Pheasant Reports

[Arago]

Could be a tough season. Reports help us all. Good luck!

[Arago]

One positive note...crops are coming out early this year. I need to investigate these new "walk in areas".

[123fish]

Five of us shot four birds northwest of Worthington in a couple hours of hunting this morning. Saw maybe a dozen birds total counting hens. Corn is coming out fast and that should help. Birds are down no doubt about it.

[grizzald]

hunted around benson/danvers this morning and it was horrible! saw one rooster get up way out in front of us and that was it. hardly any shooting in the area either. numbers are down big time!

[Jameson]

I didn't see a pheasant this morning. Hunting buddy said he saw a rooster run in front of us. Definitely not like other years.

[certified jumbo]

i hunted for about an hour this morning. i've been seeing a few pheasants in the field the past week, so i thought i could have some action. i flushed 2 roosters and 5 hens. had decent shots at both roosters, got one and missed one. a decent start to the season, however, i don't think there are tons of birds in the area.

[Fatty07]

Walk 80 acres of private crp. Kicked up 3 birds. Got my 2 roosters and I feel quilty. With all crops out and any successful breeding I should of seen 20 birds. Will defiantly still hunt alot but prolly wont pull trigger much this year. Good luck guys.

[hunt fish repeat]

Walk 80 acres of private crp. Kicked up 3 birds. Got my 2 roosters and I feel quilty. With all crops out and any successful breeding I should of seen 20 birds. Will defiantly still hunt alot but prolly wont pull trigger much this year. Good luck guys.

Blast away Fatty, from all indications when pheasant numbers drop drastically from year to year it is the hens that are most affected and current counts across the area are proving this correct. Yes rooster numbers are way down as well but if 1 rooster can service up to twenty hens, the rooster numbers must be brought in line with the hens for the population to be successful. An over abundance of roosters v.s. hens over winter often results in the roosters killing off the hens which will further decimate the population for the following year. I walked a US Fish property on Fri. evening and kicked up 6 roosters and 3 hens in about 50 yards but the wind had them holding tight if you did'nt step on them they would'nt flush, went back on Sat. with the dog and a gun, not a bird to be found. Good Luck.

[carpshooterdeluxe]

7 roosters for 7 guns today; could have probably shot our limit if we had some wd-40 along to knock the rust off a few of the guy's trigger fingers...hunted appleton/morris/benson area. Saw a surprising amount of birds, and very few guys out hunting. Usually when I'm home for opener, I drive out to go duck hunting at 5:45 and there are guys parked at public spots "saving" their spots for opener, drove past multiple public locations on my way to meet our crew this morning between 9:15 and 9:45 and many public spots were void of hunters. I talked with a few of my farmer buddies tonight and the are seeing a few birds in the corn here and there as they combine, so thats encouraging. We flushed a few birds today that could barely even fly yet.

[landscaper]

I hear alot of shooting in the SW MN Hendricks area But it was coming from the SD side of the border. Saw a few groups but i was only traveling one road not all over and No I wasnt hunting i was landscaping maybe tomorrow or next week i guess i will try it.

I did see alot of new F-150s driving around! Alot of trucks with Toppers

Any of you guys use toppers?(sorry for off topic)

[311Hemi]

My brother is in the Marshall area and they got their limit today by 11:30 on private land for 4-5 guys. I think they are hitting some public tomorrow so I am interested to hear how they do.

[nige]

was hunting private land in hutchinson today we rose 1 rooster and its still alive. That was all we seen for 3hrs. Was a good workout

[Sifty]

Talked with my friend they where down by the Iowa border on the family farm things where pretty tough for them 3 guys all day ans shot the two rossters they saw.

Sifty

[DaSwede]

Hunted all day south of Owatonna. Didn't see a thing. Dog got birdy once. Still quite a bit of corn. Hope by next weekend, most will be out.

[muc33]

I know numbers are down, but still good hunting from what I heard. If you expect to go out and shoot a box of shells you are crazy. Almost every group I talked to saw birds and got shots or got birds. We call it hunting not killing, gonna have to work at it. If my reports are credible, head SW!

