A friend of mine and I headed west early Monday morning to do a little hunting in some new areas for a couple days. Got to an area just south of ortonville and located what looked to be some prime public land. We hit a couple small areas and got after it. Hunted the first field and I soon found out that my shooting had not gotten any better, missed on a couple easy shots with birds holding very good. Although we didnt bag any birds,we did figure out where they would be holding. We looked for WMA’s with tree lined creeks and got after it again. We hit the next spot and I shot my 3 birds within the first 100 yards of this creek. It was now 11am and my friend (who is new to hunting) had missed on 1 bird. We continued to push this creek and flushed 1 more rooster and my buddy took after me and wiffed. We found several more similar areas and after what my friend says was over a box of shells he had 2 of his three. We called it a day and found a place to stay just south.
Next morning we woke to very strong winds and a lot of blowing snow. We decided to hit a couple spots and head for home. First spot was similar to the first day, a tree lined creek. Didnt even see a hen! I figured with the weather that sloughs would be the key. We found a large slough with thick cattails around it. We walked the edge into the wind and when we got to the rear corner it was go time 
. We had 4 birds down in a matter of 30 seconds (what a rush) 
. We finished the slough with one more missed chance and decided to head for home at around 11am.
I love hunting new areas and finding birds. This was some of the best hunting I have had all year and again it was on state land. Day 1 we saw at least 30 roosters in shooting range and day 2 we saw 5. The rooster to hen ratio was very good!
Im taking today off and will be heading out again on Thursday. I have 6 pheasants that are turning into jerky as we speek 
.
Also want to say “at a girl” to my friends dog Callie, she made her first flush and find of a rooster. Now if we can get her to pick it up and not eat it 
Some more photos from the last two days and one from last monday. Keep pounding them 
It’s always fun to hunt a new piece of property and experience the success that you did – and especially when it’s public land!