Pheasant Reports

I figured I would start a “Pheasant Report” topic for 2018.

So, let’s hear them!

@mookieblaylock mentioned his struggles. I will readily admit that I’ve struggled to find time to hunt this season. With a young family and a new job, I wish I could get out more and travel to better hunting destinations, but it’s just not in the cards for me right now.

I’ve struggled so far on MN public land this season. I hunted yesterday afternoon/golden hour in western Stearns county. The weather was beautiful. There were pockets of snow on the ground. It’s an area that I know holds birds.

I saw plenty of evidence of birds and even heard a mocking cackle at one point. My dog got real hot on a few occasions, but we didn’t get any airborne. Sunday afternoon probably isn’t the best time to hunt public land, but it’s what worked for me, so I had to go.

All in all, it was nice to be out and work the dog, but it was still a little frustrating for me. I have no doubts in my dog’s ability, and he works hard, so I want to reward him with a mouthful of feathers.

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I’ve only been out once this year, but will be out again this weekend hopefully down by Faribault.

Its been ok for me but the weather has been awful with cold and wind. Averaging about 2 birds a day hunting near Madelia early and now in north central Iowa. There seems to be places in Iowa where there was very little hatch. 30 mile away not bad. Best outing was 3 Iowa roosters in and hour and 5 minutes with 3 pointed and retrieved birds from my 5 yr old setter. One was an excellent water retrieve. Of course there has been the usual mental lapses,…forgetting to load up doesnt work well, goofing up the safe, not recognizing a rooster,…etc. Corn is 80-90 percent out. Birds are getting wilder running off points almost all the time now. BTW Winchester Blind side #2 in 3″ is an awesome steel load. Crossing shots out to 50 yards doable especially if u r confident in your dog. Good luck and be safe.

I got another lesson that dogs are not infallible. My dog pointed a bird Sat and buddies flusher came in and pushed her off but then didnt find the bird. Both dogs moved on but I was certain my dog was not false pointing so I went in and kicked around. Poof, out comes the rooster and I nailed him.
Birds are definitely wiser. We played chess with them twice on Sunday and lost miserably both times.

Ha ha! Yeah, I have learned that lesson…finally. Seems that every time I don’t trust him, there’s a bird. It took more lessons (for me) than it should have.

Been to north central Iowa a couple times, once in opener and again last weekend. Hunting with my dad who is 71 and not in the best health so the ground we can cover is pretty limited, mainly good looking ditches and smaller chunks of cover. Also this is my dog’s(1.5 yr old female black lab) first hunting season. We’ve only put two pheasants in the bag even though we’ve dropped 4 or 5(I know, sucks), but her retrieves we’re almost flawless and I couldn’t be any more proud of her. The way she works now that she’s getting the hang of things is pretty impressive. She’s a tiny lab at only 45 lbs or so, and it’s hilarious watching her work tall grass, always standing on her hind legs and hopping to take a look around. She did have a little bit of practice with a grouse and a couple woodcock earlier this fall, so that helped. All in all, it’s been my most fun hunting season ever and I couldn’t be any more thankful to have my baby girl! Some pics:

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Having trouble posting more than one picture at a time so this is going to be sloppy and annoying…

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Heard a interesting thing yesterday I had never even considered. Guy was saying the lack of Pheasants is partly due to the abundance of Turkey. Turkey apparently are ground feeders and Pheasant eggs are part of their diet.

Guess i’ve never thought of that before but it makes sense.

Couple more…

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Pretty dog!

basseyes wrote:

Pretty dog!

Thank you, sir- she’s my world

Looks good, Auto-5!

I was planning on hunting some public land yesterday afternoon, but a neighbor asked if I wanted to join in on a game farm hunt with him and a few friends, so we did that, instead. There were a ton a scratch birds out along with the birds we had them put out, so the dogs got a lot of bird action!

It was quite gusty which made scenting a little tough for Ripley, but he did well. He was a retrieving machine, which surprised me because we were hunting with two labs, and he’s generally not as hard-nosed about retrieves, but he beat them to a lot of birds. He even surprised me with a double retrieve.

He also tracked and caught two injured runners, which was great to see.

