley bugger caterpillars and a frog that was too fast for me to catch.

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I love pheasant hunting and look forward to it every year – the exercise, fresh air, watching the dogs, and hanging out with family and friends.

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Anyone else get out and do some pheasant hunting? Feel free to share your stories and photos here!

I really miss pheasant hunting but it’s hard to find the time these days. It’s also very depressing to see what has happened to the habitat over the past 10 years. It’s hard to draw any conclusion other than the fact that the bird numbers in MN and SD will remain low for years to come and one bad winter could nearly eliminate pheasants entirely from a large area.

Next summer I’m going to start working on establishing pheasants near my hunting property. It’s a long-term project to be sure and no guarantee of success, but ironically east central MN now has more and better pheasant habitat than SW MN has left. Winters are, of course, the issue, but other species have made the transition. Wild turkeys were unheard of in the area where my farm is just 25 years ago and now they are everywhere and hard winters seem to have minimal impact because food is so much more plentiful.

Grouse

When you told your dad to flip the bird I think he had the wrong idea…

Congrats- looks like a good time!

Looks awesome Sharon! Do you guys have private land access, or public? See many other hunters out? I’m looking forward to getting out soon!

We were hunting private land, so we wouldn’t see anyone else in that area. We did, however, get checked by a DNR officer. He said he was out and about checking licenses, which we all have, of course. That’s gotta be a tough job.

Looks great. Had a bit of a rollercoaster week here, so pheasant hunting got sent to the back burner, but I’m hoping to get out once or twice this coming weekend.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Next summer I’m going to start working on establishing pheasants near my hunting property. It’s a long-term project to be sure and no guarantee of success, but ironically east central MN now has more and better pheasant habitat than SW MN has left. Winters are, of course, the issue, but other species have made the transition. Wild turkeys were unheard of in the area where my farm is just 25 years ago and now they are everywhere and hard winters seem to have minimal impact because food is so much more plentiful.

Grouse

East Bethel to Mora use to have huntable pheasants. We hunted the Braham/Rush City area 35 years ago. I’m sure there are still pockets of birds but I think it’s a far cry from what it used to be. Even in East Central MN a lot of former farms have turned into housing subdivisions.

I love pheasant hunting also. I will be heading out both of the next two weekends.

Out at 9:00 sharp this morning for the Wisconsin opener, St. Croix County, in, to say the least, not the best of conditions. Only kicked out one woodcock on woods edge, but not for a lack of effort by Piper. Still lots of standing corn. Good time.

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The wind scared us away on Saturday morning, but we hunted in west central MN for a few hours on Sunday. No roosters to be had, but we saw 5-6 hens. Ripley did well.

As of last Wednesday, only 15% of the corn had been harvested statewide and only 37% of the beans were out. I’m sure some was removed since because we had some dry days but until a significant portion is removed, its going to be tough. For that reason, plus gale force winds, I have decided to wait in an effort to increase my odds of success.

I was actually surprised at the amount of corn and beans that had been harvested where we were, and there was a lot coming out this weekend, too.

Pheasant hunting is by far my favorite hobby, I try getting out as much as possible but with a young family it is getting more difficult. Quick little one hour hunts on pieces of public land near home are becoming the norm for me. I’ve been out 3 times this year and gotten one rooster each time, so overall I’d say it’s been a successful year! My goal is to get 1-2 one hour hunts per week, plus 2 SD trips later this fall.

Iowa opens this weekend. Looking forward to our annual trips. Anybody else participating?

mnrabbit wrote:

I try getting out as much as possible but with a young family it is getting more difficult. Quick little one hour hunts on pieces of public land near home are becoming the norm for me.

I feel your pain. I wish I had some closer options that held birds.

I was out in the quasi blizzard Saturday morning, most of the areas I hunted in the Faribault area had the corn and beans in yet. Lots of tractor-jams, so the crops should be out soon. We didn’t see any birds, but usually don’t until the crops are out down there.

Got two this weekend. There must have been a late hatch because it seemed like a lot of young birds. There were some flushes that seemed to have a longer tail but not much color and I wasn’t sure what they were. One of the birds I got I shot because it cackled. The feathers on its head hadn’t all unrolled yet, the white ones were still tubes. Also had really short tail feathers. There were some others I didn’t shoot at that had a short tail, and I thought might be a rooster, but I couldn’t see any colors to be really sure.

I didn’t think to get a close-up picture but you can see the difference between them in this picture:

https://i.imgur.com/qGIym4K.jpg

You know they will be tender!

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mnrabbit wrote:</div>
I try getting out as much as possible but with a young family it is getting more difficult. Quick little one hour hunts on pieces of public land near home are becoming the norm for me.

I feel your pain. I wish I had some closer options that held birds.

I am lucky enough to at least have a few options within a 5-10 minute drive. One of them seems to at least produce a chance at a rooster about 50% of the time. And a couple hen flushes for the dog 95% of the time. Mostly just out to spend time with and watch the dog anyways.

Iowa? Not for $140 bucks. HARD pass

gimruis wrote:

Iowa? Not for $140 bucks. HARD pass

$130.69 for lic. Cheapest lodging and food I have ever seen. Good people (them and us)
Very economical fun for 4-5 weekends.

Suzuki, me and my dad just got our licenses and are in our motel in Emmetsburg right now. Will report back later. Good luck!

I like staying in Emmetsburg. We were in Sac all weekend. OK luck but no limits which is fine. We all got plenty of meat. I got to shoot a lot of the birds Sat. They were just flying for me and I couldnt miss. Then I whiffed a couple Sun morning to bring me back to reality…….
Flushed one covey of huns but did not see them in time to shoot.
50% or more of the corn is standing so birds were tougher to find. Should only get better in the coming weeks. I’m heading back next weekend.

Good stuff, ‘Zuki.

We hunted a few hours Saturday in Central MN. Location was picked based on proximity to my parents’ house versus where I would have wanted to hunt. It was wet and dead calm. Didn’t see a single pheasant. I bumped into another solo hunter who pointed me in the direction of a lone rooster that he’d flushed and missed, but we never stumbled upon it, and I didn’t feel like busting through a wet cattail marsh. Still, it was enjoyable to get out and watch Ripley in his element. Also, I logged a few miles on my new Irish Setter Wingshooters. So far, I like them, and my feet stayed dry despite nature’s best efforts.

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Spent the weekend down by Fairmont. Corn is around 50% picked. If you can find any CRP adjacent to standing corn, make sure you walk that 75 yard swath closest to the corn at 9 am sharp! I swear them roosters have a watch and know that 9am is coming! Below is Duke and I with one of the roosters from this weekend. Hunted all day Sat and Sun, we flushed 60 total birds (4 guys 1 dog). All public land.

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Very nice, Bigbeard. I’ll bet Duke slept well!

Ohh I can promise you he is teats up right now! Was a slow morning for him today. He couldn’t wait for me to go to work so he could get back to bed.

Billy, Dad and I got out the weekend before last and found some success! The wind was significantly less this outing which made more a more enjoyable hunt, though it was still pretty chilly. Fritz and Remi did very well and at one point we flushed about 20 hens! Okay, it was probably only about 5 hens, but they flushed one at a time after another and it was very exciting!

Winter seems to be knocking a bit early this fall. It just doesn’t last long enough, does it?

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