Tough Opening Morning

[ducker]

We had a tough go in the morning hunt. Not a bird, not a track, not any sign on some pretty good WPA land west of Benson. Didn't hear a shot all morning and we were downwind from a large WMA. Most of the crops are still in the field so lets hope that's where they were.

[birdguy]

Hunted around Cambridge this morning. Flushed three roosters and heard two others. Ended up with one bird, should have been two but I woofed on an easy shot.

[waxworm09]

I wasn't too far from you, 30 miles southeast of Benson. Hunted 2 hours, didn't see a bird here either, and never heard one shot from other hunters. Its gonna be a long season I think...

[birdguy]

I have it pretty easy around Rush Point when it comes to hunting. My father-in-law, Sheldon Porter (deceased) used to own Rush Point Store and my dad worked for John Deere in Cambridge and we farmed just west of Rush Point. I can walk out my back door (picture) and do a six mile loop through neighboring farms that allow me to hunt their lands and end up back at my front door.

The pheasant population seems to be somewhat better this year in this area, but me and two of my brothers maintain multiple winter feeding stations on our farms in the surrounding area so I'm sure that has helped some?

[Ryan_V]

My day was a blank. I coached my 2 kids teams in the morning, so no morning hunt for me, usually forgo it anyway, avoiding large crowds. Got home from sports, had a late lunch. Plan was to take my 12 year old out for her first hunt, but after a long morning of sports and the very, very strong wind, she was not wanting to go, don't want to push her on her first hunt, so off the dog and I go!!! Hit a spot I like to hunt. had a couple false points, im sure there were birds there earlier. Going with the wind, got one hen up, then a minute later saw a rooster jump 100 yards ahead of us. After a couple hours, wife had to go to work for a bit, so back home to the waiting kids!!!! Still lots of crops in the fields around here, which is good. even though I wasn't able to take a shot, it felt GREAT to be out there again!!! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE PHEASANT HUNTING!!!! Best time of the year is upon me!!! Pheasant hunting, followed by ice fishing!!!

[mascad]

Went to a WIA this afternoon near Lake Lillian...3 birds in 45 min...missed a couple others...was pleasantly surprised. One barely had colors...hopefully there was a strong late hatch.

[123fish]

Four of us shot three roosters and missed a couple of others down here in the Worthington area on Saturday. Way, way too much corn in the fields to make a judgement on how good the hunting will be. Twenty minutes before sundown last evening we saw six roosters walk out of a cornfield on a fence line that borders a WMA and private land. They got a drink of water on the WMA and then roosted on the private side. Roosted was definitely not roasted as the turkey hunters like to say. Pretty cool to see though. All three birds that we shot were young of the year but were fully colored out.

[birdguy]

Hunted five farms this morning. Flushed three roosters and watched three hens scurry down a corn row in front of me. Got one small fella, but he wasn't worthy of adding to my tail collection.

[archerystud]

Got 10 birds this morning for 5 guys. Land owner planted milo which helped a LOT.

[herm]

Hunted 3 hours opening morning with my 2 boys. Got 1, missed 1 and flushed a few others wild on public land. Saw only roosters/no hens. Got checked by 2 different COs. First guy said nobody he had checked had gotten a bird. Second guy said ours was the 2nd bird he'd seen. Guess we did pretty good. Best part was it was the dog's return to roosters after missing last year with knee injury. Sure was good to be back out there with her and the fam.

[nige]

Hunted public close to Hamburg on saturday. Didnt see any birds. Today was on private in Hutchinson. Seen 2 hens and a rooster. We both shot and missed. Get him next weekend hopefully

[mwal]

Hunted near Tracy. Got only Rooster seen. IT was older mature bird only saw one hen that,s it. NO roosts or dusting bowls no pictures of birds on trail cameras. We never heard any other shots very few hunters out. Does not look good.

Mwal

[wdgold]

Heard a few roosters early sunday while duck hunting in the Morris area. Hunted pheasants Sat evening after our duck hunt but no birds. Will be going to Brown Co. on Wednesday, 4 of us with 2 dogs. Any reports in the Brown Co area?

[Capt'nMorgan]

I hunted Saturday and Sunday morning by myself and 1 dog, saw 8 roosters and 10 hens Sat. and 5 roosters and 2 hens Sun. Brought 1 home each day. was surprised by the number of birds I saw. There were a lots of hunters out too.

[CodyDawg]

Hunted a 13 acre field on Saturday and saw 13 birds. Got 1 and passed up 2 young ones as the bird I dumped went down in some thick grass and I wanted to get the dog over there right away. I didnt need to though as she had it before I got there. Oh well, those that got away I will catch up with later. All in all, quite happy with the bird numbers.

[birdguy]

Did a quick hunt this morning before a friend showed up to help place deer stands and site in our rifles. Flushed two roosters and one hen, no shots fired. Can't wait for the corn to come down.......

[Stcloudangler]

Went down by Litchfield area for opener, we flushed 1 rooster, 1 hen, 3 small ones that couldn't be identified, and an unknown that gave us the slip behind a tree. Shot the rooster... was not great weather conditions, but fun to be out. Hope to be out again after this rain.

[TylerS]

Hunted extreme SW Nodak on Saturday and Sunday. I'll just say this: It was GOOD.

[PLfisherman]

Tylers we are headed that way this weekend but was worried the snow storm killed alot of young birds we go near lemon sd but just north into ND the farmer we know said they had 2 feet of snow and maybe we shouldnt come what do u think was there a kill from the early blizzard thanks

[CodyDawg]

Some of the young birds were killed in the Mott area. But I would still go for sure.

[TylerS]

After two days of tromping all over the SW part of the state, I did not see ONE pheasant carcass. I did see a ton of water and muddy roads, which aren't the norm. But the birds were there. Not as many as there could be...but I have a theory about that: Corn and sunflowers. There's more of that out there than there has ever been. And with most/all of the big crops still up, guess where the birds are? If the combines hit it hard soon, you'll see a bunch more ditch parrots. If not, well, you'll have to do like us and pound the cover to catch any outside of the foliage fortress.

[candiru]

From my understanding Hettinger got hit quite a bit harder than Mott/Regent. There are probably lots of young birds that are barely colored - not going to fare well in a blizzard.

[birdguy]

Hunted two farms today, flushed two hens, but no roosters. The dog got hot on one swamp but after about 30 minutes I figured it was long gone. Can't wait until the corn comes down......

[birdguy]

Hunted another farm this morning. The dog flushed two roosters and two hens in one group. I didn't have a shot though as I had too much tall corn between them and me. I think I'll stop hunting pheasants for a while and wait for the corn to come down.

[IceHawk]

I have been pleasantly surprised at the numbers of birds I have encountered last weekend and today. In 3 times out I have flushed 11 roosters and 21 hens not bad for a tough year and a lot of crops still up. Most of the birds have been flushed on public land also. Tonight I bagged my two and flushed 3 others along with 8 hens. One of the roosters I bagged last wknd and today were young definitely a late or second hatch. Granted numbers are reported low but last yr was suppose to be tough and I had my best year in a long time. I will say this I wore some serious rubber off my boots and padsof my dog and plan to do the same this yr. Don't be discouraged with some persistency birds can be found!