pheasant field reports

[superfish2]

Well I'm sitting here at work and haven't made it out yet. So lets hear how everyone did.

[BDR]

Went out sat. around Willmar. Rain rain rain! went out at 9am. Within 10 minutes the dogs locks, up comes 2 roosters down one pull trigger on second and my wet hands must have put safety back on when first shot. Too far now.Hunted another 40 minutes and had one rooster flush deep in cattails too far out. That was wet enough for me. I did get my limit as I took one on the windshield on the way home.

Sun. went out with my son and my dad. Had gotten permission 2 weeks ago from a 91 year old farmer. Got there and started hunting a man and woman come walking out to tell us we are tresspassing.We explained we talked to the old guy who lives on the property and got permission. Turns out he sold to a niece and can stay till he goes. They allowed us to continue but there were others hunting now so we cut it short. Hopefully we were pleasant enough to get the new owners ok for future use.

All in all it was good to be out!

[gspman]

My brother and I downed our limit both days. Scenting conditions were not good for the dog. We were unable to recover one so we came home with 7. The cripple landed in an untopped sugar beet field and the dog never caught it's scent. I hate that. Got 3 in about 30 seconds on Sat. Hunted a total of about 20 minutes on Sat for our 4 birds. On Sunday we should have been done in 5 minutes but couldn't shoot straight so it took us until noon. All in all it was a very enjoyable opener.
gspman

[g'eye pilot]

Plenty of birds and plenty of hunters SW of Rochester. A little on the warm side... Most hunters I spoke with experienced moderate to good success. Personally, the first spot I hit was a bust, as the cover had changed from last year. Went to spot #2 and bagged my 2 in 30 minutes.

[Guest]

Best I have ever seen. Scenting conditions were terrible, but improved yesterday afternoon.

We hunted all public land all around the Montevideo area.

[Scott Steil]

Best MN opener I have ever had, even in the pouring rain we scratched up 8 birds. I would guess we saw around 70 birds and were done by 11:30. Took me a day to get the chill out though. Wow did that cool off fast!

[juddfish]

They said pheasant population in this area is up 65% but I think they need to learn how to add better. Saturday 3 of us with 2 dogs shot 2. Sunday 3 of us with 3 dogs shot 1 bird. I went out alone this morning with one dog and shot 0. Havent missed one yet thats one good thing i guess. Hopefully this evening i can find a couple. Oh yeah im hunting the Benson area. Lots of corn out already so it should be good but I havent heard to many good reports.

[Norsky]

I really didn't notice much of an increase either. We saw a few birds and shot a couple over the weekend, but not as many as I had hoped.

[Big_D]

CD,
How is the pheasant hunting out in montevideo this year? i used to go out there deer hunting and pheasant hunting in my spare time. Im going to try to get out there sometime in the next week or two.

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Big D

[This message has been edited by Big_D (edited 10-13-2003).]

[Mille Lacs Guy]

I hunted west of Montevideo probably 40 miles almost to the SD border. Tons of birds, filled out both days on public land with 6 guys on Saturday and 4 guys on Sunday. Probably saw 50 plus birds each day. Driving out to the spot Sunday morning we saw probably 20 roosters in a ditch and alfalfa field in one spot. I've never seen that many roosters in one spot. The birds were really educated by Sunday already with lots busting out ahead.

[Guest]

Mille Lacs Guy,
I bet you were hunting my buddy and I's favorite spot out there. We never made it due to time restrictions. Wish we would have, but I'll be back. Thanks for the report.

It's a very, very good year!

[juddfish]

Well from the amount of hunters I have seen I bet they have sold way more liscenses this year than the last few. I couldnt believe the amount of hunters out yesterday. I really think the population is down here. Usually I see a lot of birds, this year is much different. Last night I hunted for 3 hours and saw 3 roosters and 3 hens, shot 1 rooster and the other 2 were to far out in front. Its still fun to get out and see a couple, I just expected this year to be amazing! Maybe next year will be with another mild winter. Well goodluck everyone!

~juddfish

[Guest]

Judd,
I stayed at my friend's place smack dead between Benson and Montevideo. Lots of birds, everywhere. He lives there and he can't believe the population increase.

If you drive west 25 miles from Benson you won't believe your eyes. You need a darn good dog though!! I thought my labs were good, but nothing compared to his springer. Without the springer we would have been in trouble Huge difference!!

[Mille Lacs Guy]

The bird numbers are up. The DNR doesn't play games with the numbers, it just doesn't work that way. In the Lac qua Parle refuge the bird numbers are the highest they've been since the early eighties.

If you are not seeing birds you are either in the wrong spot or your dog isn't chasing them up. Every farmer I talked to out West said this is the most pheasants they have saw in many many years.

[Scott Steil]

Around my house the hunting has been tough. The birds are there because I hear them sitting in the bow stand. However, the hunting has been tough, lots of corn in!!

Ten miles down the road quite a bit of corn is out and the birds are everywhere. If I wanted to road hunt, a limit would be easy. I am sure our area will be really good once the corn is out. To much cover right now.

[fishlakeman]

WOW!!!! Went phesant hunting on sunday for the first time ever and it was awesome. I grouse hunt all the time but I don't have the dogs to go phesant hunting. With my dad,uncle, and 2 cousins and their dogs, we jumped around 40 birds in the first hour. We all filled out during that time. Phesants are sure a lot easier to hit than grouse. Got my 2 within the first 10 minutes of the hunt!

[Big_D]

I gotta question. I know it doesnt relly fit into this topic but it kinda does. How old do you have to be before you can buy a hunting license without taking the firearm stafety class? I have a friend who would like to go out hunting for some pheasant but he hasnt taken gun safety yet. I wanna know if he can buy a license or if he has to wait until the next gun safety course comes around. Thanks

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Big D

[Guest]

Judd,

The numbers that are posted for increases are misleading at best. For instance, if the bird count was at 1-bird per mile last year and there was a 65% increase over last year that's not even a whole bird better than last year! Now there are 1.65 birds per mile.

The increased percentages are to keep hunter interest high and sell more licenses, etc.

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Chells

[Fisher Dave]

Big D..

Look in the regs at the license requirements for the right answers .. I dont want to steer you the wrong way.

Years back you only needed firearms safety when deer hunting under the age of 16, and could not hunt them until you were 12 and had to have firearms safety. At that time small game hunting was allowed without firearms safety, and no license was needed until the age of 12, and only certain stamps were needed until the age of 16 (until the age of 16).

I dont know if the laws are still the same, I would read the regs very carefully.

[BDR]

Big-D Firearms safety is not required if hunting small game with a legal guardian. Otherwise I believe it is 16.

[Katoman]

The regs say you need at have the certificate to buy a license. You don't need a license if you are under 16 yrs of age. I'm taking my 14 yr. old out on Friday. I have been spending time with her on the range. She decided she wanted to hunt. She shot up about two boxes of shells last night. She wanted me to call her gym teacher to excuse her from class today. She has some black and blue on her shoulder. I told her it goes with the hunt and hang unto the gun tighter next time.

[Flash]

Big-D,
Your friend would need a Safety Certificate to buy a license if he was born on or after 1/1/80.
Flash
"Set the Hook"