3 weeks in. How's your season?

[herm]

So, Minnesota deer season starts in a week, which means yellow dog stays out of the woods for a while. How is your pheasant season going? I say so far, so good. Got 1 today, plus flushed 3 others and about 10 hens. Hunted 3 spots, all public. Overall, I've seen birds every hunt, which is way better than I expected amid all the dire predictions. As always, just wish I could shoot a little better. How about you?

[workin4bait]

Horrible,six trips only flushed birds on two of them,one shot fired=one bird.

workin'

[waxworm09]

Three trips for me. On one trip saw a rooster, another trip saw a hen, another trip saw nothing... I have been soil sampling after the fields have been harvested for the past 2.5 weeks. So far I have 140 hours of driving through picked corn bean and beat fields. I have seen a grand total of 4 roosters and 0 hens in that time. I didn't think it could be possible for the population to be this low. Its much worse than I thought it would be.. and the 4 roosters were all in the same township. So the other 5 townships I cover I have seen 0 birds... that's unheard of..not looking good.

[tearin' lips]

I don't know what all this fuss about the low pheasant population in Nodak. It have been absolutely phenomenal this year. Crushing the longtails every time I go out.

[Ryan_V]

In a word..... AWESOME. i have been out about a dozen or more times, seeing birds on all but one trip. 8 birds bagged so far this year, and yes, that number SHOULD be slightly, only slightly higher!!! Dog is doing a phenominal job. There are plenty of birds out there, you simply have to work for them, I still believe you can't get an accurate idea of pheasant numbers by driving around. You have to get into the field. I've hunted Mcleod, and Sibley counties, birds in both. All I hunt is public land, most of it still has corn standing around it, although I expect that to be gone in short order. I'm not a deer hunter anymore, so I'll continue to exercise myself and the dog in the pheasant fields every chance I get!!!!! Just last night had a big, wiley old rooster jump early on me and the dog....about 75 yards!!! I'll be trying to find him again this weekend!!!! LOVE THIS SEASON!!! See you out there!!!

[HardWater9]

Got out for the first time yesterday and couldn't ask for a nicer day to be in field. Hunted 2 different large public fields, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Flushed 2 hens and a very young rooster in the morning and jumped another young rooster and a mature rooster in the afternoon. Unfortunately, all of the roosters flushed 35-45 yards in front of us. It was great to get the pup (10 months) some experience in the field and was happy to find some birds with my expectations set low. I would imagine everyone else is seeing an increased amount of broods this year with the late spring?

[ClownColor]

got out once this year and hunted two public sloughs. Saw many many birds. about a dozen and a half hens and about 8 roosters. Got two shots off and one rooster in my bag. Dogs been doing GREAT!

[portageman]

Flushed 4 hens and three roosters today on public land in so. Minnesota. My dog was great. My shooting is suspect. Well, worse than that. What are you guys gonna do during deer season?

[Ryan_V]

What are you guys gonna do during deer season?

go pheasant hunting!

[tybo]

I will chase rudies since I won't go in the grouse woods. Also, I hit a deer with my truck and got the meat so I don't need to chase the woods rats.

[grey ghost]

I got out for the first time this season today. 2 points...2 shots...2 roosters. Great start to the season. Had hens pointed also and saw 12-15 birds. Will be going back to that spot again.

[nige]

We hunted private in Hutchinson on Sunday. 1 rooster in the bag. We also spotted another but too far to shoot. On the land we hunt this year is a lot better than last year.

[Wayne J.]

Been out 7 times, about 20 hours of walking. I've seen 16 roosters, fired at 12 bagged 9. 2 dogs 1 man close to home 8 on public land. I'm not complaining.

Wayne

[Ryan_V]

added another limit this last Saturday. that puts me into double digits for the season. Still all public land. dog pointed about 14 birds that afternoon, we got the 3 that were roosters. lots of hens out there too, which is also a good sign! what a year! never seen this many birds.

[herm]

Hunted a few more times since I started this thread. Our group added 2 more to the bag and flushed another half-dozen mostly hens. (A few of those might have been young roosters...couldn't tell so didn't shoot.) All different public spots. Also, aside from opening day, crowds have been nonexistent. Be quiet or that might change.

[stretch]

So far this season has been very good. I shot my limit the past 2 days on the same public land that gets hunted hard. I also went out by benson and montevideo last weekend and shot 5 birds in 2 days for 2 shooters. That was also all on public land too.

[grey ghost]

I've been out 4 times in the last 2 weeks in SC MN and have gotten at least a bird every time. Yesterday had a 2 man limit. Seeing pretty good numbers.