He came home filthy and happy!

We’ll be back after wild birds again, soon.

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I made it out Friday and Saturday for a few hours on public land in South Central Minnesota. The roosters are really running and not wanting to fly AT ALL. I’ve really never seen it quite like this. My lab was birdy and acting like he was on birds almost the entire time, a couple of occasions I even saw the roosters running a few feet ahead of him and then they would just magically disappear. Hens would hold tight and flush, but Roosters are just running like crazy. Didn’t come across much in cattails or taller grass, most of it was in relatively short grass. Tracks were everywhere as well. I’ve got 3 or 4 days coming up in South Dakota later this week, so hopefully that goes well!

Absolutely terrible in eastern ND. Worst hunting season for upland game and waterfowl in my life. I’ve given up on hunting this year, I’m sticking with ice fishing! It’s been great.

I hunt east central MN and it has been nothing short of fantastic since mid November after most of the corn went out. December could be even better now that the bag limit is 3 and there’s fresh snow on the ground.

Way to go, Ripley

MNrabbit, that’s funny you mention the short grass holding the most birds because that’s exactly what we experienced in Iowa. Some other hunters we talked to down there said the same thing. Almost all the birds we saw were in brown grass a foot tall or less…

gim wrote:

I hunt east central MN

East central, huh? I always head west. Maybe I should rethink.

Billy, my Dad, and I got out pheasant hunting for a couple hours yesterday. It was cold and windy and for some reason the birds were jumpy as hell. Fritz and Remi did great and enjoyed running through the snow, and it’s always fun to get out and get some fresh air and exercise!

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Last time I was out, the birds were jumpy also. Time to go stealth mode and pull out some late-season tricks. Good luck,

@rootski

What on earth are you holding? That’s not your signature muzzleloader!

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

What on earth are you holding? That’s not your signature muzzleloader!

Gasp! That looks like a….a….Lord I can hardly say it. He appears to be holding a…PUMP GUN!!!!!!!!! Save him Jesus! The Devil himself has Rootski in his grasp.

If Rootski is a little slow in answering (atoning? confessing?) to machine gunning pheasants, well, it’s probably because he went to have his aura cleansed.

Grouse

Next up is a semi-auto with 10-rd mag extension!

Rootski, let’s talk Benellis sometime! lol

When the wind is blowing 30 MPH and it’s 26 degrees, I find it hard to make these old fingers handle percussion caps, powder measures, and all the paraphernalia that goes with a muzzle loader. There’s a reason they invented self contained ammo. That 870 is about 40 years old so I don’t feel too bad carrying it. On the other hand, I never got that gun to my shoulder yesterday. Bad karma? Makes me wonder.

Now, if I could find an affordable Stevens 311 or an old A.H.E Fox in 20 gauge I’d be delighted. A 20 gauge side bu side would be wonderful. But I’ll never be able to afford one.

S.R.

Been tough for me and the two dogs to find any roosters over here in western WI. We have lots of public land though and that is nice to get out and work the dogs. Hens keep it interesting. But I’ve been frustrated a few times with nothing to shoot at!

Steve Root wrote:

When the wind is blowing 30 MPH and it’s 26 degrees, I find it hard to make these old fingers handle percussion caps, powder measures, and all the paraphernalia that goes with a muzzle loader. There’s a reason they invented self contained ammo. That 870 is about 40 years old so I don’t feel too bad carrying it. On the other hand, I never got that gun to my shoulder yesterday. Bad karma? Makes me wonder.

Just so you’re aware, the pump gun cancels out all your style points. Unless, of course, it’s a 16 or 26, therefore the PITA factor of finding ammo actually gives you 36 style points per outing.

The only way to sink any lower would be to carry some kind of gawdawful 12 gauge (cringe) auto-loader with a Faux-Italian name.

If you did that, well, we have a word that perfectly describes those who sink that low: Suzuki.

Grouse

What is a 26?

Steve Root wrote:

What is a 26?

You really get style points if you’re shooting a 26!!!

I’m sitting here wondering if I’ve ever seen the words “style points” and “Steve Root” in the same paragraph before. Seems like quite a stretch.

S.R.