Opener Results

[muskiemanAD]

We got 3 birds today. I was 2 for 2 and buddy was 1 for 2 and other guy ha d a bunch of hens get up by him. Always fun being out there. After we had 3 birds we also let 2 small roosters go that would have been easy shoots, they were so little looking......

[grab the net]

Two very young roosters, bumped two mature birds, way back to the truck. Did not see a hen. private property.

[Ryan_V]

I managed one. Only rooster we saw today. Dog held a good tight point. I kicked him up and knocked him down. It's fun when everything goes so perfectly! Had a light rain/mist most of the day. Scents were easy for the dog to pin down and track. I just love being out there with the dog.

[Jaspernuts]

Saw one bird today. One young rooster which we got. Very surprised that we never put up a hen. I normally put up at least 10 birds in this spot. Did flush about 15 hawks, maybe that had something to do with it.

[nige]

We hunted public. Shot 1. A few more that got to live anther day and 2 hens. Make sure to check your dogs for ticks. My friends dog had a lot of ticks after the day.

[PurpleFloyd]

Day started out slow. Was letting my son shoot and he was not getting any good clear shots. Late in the day we went back out and right about sunset the dog popped up 2 roosters right in front of me and I filled out in 5 minutes.

[certified jumbo]

Two of us hunted for 1.5 hours. Flushed 3 pheasants and a woodcock. We got two roosters, both were this years birds.

Expected to see more but as i've watched lots of birds in the two spots we hunted all summer. I think a lot were probably in the cattails that we can't hunt yet.

[Snag]

We hunted western mn and saw birds before 9, but couldn't find them after. Had about 5-7 roosters fly into the field we were hunting. Thought one was going to land on the truck. I had visions of a three person limit before 10, but it just didn't happen. They all flew into the thicker cover. We had one flush wild in some CRP next to us, but other than that just a nice walk.

I think the dry conditions were tough on the dogs and the birds were using the thick cover instead of the grass since there was no water at all in the thicker areas. We did try some of the thick stuff, but I didn't want to kill the dogs on the first day of the season. Duck hunters were having a great day. Didn't hear any shots from other pheasant hunters on the other side of the public land.

[Matt C]

Big ole Goose Egg.

I am going to head out west in a few weeks.

[123fish]

Well we had a great opener. We had a nine man limit of eighteen but it took all day. Lot of hunters out in the area and everything was getting hit. Without a doubt it helps to have grown up here (sw minn.) and have hunted pheasants for fifty years and have access to primo spots. We had three this morning in the big northwest winds. Tough hunting for sure. Numbers wise there are more birds in our area than last year but they did get picked over pretty good the last two days. There are virtually no crops left in the area so there won't be any of that good hunting when a cornfield first comes out later like a normal year. Not complaining though as it turned out better than expected.

[Walleye Guy]

We had a very good opener as well in west central MN. Seven guys, 14 roosters. Hunted almost the entire day to get them however. Lost a couple and we missed 2 or 3 as well. Tough conditions for the dogs with the lack of moisture and heat.

I think the bird counts are still very low. Many of the roosters will be harvested the first couple weeks with all the crops being ouut. Late season is gonna to be pretty sparse in my opinion. Each late season bird will be a trophy.

[R. Miller]

8 roosters for 6 guys in western MN public land. Definitely noticed how extrememly dry it was...tough on the dogs. Lack of scent as well with the dry conditions. So strange to see almost all the crops out as well. We had an average to good opener for our group but I really noticed just how different the hunt has been. No water, no crops left. A lot of the birds were already in heavy cattails that normally have water this time of year. They're not as predictable with these kind of conditions but there does seem to be more birds around than last year with the mild winter we had.

[MNUser]

3 guys, one dog and 3 birds. Saw a few birds. It was really dry and the dog had a hard time holding scent trail. Saw a few birds fly in to the CRP but failed to flush any of them. The cover was thick. If the dog was not right on top of them they just held.

As things cool down and we get some moisture, things should get easier for the dog. It is sad to see all the cover that is getting plowed under. It took all those years to establish that cover and now it is swinging the other way. Hopefully it comes back before I'm too old to walk anymore.

All in all, a nice day with my son and his grandpa!

[ducksnbucks]

3 of us hunted public land from 9-11 on opener in West central MN. Shot 3 and found 2. We saw a lot of birds though in my opinion. Sitting in the approach before shooting time we watched about 25 birds fly off the public and into private land. The first swamp we walked into we flushed 20 birds and then saw about 20 more over the entire walk. Lots of roosters getting up to far away and lots of hens getting up 10 yards away! This years birds were what we shot.

[BLACKJACK]

3 guys, 3 dogs, 3 birds, should have had a couple more, poor shooting on our part. Hunted public land. Happy the way my pup worked on her first pheasant hunt, stayed close, found a bird for us.

[erikwells]

Three of us made it out Sunday around 11:00 a.m. and hunted until 3:30 or so. A friend brought his Brittany along and she did well. We hunted private land and the edges of some public walk in land. Around noon we jumped 5-7 roosters grouped up together however they jumped 25-30 yards to the west and my friend and I were to the east and shooting was never an option. Brother missed but in fairness to him the jumped really early for somme reason. We jumped a hen and we were shutout for the day. We hunted some great looking land and the crops were all out. I expected to see more birds. Just feels like there are not a lot of birds in the Kandiyohi county. I'm sure there are others in the area that still found birds. I guess we will have to try again.

[GSP4EVER]

Just got home from our first trip out. Just me and the dog. Saw 8 hens and 2 roosters in just short of 2 hours. I missed the one rooster I shot at. A couple of the birds I almost steped on when it got up and the dog totally walked by it and I cam through the same spot seconds later.

[Musky Buck]

I decided to leave em alone, lots of roosters around, went goose hunting and heard lots of cackling before 9AM so they're there, just need some ambition to turn the camo in for some orange switch shells out and go after them, boy was I disappointed when the farmer said you can now hunt pheasants on my farm and the neighbors also, 440 acres, boy was I in tears. Walk out the door cross the gravel and pheasant paradise, Christmas came early this year.

[Scott M]

Walked from 2-4:30 on Sunday, western MN, 1 rooster went up and came down, also flushed a hen and a sharpie. Was great to get out and the dog worked very well.

[DaSwede]

Took my 6 month old lab out for the first time (low pressure...more of a walk than anything). We saw 0 pheasants (on private land). We did however flush a monster of a turkey. Both of us jumped about 10 feet in the air. Wish I could have had that on video!!!