pheastant

[whitefishchainfisher]

Was just wondering if anyone knew of a place where a kid and his father could pheasant hunt.

[BBL Resident]

There will be individuals that are apposed to this response, but would suggest a game farm. There are so many quality game farms in this state you would be amazes.
The questions I would ask first is:
How old is your son? How are his gun handling skills. Do you own your own dog? How much time do you have to hunt this year?
I ask these questions because game farms can offer a lot of advantages for new or young hunters.
They have experienced guides and gun handlers that can help work with your new hunter. They normally have sporting clay stations setup where your new hunter can practice shooting and properly handling their gun before they are put in a live bird situation. Game farm guide normally have their own dogs which is a must for pheasant hunting. The dogs are a pleasure to watch and their ability to retreive downed and wounded birds are a must. For the price and the fact you know you will get some quality shooting with your son is pricless. Especially if you have limited time to spend hunting with your son! My two sons have just as much fun on the sporting clay range then they do actually hunting.
Good luck,

[whitefishchainfisher]

Actually I am the son. I will be 16 in october. I have already hunted game farms for the last two years and it just does not seem the same. I have more of a passion for the outdoors i guess you could say with hunting and fishing and have always wanted to go pheasant hunting since i was a little kid. With my dad knowing that, he took me to a game farm and we ended up getting less then half of the birds that we paid for two years in a row. My gun handling skill are good and safe as well as i have been hunting since i was little. I did not expect people to give out there spots and I just thought I would give it a shot since I have been wanting to go for years and have not found any other way. Because I live in Duluth I was not sure if there was any public land in the state to hunt or not and figured that it would not hurt to ask.

[gspman]

There is a ton of public land to hunt in MN pheasant country. Go to Gander Mountain and buy some PRIM maps for areas you are interested in hunting. Call the DNR offices in those areas and ask them about bird numbers and possible places to try. Duluth is quite a drive to western MN but there may be some spots north of the metro area to try. Get into the farm country and start knocking on doors. Sooner or later someone will give you the okay. Try and hunt smaller pieces of ground if dogless. The best thing would be to get into "good" pheasant country for a couple days. Also wait until the corn is out and be careful if you go during the firearms deer season. Good luck.
gspman

[Brittboy]

Minnesota is lucky in the sense we have a lot of public land to hunt on. I use a map guide put out by Delorme called "Minnesota Atlas & Gazetteer." It has detailed topographic maps of the state that include WMA's, State Forest land, etc that are open to public hunting (though make sure you read your regulations!). You can pick it up at most outdoors stores like Gander Mountain. I use it religiously to find new public land to hunt and keep notes within the guide for future reference. I'm not familiar with any good pheasant areas as far north as where you are, but if you go SW, I know people who have hunted for pheasant NW of the Twin Cities, though I prefer to head a few hours W and SW of the Twin Cities. I hope this helps get your started in finding new places to go. Best of luck!

[MikeYager - Suzuki]

I don't like going to game farms but they are the only choice to train my dog. I'm going Fri afternoon and hopefully my dog does well. There just aren't any wild birds around for me to train on. Once she's doing well I still envision game farming once in a while to keep her sharp for those out of state pheasant trips.

[riverrat56]

i mostly hunt public land in minnesota and ill let you in on a tip, if u ever go out by your self dont be afraid to ask landowners, many people that will not let me and my dad go hunting at there place will let just me go when im out by myself.
if you want to come down to southermn onetime maybe we could go out after some birds im only 15 though so you'd need to drive.

RR56

[strat-o-caster]

Say maybe I can Help you out some, I'm living in Cloquet. My home town is glenwood Mn.A friend and I are heading down that way for the opener.. You and your dad are welcome to join us for a hunt plus I can point you in the right direction to some state land. Remember most state land is Ok on opener, alot depends on if the crops are out or not, also key on state land that has corn or soybeans around them..The best time to hit most state land is late in the season when it get's cold and snowy...Strat

[strat-o-caster]

Sorry I have'nt heard back from you, so yesterday a couple of work buddy's wanted to go so they took the spot's avaiable.. Strat

[Mister Twister]

Strat-o-caster, I too am from Cloquet and am heading that way for the opener. When I was out Duck hunting on the opener I could not believe the number of roosters I saw!!! Birds everywhere. I had to slow the vehicle down to 5 m.p.h. to keep from runnining them over at one point. When back at the farm my uncle listened patiently for about 15 minutes while I told him of the "pot of gold". Then he burst my bubble by telling me a local dog trainer lost several hundred birds in a storm a few weeks back and those were probably some of the runners. Either way it really gets the juices flowwing. Make sure to let us know how you did.

[whitefishchainfisher]

Sorry I never got back to you. My computer ended up getting a virus and i had to take it in. I appreciate the offer. Looks like i am heading to North Dakota for a waterfowl/pheasant hunt on the 20th. Should be a great time.

~Thanks and good hunting