[certified jumbo]

made it out again this morning north of the cities. a short hunt and i saw one rooster and one juvey hen. got the rooster. flushed 9 pheasant in two hours of hunting this wkd. a little better than i expected.

[NELS-BELLS]

I hunted with my 13 yr old son and our Lab on public land today. Saw 13 hens and 5 roosters. Only had shots at 3 of the roosters. Hit 2, but only found one. Very windy! Didn't see many other hunters out, probably because of the wind. Nice to see that most of the corn around the various pieces of public land that we hunted, was out.

Nels

[Dave S]

Went out yesterday for a few hours and only saw 1 hen. Went to a different area between Nicollet and Gaylord and saw nothing. Talked to a farmers wife who was waiting for the crew to arrive and they haven't seen any birds while working the fields. Although they have seen lots of deer.

As for the crops, I'd guess that 98% of the beans are out and 50% of the corn around here.

[ducksnbucks]

Hunted around Lac Qui Parle Saturday on public land. Saw 17 birds fly from our spot to the corn arcoss the road a 1/2 hour before shooting time. Once hunting we ended up seeing 7 roosters, 4 were within range and 3 of those came home, also flushed 5 hens. Only hunted for 45 minutes Sunday morning and saw 3 roosters, shot 1 but lost it unfortunately. The corn is coming out rapidly!

[tybo]

I hunted down near Sherburn, west of Blue earth. The first spot I got to around 7:45 had hunters so I went to a smaller place nearby. It's around 160 acres divided down the middle by a road. I was the only vehicle on the south section. Got there at 8 am. At 8:45 a guy drove past and parked 100 yards from me on the E end of the section. The south side has maybe 80 acres and he's actually going to hunt it when I do, I am not happy. I get out at 8:50 and gear up, get the collars on the dogs, etc. Head out at 9 and go about 20 yards and 6 pheasants get up. Dogs didn't even have a chance to point and I wasn't ready for that. One rooster but couldn't get a clean shot with the hens around him. Walked a little and saw a group of three had parked on the W end of the south side. Feeling a little crowded and POd I decided to hit a small piece across the road from where I parked. I got three points in that small 15 +/- acre section and bagged my two birds by 9:45. I couldn't have felt much more crowded but I had my limit and I was heading home.

Hunted two places by Owatonna yesterday. I had one unproductive on the first section, no birds seen. Had five points and moved eleven birds (one group) with only one rooster I missed. Couldn't tell it was a rooster until it got out a little ways. The dogs did awesome and I can't complain about seeing birds. All in all I pretty good weekend. The GF and I had cream of wild rice pheasant soup last night, leftovers for lunch today.

[tracker x-2]

South metro walked a few hours and seen zero birds.

Its not looking good around my area!

[PurpleFloyd]

Hunted by Amboy yesterday and saw 4 roosters 0 hens. My 11 year old had a shot at one of the roosters ( The others jumped too far away for a shot) and he missed.

Talked to several farmers that have land from Amboy to Vernon Center and over to St James down to Truman and all have said they maybe saw 1 or 2 birds but the numbers are almost non existent.

[harvey lee]

I have seen so few birds in my area, I will not even bother to purchase a license. First time for me since I was 15. Let's see, thats 43 straight years of pheasant hunting and not this year.

It is very sad in regards to the bird population.

[Scott K]

I spent the entire day Saturday hunting, didnt even see a pheasant. I hunted smarter Sunday, and we ended up with 5. Very few shots, and very few hunters.

[22x]

Anyone read the article in the Trib yesterday about the guy by Glencoe that hunted his own CRP & said they put up 1 bird? Pretty sad everywhere.

I have a 13 year old son that loves to hunt, but I have a hard time spending money on gas driving all over & not seeing any birds. I think we will have to hit some game farms this year. Yes, not the same as wild birds, but at least I know we will get the opportunities & shots.