Pheasant Reports

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Steve Root wrote:</div>
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

Grazie Signore.

Saw a lot of birds from a distance today, a lot of hens and a couple roosters up close. Lots of snow/drifts in the Faribault area. It was a great day to be out!

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Nice, @bigwerm! Public or private?

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

Nice, @bigwerm! Public or private?

Private but accessed thru some door knocking, it’s still a thing!

Visited 3 different pieces of public in Wright County with no success. Dogs and I are venturing out further for the remainder of the season.
Dropped the dogs off at home and went on a squirrel confidence booster hunt the rest of the afternoon.
When I got home the wife asked what I did to the dogs… She had to wake them up for supper. If they’re happy, I’m happy. And if they’re tired, I’m really happy.

BigWerm, kudos for driving around and knocking on doors asking for permission. In my opinion, its a better route to success than pounding public ground. I have taken on this strategy for years now and it pays off every year.

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Mookie Blaylock wrote:

If they’re happy, I’m happy. And if they’re tired, I’m really happy.

Amen.

I had an itch yesterday, so I took a 1/2 day and hit some public land in Kandiyohi county. The was a little snow on the ground, but not much. Temps were in the low 20s, and there was a light breeze–perfect! We hunted from 2:00 till sunset.

As I was driving around trying to decide where to start, a rooster spooked, so I was optimistic from the get-go.

We ended up finding one more rooster and quite a few hens. The rooster ran quite a bit. He ended up in some cattails before we got him airborne. He dropped in some real thick stuff, so I was really happy to see Ripley come busting out with the bird firmly in his mouth. The hens we found were all in medium grass and were holding real tight.

I would have liked another rooster or two, but it was a good trip, and I was happy (as was Ripley).

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I went yesterday for about 40 minutes right at noon and was done before 1pm.

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Im hitting NW Iowa Sat. Probably last trip. Hope to knock down a few.

Got out Sunday afternoon with my son-in-law and the two GSPs. We put on a lot of miles, crawled through the thickest stuff we could find, etc. and never saw a bird. Not even hens. We got back top the truck with about 3 minutes of shooting time left. Unloaded, cased the guns, took off the orange vests etc., and of course the dogs got a Rooster up out of the ditch 20 feet from where we were standing. In range, easy passing shot. All you can do is laugh

S.R.

Any reports from the Litchfield area? Typically hunt in SW area but the holiday schedule is forcing me to stay closer to home. Can’t go more than a few days without my GWP and PP driving us crazy due to lack of bird contact. They certainly know what season it is. Thanks in advance.

hunting was very good in the litchfield area this year. State land has been hit hard

suzuki wrote:

Im hitting NW Iowa Sat. Probably last trip. Hope to knock down a few.

Where are you staying? Maybe we can link up. I’m on my way down right now. Staying at that same suburban motel. Be there through Sunday morning.

I went to South Dakota two weeks ago for five days. We definitely had to work for them but our group of four got into some birds. We did get completely skunked one day on public land when we hunted our way west from Sioux Falls. We stayed in the Platte area.

This is my five year golden and there is nothing more rewarding than seeing countless hours of off season work translate into the best hunting season of her career (this is my fourth year in a row taking her out to South Dakota). She is without a doubt in her prime. This pic is from our best day where we limited out as a group plus a bonus shed finding at the edge of a corn field.

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Hunted NW Iowa this weekend. Saw probably 150 birds and only had a shot at one rooster, which Bella flushed beautifully for me to drop on the second shot. I was so proud when she promptly found and retrieved it perfectly. I would never have known that bird was there if I didn’t have a dog – almost walked right past it. Bella was right in front of me and suddenly spun to her right and nose-dived into a clump of short grass, sending the rooster out for a nice quartering away shot at about 15-20 yards.
Most birds were in big flocks. 10-20, even 30 birds in most groups. Most were in CRP, and some in cattails, and all were either very spooky(getting up 50-100yds away) or held very tight.
Has anybody hunted the storm lake area?

Bella and I with our only rooster for the weekend—

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We got 6 in NW Iowa yesterday. Saw hundreds of birds which was awesome. Most were on inaccessable private property but many just out foxed us where we hunted. The key to our success was hitting tiny patches of cattails or snake grass along paved roads without dogs. Something we never do until late season. The snow has wrecked most ditches and fields already.

Good to see that there’s at least a few birds in Iowa. Relatives of mine used to hunt there somewhat regularly about 15 years ago and then all of the sudden Big Ag took the state over and the bird hunting went in the tank. As recent as 2006, Iowa used to harvest over a million roosters. A couple years ago it was barely over 100,000. I have a feeling its never going to come back to even half of what it used to be either.

AUTO_5 wrote:

I would never have known that bird was there if I didn’t have a dog – almost walked right past it.

It is amazing how they can hunker down and make themselves virtually invisible. Thank goodness for a bird dog’s nose!

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>AUTO_5 wrote:</div>
I would never have known that bird was there if I didn’t have a dog – almost walked right past it.

It is amazing how they can hunker down and make themselves virtually invisible. Thank goodness for a bird dog’s nose!

Amen to that!

I wish the DNR would open the season later on in Minnesota and keep it open further into January. Its obvious that there’s significantly more corn still standing in October with this warming climate than there used to be years ago. Not sure about you guys, but I’d much rather hunt when its 20 degrees out instead of 70, and I know my dog would too. They could easily open it a week later and then keep it open until around Jan 10 instead.

I would be a strong supporter of that as well. More birds might be taken on the opener that way but I would take that tradeoff. I don’t really start hunting hard until after deer season is over. Much less pressure after that. And then once the ice is walkable I’m in heaven.

Went out on Tuesday for an hour with my friend John. Still going strong.

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One of my favorite lakes that I fish also is a WMA, so I can hunt there. Next time I get out, I’ll bring my shotgun

Sharon- you get out at all lately?

AUTO_5 wrote:

Sharon- you get out at all lately?

Sharon had to work but her husband and father didn’t have to work, so we got out. Got three, saw a bunch more. The dogs did very well and it was a beautiful day to be out in the fields. The way the weather forecasts looks this might be it for the year.

S.R.

Bah. I should have taken the day off! Sounds like a great day to be out there following the dogs and chasing birds. Oh well. I was able to get a lot of work done, as it was a quiet day at the office.

The FW and I hunted Saturday morning for 2.5 hrs. Saw one rooster standing in a bare dirt field on the way out and had another flush pretty far out in front of us. We battled a bit of freezing drizzle that coated us, our gear, and our dog with ice. It was a good way to spend the morning before we settled in for a family Christmas gathering.

I headed out solo for a bit on Sunday morning. I didn’t see a single bird, and the wind was raw. Still, it was better than sitting at home.

Depending upon what the weather does, I may get out one more time.

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That’s a great picture of Ripley! He looks so natural and happy with his tongue hanging out. In his element for sure.