Three Months Until the Opener

Yeah you certainly dont need a 12 gauge to bring down small game and they are generally lighter, but I dont have room for more guns unless I buy another vault LOL

Late season public land roosters = 12 gauge with high velocity #4’s all day long. Save the 20 gauge for early/mid season. I’ll never switch from a 12 for roosters given the choice of only 1 gun. Love my 12 gauge.

I’ve never had a legal turkey walk that close in 17 years of hunting them. I need raw power for 30-50 yard shots. As soon as I get a shot at one, I shoot. The season is short and the chance of one walking within range again is slim.

I am also in the camp of lighter for upland hunting. Which is why I’d never use my turkey gun for it.

I could just as well use a stick to hunt grouse. The number of grouse I harvest on a regular basis can be counted on one hand over the years. I hear them, but rarely do I see them flush much less get off a reasonable shot.

dirk-w. wrote:

Late season public land roosters = 12 gauge with high velocity #4’s all day long. Save the 20 gauge for early/mid season. I’ll never switch from a 12 for roosters given the choice of only 1 gun. Love my 12 gauge.

definitely nothing wrong with a 12 ga on late season roosters. You have to go with whatever you are most comfortable with because confidence in your gun and shell is important. My group of 3 that I do a mid Dec SD trip every year all shoot 20 gauges. There are more than enough BBs in a 3″ 20 ga shell to drop late season roosters if you are a good shot. And I’ve found a lighter gun makes me a better shot (quality vs quantity type of thing). My buddies FIL has a farm out in SD and only shoots a 28 gauge, but thats just showing off lol

gim wrote:

I’ve never had a legal turkey walk that close in 17 years of hunting them. I need raw power for 30-50 yard shots. As soon as I get a shot at one, I shoot. The season is short and the chance of one walking within range again is slim.

Interesting. Those must be highly pressured birds then I am guessing. Both of my sons had at least 6 legal birds to shoot at each time they harvested one and all within 15 yards. We had them circling the blind for like 20 minutes and it was pure chaos with trying to reposition to get a shot, but they wouldnt stop. They had to wait for a good shot or they would have dropped 3 or 4 at once. The one time two Toms (very mature Toms too, the one my son ended up harvesting) was within a few feet of the blind but on the backside so no shot.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Interesting. Those must be highly pressured birds then I am guessing.

They do get some pressure. They are on private land but an archery hunter has permission to be there and I know the neighbors are also hunting this flock.

I’ve had hens walk within 5 feet of the blind many times. I’m sure at some point a tom or jake would have walked very close, but as soon as they come within range and they are a legal turkey, I shoot. So then that’s the end of it.

This past spring, I had a mature tom hang around and peck, spur, and kick dirt on the dead tom that I just had shot for 15 minutes.

Now that I think about it, I use an IC choke in my pheasant gun, not a modified. Most of my shots are within 25-30 yards.

gim wrote:

This past spring, I had a mature tom hang around and peck, spur, and kick dirt on the dead tom that I just had shot for 15 minutes.

No one ever accused them of being smart! LOL We have had that happen too where they attack the dead one. They wouldnt leave until we walked out of the blind.

gim wrote:

Now that I think about it, I use an IC choke in my pheasant gun, not a modified. Most of my shots are within 25-30 yards.

I used to use IC in my shotgun for pheasants, but switched to Modified. I find it works just fine for the short shots, but gives me a real chance at some of those longer pokes too. Otherwise I was just throwing lead around. My son uses Modified exclusively for his trap team.

CaptainMusky wrote:

My son uses Modified exclusively for his trap team.

Is that right? I always used a skeet choke for clays.

gim wrote:

Is that right? I always used a skeet choke for clays.

Yep. I forget what the distance is they shoot at. He tried IC (not sure where that fits in the spectrum with skeet since I dont have a skeet tube) and it was a disaster. He missed so many it was embarrassing. Switch to modified and never looked back. The coaches actually recommend Modified. One of his friends was having a real tough time hitting anything. I took the choke out and sure enough IC. I swapped it out for his modified and he hit twice as many. The faster you shoot I think IC would be fine, but these kids are just starting out so they dont shoot super quick. My son is one of the faster ones out of his team. Also has the highest average out of all of them too.

The new pup Joie and I have been training hard this summer and its been quite addicting to see her progress. I ran her in two junior hunt tests this weekend and she passed both. Out of some 40+ dogs, she was like the 3rd youngest that was running in the test. Saying I’m extremely pleased with her development would be an understatement. I’m hoping to run two more junior hunt tests in a few weeks and get her JH title before hunting season rolls around and then hopefully running senior hunt tests next year.

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Is that right? I always used a skeet choke for clays.
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If you’re shooting sporting clays the most common would be IC, LM, or Mod. Skeet choke is fine for most courses. Trap is a different deal, then you want mod as a minimum, with most good trap shooters going tighter.

Yeah, I think when it comes to pheasant hunting I’ve got a problem. I’ve been dreaming of it for the last 8 months.

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North central Iowa is looking as good as it has for many years.

Anyone going pheasant hunting on Saturday for the opener?

Weather is not looking great. Temps look fine, rain Thurs – Sat doesn’t look like much fun. Maybe that will keep a few more people out of the fields though. Won’t be much for crop harvest either.

Good luck if anyone is going and be sure to post a field report.

gim wrote:

Won’t be much for crop harvest either.

Not sure where you are but western Scott Co eastern Sibley Co there wont be much crops left.

Might try and get out locally with very little expectations other than to get the dog some exercise and maybe bring one or both of my you daughters to tag along. Headed out SW Minnesota that following Thursday Friday Saturday so looking forward to that. My dog is almost 11 so he will not be doing all day hunts anymore. Hopefully the crops are coming out fast…

JEREMY wrote:

Not sure where you are but western Scott Co eastern Sibley Co there wont be much crops left.

I follow the USDA weekly crop harvest report. As of Oct 2, it only shows 33% soybeans harvested and less than 20% corn harvested (grain). A new report is due out later today.

Obviously harvest varies from area to area and this is only an average of the entire state.

https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Minnesota/Publications/Crop_Progress_&_Condition/2023/MN-Crop-Progress-10-02-23.pdf

Our group will be going out. Going to be breezy but hopefully most of the rain will be done in the Worthington area. The crops are coming out fast. Real fast. Something to keep in mind is the amount of CRP,buffer strips,waterways, and even Walk-in-Areas that have been mowed and baled after being allowed to because of the drought. Most I have ever seen in my lifetime.