Young vrs old birds this year?

[BLACKJACK]

I've managed to shoot three roosters here in MN this year and two of them have been old birds. The young rooster was a real young one. Whats everyone else seeing, young or old birds? I'm thinking that the heavy spring rains did a number on the pheasant hatch here in central MN. Even with a lot of corn still in the fields, a person should be seeing more birds along the edges of the corn at dusk.... Its been disapointing so far.

[GrouseHunt'R]

Saw two roosters last night with little color and no tail feathers. We only got one of the two. Only knew they were roosters by the white around the neck and they had to be close to see it.

There are a lot of young roosters just starting to color up this season because of the late hatches. Thanksgiving should be fun because all of these birds are being passed on right now because you can't tell they are roosters.

[BDR]

I have been west and south of the cities. In the west we saw a good 5-6 birds that were just plain small, couldn't even tell rooster or hen. In the South I had a rooster fly up that I had to look very close to tell, then I sent him to his maker. It was a very young but was starting to turn colors. I think as season progresses alot of the hard to tell ones will get thier colors.

The small birds I saw were the smallest I have ever seen after opener. The predetors should do well this winter.

[Little Joe]

I've shot 3 mature roosters this year in SW MN - long tail feathers and spurs. I've also flushed and passed on 6 other's that were the size and color of a ruffed grouse. I've never flushed/scene a pheasant that small before. Hope some of those get some color real soon! I'll be back after deer season.

[Bushwacker]

I have been hunting a lot this year. I have a rookie lab and I am have been going almost everynight. We have got up 14 roosters so far this year and I shot my first two mature ones on Tuesday. Besides that, they have not had their colors or tails yet. It should be good later in the season, because there seem to be a lot of birds around.

[Perch Jerker]

Most of the birds I've seen (2/3) have been this years hatch. I had to hold off on shooting because it was questionable to the sex of the bird. Turned out it was a young wet rooster, but by the time my eye's & brain put 2 & 2 together, it was out of range .

PJ