2018 Pheasant Report

[smalliehunter]

Day one is in the books.  How'd everyone do?

 

My young dog really stepped up today, pretty excited about that.  And the old girl is a true veteran that makes it to easy on me

 

[123fish]

Pretty poor for us in the Worthington area.  Six guys shot one rooster and missed one. Way too many crops in the fields yet to get too serious yet.Nice pic and good looking pups.

Edited October 14, 2018 by 123fish

[bobbymalone]

man, six dudes shooting one rooster?  i hope somebody hit it, but not everybody.

[PurpleFloyd]

Saw nothing yesterday. Too many crops and too much water everywhere.

[bobberineyes]

Season is young yet fellas, hopefully it stays dry for a while, we ran into lots of water and crops as well. The kid dropped the only rooster we saw on Saturday , lots of hens though. The neighbor out that away saw a small brood of chicks 2 weeks ago, real late hatch but hopefully they came out ok in the rain last week.

[smalliehunter]

Seeing good numbers of birds so far this year.  

[PurpleFloyd]

The birds are really showing themselves as the harvest wids down and the snow flies.

 

We popped up probably 60 birds yesterday compared to a total of less than 10 for the year before yesterday. 

[leech~~]

19 minutes ago, PurpleFloyd said:

The birds are really showing themselves as the harvest wids down and the snow flies.

 

We popped up probably 60 birds yesterday compared to a total of less than 10 for the year before yesterday. 

 

In what State?

[PurpleFloyd]

25 minutes ago, leech~~ said:

 

In what State?

Minnesota

[leech~~]

38 minutes ago, PurpleFloyd said:

Minnesota

 

"probably 60 birds yesterday"  Right!   What Pheasant Farm did you go to, Wings North?

[PurpleFloyd]

2 hours ago, leech~~ said:

 

"probably 60 birds yesterday"  Right!   What Pheasant Farm did you go to, Wings North?

Not at all. They were bunched up in thickets. The first group was a dozen right at shooting time. The second and third were groups over 20 and then a ditch with a strip of corn next to it had another 10 or so. 

 

After a good early snow like yesterday you just need to know what cover to look for.

[bobberineyes]

I concur pf,  we've seen good #'s as well. 

[PurpleFloyd]

2 hours ago, bobberineyes said:

I concur pf,  we've seen good #'s as well. 

To be fair, all leech has to go on is from the seat of his snowmobile sitting in his garage while going "Braaaap"

[Mike89]

what general area are ya hunting down there??  I'm from Mankato once upon a time!!

[PurpleFloyd]

South of Mankato. Not too far off of 169

[Mike89]

some good areas to hunt down there for sure.. I was raised out by Minneopa Golf course..

[PurpleFloyd]

13 minutes ago, Mike89 said:

some good areas to hunt down there for sure.. I was raised out by Minneopa Golf course..

It's not as good as it once was and this year has been challenging to say the least. 

But when it was good there was an orange army in the area but for several years you don't see metro hunters coming into the area because it takes work to fill out most days. Yesterday was an anomaly but it was nice to see some numbers. 

[123fish]

It's definitely picked up down here in the Worthington area as well. Almost all the corn is out and that has made a huge difference in the number of birds being seen. Best time of the season coming up with roosters in the cattails.

[PurpleFloyd]

Went out yesterday for a little thanksgiving hunt. Walked pretty much the same spots and saw 5. 

[knoppers]

I have been wanting to get out, but the area's I hunt, most of the corn is still not harvested. mostly central mn.

[PurpleFloyd]

7 hours ago, knoppers said:

I have been wanting to get out, but the area's I hunt, most of the corn is still not harvested. mostly central mn.

Yeah, it’s getting better with the corn but in the southern part it is so wet it’s hard to find dry ground. It had gotten better since everything froze and we got the snow but yesterday’s rain and warm weather pretty much stopped the season around here until it freezes again 

[123fish]

The storm last weekend  has moved the birds into the heavy duty winter cover. We had pretty good hunting in the cattails the last couple of days. Perfect weather helped.

[rundrave]

Good hunt in SD today: 

[PurpleFloyd]

Now that the corn is out and the ground is white the birds are really showing themselves. Three times in the last month I have seen 50-60  birds on a short day. Nearly every one was in a group and they are concentrating in dense thickets of plum brush. 

 

And there are literally next to no hunters out and about going after them which is a big change from even a decade ago

[PurpleFloyd]

On Sunday after the snow I went coyote hunting and the pheasants were out in force and grouped in the brush and thickets. I ended up just taking the dogs out for a little recreational training and I'm pretty sure we saw over 200 birds. I honestly don't think I have ever had a single day in Minnesota where we flushed more birds than Sunday. With a good spring next year could be one of the best years ever in my lifetime in this area.