Ortonville/Morris Area - Any Reports/Suggestions?

[Wild Willie]

I'm going to throw everything I have in the Jeep and head to Ortonville tomorrow morning for pheasants. My first time stomping around there so I'm looking for some advice. I might just stay overnight in Morris and hit it again Saturday morning if all goes well and we find birds. Anyone have any suggestions?

[BDR]

Wildwillie- There are good numbers in that area. Right now there is a skim of ice in the sloughs and around the edges. Water is pretty high. It seemed yesterday at first warning birds were running deep into the cattails and flushing out of range. They are cruising on that ice. It was not strong enough yet to hold Charlie and he kept breaking thru. It should be a little stronger after last nights cold. I would keep pretty close tabs on Buddy. Don't want him going in too far and needing help getting out of weak ice.

My best suggestion right now is too look for the cut corn edges and go ultra quiet. Maybe try too work from cover out instead of too the cover.

We need a few real cold night and some snow then them birds will get way more accesible.

Good luck!!

[Wild Willie]

BDR - Thanks for the tips...have you ever taken at look at terraserver-usa.com? I found it last night...unbelievable free online aerial photos provided by the USGS. The images are old, I think from 1991, but you can really zoom in and pick-up details like edges of fields, tree lines, bogs, rivers, ponds and lakes. I wanted to know what the terrain looked like up there and after finding the site I now am able to compare landmarks off a standard road map to find aerial photo detail of the areas I am prospecting to hunt. Which part of the area gets hit harder, north, south, east or west? In your humble opinion what is the best way to get there from Woodbury?