Anyone chasin late season pheasants?

[Lunker]

With the coming(and going) of deer season, I have seen no posts about pheasants. I was out today with the dog in a wma in scott county, saw a lot of tracks but couldnt flush any birds. Worked brush/grass, swamps, cattails, woodeges, and those culvert things next to cornfields, but nothin.Don't know what I was doing wrong, o well. Any one else been out?

[IceHawk]

I was out tonight managed to shoot 1 rooster. I was hunting public land and have found that the birds are holding real tight, the birds I have located are tucked in the cattails and it takes alot of good dog work to get them to flush. I just love Pheasant hunting this time of year, not alot of hunters and the scenary can't be beat.

[BLACKJACK]

I was out yesterday and got two Plan on getting back out today.

[Lunker]

Mind divulging what kind of cover you took them in? I hunted everything possible, but am going to go again tommorrow and slow way down. I know there were birds there.

[smoley]

I was out yesterday for about 2 hours and found most of the birds in low land in thick cover. I was able to shoot one very big bird and it took my dog about 20 yards running after it to flush it. It ran right past me. I hunted only public land yesterday. If the wind is still blowing I would try thick CRP or lowland.

[superfish2]

Well the dog and I flushed 3 hens today and a rooster today. We got the rooster. Hunted WMA's around New Prague. Lots of tracks from both people and birds. I think you almost have to step on them to get them up.

[BLACKJACK]

Lunker, heavy cover, edge of cattails/willows on one and willows on the other. Today I got one in big tall weeds - but - I put in the required three miles per bird to get it.

So my recommendation is to hit willows and cattails next to a food source. And play the weather. This time of year, bad weather, snow, wind, and cold drive them into the heavy cover. A nice day in the 40's is not good, the birds spread out and are up in the fence lines and thin cover.

Tomorrow the forecast is for 27 mile an hour winds, get out there, the birds won't be in the open, they'll be in cover. The downside is that when they launch, they'll be going 50 MPH Get them fast before they get a head of steam. Good luck! Or put the rookie on the end of the drive and give him dump when he misses. (thats another good point, if you have lots of guys, figure it out so you can put our a poster/blocker/shooter). This time of year, the pheasants are wild!!!!! You'll either get a close, 10 foot shot or a 45 yard shot.

[SouthernMinnyRookie]

I've been heading to Iowa that last few times I have gotten to go out. The only land I have to hunt is WMAs but they have been producing some birds. I must admit, I'm walking 2-3 hours per bird though. I usually hunt alone with my Golden Retriever. It is a HUGE area so I would welcome more guys and dogs if anyone is interested.

Great story - the other day I'm out and my Golden gets hot. Next thing I know he pounces on something and it squeals. It sounds like a rabbit so I holler to let it go. Boom - 2 hens jump right off his nose and he comes out with a mouth full of feathers. Man was he excited.

Went out yesterday (Sat) and never saw a bird. Not sure, but I'm guessing they were holding very tight. I am going to start doing some scouting for next year for some additional land.

Anyone else hunt in North/Central Iowa? What kind of luck have you been having?

Later,
Jason

[ATM]

I, spent the last 3 days by ortonville on the minnesota and South Dakota side, I started friday morning at lac qui parle, I hunted the tree lines and was only able to kick up 3 roosters friday morning was cold and windy so I only lasted a couple of hours , that afternoon we hunted by wilmot south dakota and the pheasants were thick in the cattails they were very wild and we could of used a couple more hunters for blocking. Saturday we hunted just east of ortonville on public land once again the cattails were key. Today I hunted around moris on public land around hwy 28 and had some good success. Good luck with the late season pheasants adam

[bmc]

Me, a buddy, and his dad are Mitchell, S.D. bound this coming Thursday and will be back late the following Tuesday night. The farmer we hunt with has got us really fired up to say the least!!!! This will be only my second wild pheasant hunt, so I'm really pumped. It will also be my 9 month old female yellow lab's first wild pheasant hunt, so I'm anxious to see how she'll do. From what I saw this fall, she's gonna be an excellent waterfowler, but I'm hoping the upland instinct will kick in too.

bmc

[greenman]

Hunted public land close to the S.D. border.
Worked cattails, corn, and short grass found birds in all this cover. Sadly they were all hens. Must have flushed about 30 all day. Not one rooster in the bunch. I personally think the state is wrong about the amount of birds over last year or there were more people out hunting them this year.

[First Ice-Mike]

We were out Friday. Must have seen over 100 pheasants in about 3 hours. 95% of them were hens though. We did manage a couple roosters. Could have been better, but most the private land we wanted to hunt had already been tresspassed on. We had two guys cut one of our drives short on land I'm pretty sure they didn't have permission on. When they got about 150 yards away from us, they cut across the slough and started hunting land I KNOW they had no permission to be on. Would have served them right to fall through the ice. By the time we walked back to our one truck and drove around the section to where they were parked they had high-tailed it out of there. Things like that really [PoorWordUsage] me off!!!!

FI

[Scott Steil]

We hunted last Saturday in the snow and 6 of us had 11 Roosters. The birds were in the CRP grass and held very tight. The key was walking very slow and giving the dogs LOTS of time to work. I am sure we walked by quite a few as tight as they were holding.

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Mille Lacs Guide Service
www.millelacsguideservice.com

[bigdog]

Birds were in heavy tails and willows. Two Friday before 10am, 4 Saturday for 2 of us, 2 more on Sunday but took until 4.

[chow]

Was out last weekend for about 2 hrs on Sat and 2 hrs on Sunday hunting WMA's in North Metro. The spot I tried on Saturday was a new spot I had not been to before. Saw zero tracks and zero birds and zero birdy dogs. So I guess I can take that off the list of spots to try. Sunday went to another spot I have had some limited success in the past. Did see some tracks and we pushed one rooster for about 300 yards before it flushed wild about 80 yards in front. Just couldn't make up ground on that runner. Other than that the pup was birdy about 3-4 times but didn't see any more birds. Both days we covered ALOT of ground. Try again next weekend.

chow