So how did we all do?

[grab the net]

I'll start, we saw a few birds, they were very skittish for opening day. Lots of corn left in the area. Very dry conditions in the CRP. Dogs seemed to have a tough time scenting. I was the lucky one in the group and got my two birds by 10:30. Two young birds, they looked bigger in the air,those 20 inch tail feathers shrunk to 14 by the time I got them in the bag, No other chances for me, so I'm glad I made the best of my opportunities. 15-20 mpd winds, when they got into the jet stream, it was afterburner time. 1st bird I bet I lead by 4 feet. Overall a good opener for our group, tired dogs, should sleep well tonight. Not to overly crowded out there today, everybody was courteous and friendly, some groups did beter than others. Best I heard of so far was 11 birds for 8 guys,private property, they said they lost three birds and counted them in their bag limit. They said they found very dry conditions, dogs could just not come up with the downed birds in the CRP. Probably runners after they hit the ground. Will post a picture later.

[xedge2002]

We bagged 10 birds for 6 guys. Should have had 12 birds but one got dropped and the dogs couldn't find it. It was in CRP and cattails my guess is it ran a little ways and buried itself. The other one was hit several times, doubled up once then kept gliding. It got in the wind and glided for over 1/2 mile to property we couldn't hunt. Most birds we were seeing sat fairly tight. Had a couple where we shot one and were standing around waiting for the dogs to get it and all of the sudden another one would bust out. Good hunt overall, lots of fun, tired dogs and hunters and we seen decent numbers of birds. Longest tailfeather we had on the ones we took home was 21 3/4".

[Perchnonice]

Ten minutes into the hunt where's my cell phone? 30 minutes later creek water is 20" deep - boots 16" tall. Will the squeshing sound from my wet socks scare the birds? Another 30 minutes later found cell phone - battery about dead from 15 minutes of letting it ring to locate it. Fourteen year old daughter first hunt and a day of her ribbing me. Priceless. Seen 3 roster's about 20 hens. Can I get a hen permit? Hunted private land by Marshall. Will try it all again tomorrow.

[No_Net]

Three guys three roosters. We missed 4 or 5 birds and cripped three. Stunk that we lost three but the crp was pretty dry and the dog couldn't get a good scent trail. Seen about ten others that we didn't get a shot off at. It felt good to be out in the pheasant fields again. Hopefully sundays better. Good Luck

[BDR]

Had a very good opener. Hunted public land in SW. 4 in our group and we got our 8 even with missing 3 fairly easy ones. Birds were holding very tight in most cases. Spent a good day with some very good people. Can't wait to do it again.

[lawdog]

Didn't hunt too much for pheasants as they were all in the corn right away. The 80 we own is surrounded by 420 acres of corn on three sides right now and I don't know how much across the road to the other side. As we drove up birds were flying, jumping and running into the corn and out of the grass...

It won't be good for a month. WAY too many people around too. I live across the road from a WMA and I saw 11 differant vehicles in there by 3:30 when the boy and I left to goose hunt.

[shooter]

There were 3 of us hunting and we were done hunting by 3:00. Found there to be alot of standing corn around, and the birds were definetly in it. On our way back home we drove over 100 miles of gravel roads and never seen a bird, were they all in the corn. We drove thru Yellow Medicene and Lac qui Parle counties were the birds were suppose to be in the range of 500+ birds per hundred miles, "the local dnr that checked us said the birds in Lac Parle were at 736 per hundred miles". It was real strange to drive that many miles and not see a bird. Does anyone know what the law is for hunting the tracks??

[Reef Runner]

Well Jack (my pup) and I did not do so well. We were on private land in Austin. He found 5 hens but no roodies. I did end up getting two doves on one teal. Holy dump are those doves hard to hit with 6 shot. I went threw a half a box just to get those three little birds. OH well now I won’t be able to get out until after deer season. Hopefully there will be some left by then.

[gspman]

Only got out on Sunday. Hunted a public area and saw a lot of hunters and no birds. Went to some private ground and could have had my 2 birds in 10 minutes there. The first bird pointed was a hen. Second bird was a cock but it was young and had a hen profile. By the time the light hit it at the right angle so I could tell what it was the shot was too far so I passed on it. About 30 sec later rooster #2 gets up. Kill it on the 2nd shot, bird lands about 30 rows in the corn, I'm thinking it could be tough finding this one but the dog finds it quickly (good dog!!!), bird #1 in the bag. Hunt some more and work another hen and also a doe. Dog points where deer was bedded. Master says NO very loudly. We move on. Next piece of ground. Barely get in the cover and a rooster gets up 4 feet from me going straight away (think low house 7 in skeet), I whiff 3 times. Arrrghh!!! I have this mental block about not covering up the bird when they're going straight away. It's the single most aggravating thing for me when hunting. It's the easiest shot there is and I miss that shot way too much. Anyways move about 60 yds and another rooster flushes. I nail it and it lands about 4 ft from where the dog is. I'm thinking bird #2 in the bag and we are done. Dog was on it right away. I walk up and dog doesn't have the bird but is searching furiously for it. Never found the bird so I didn't nail it so hard after all. Finish hunting the cover. The dog is tired and I need to get back home at a decent time and I have my 2 birds on the ground with one recovered, so I decide to call it a day.

All in all a good time except I shot poorly on all but the first bird. Moved 8 birds total with 4 being roosters. Some good dog work. Some good and bad shooting.

Next weekend here we come.

[LuciandTim]

Here is a couple pics BDR...Should of been there Sunday! There were more birds and a lot!! of them were Roosters!

They are everywhere....

Best Mn Opener I have ever experienced!

Day 1: 4 People, 2 Dogs, 8 Birds by 4:30pm

Day 2: 3 People, 1 Dog, 6 Birds by 10:30am

It was a lot of fun and we saw a ton of birds. Day 2 if we would of hit everything we would of been done earlier but there were some wild flushes and a couple that caught us off guard. Good Times!

---

[Snag]

We got 3 birds for two guys on public land. It was a great opener. Had 15 birds fly past the truck and into our field at 8 a.m. That seemed to be a pretty good omen. Most of them were hens. We flushed 20 hens and six roosters. Two roosters were out of range and the other one, I never heard a cackle and didn't notice the longer tail until it out of range. Can't wait to get out again.

[fishingmike0770]

8 guys, 5 dogs and 16 birds by 4:00 pm, what an awesome way to start the season. . all taken on public land too!

[charliepete2]

My buddy and I limited out on public land in western Minnesota on Saturday. For this particular spot the numbers were the worst I've seen in 5 years. Although we didn't see the numbers were used to, a high percentage were roosters so we got some shooting in.

[carpshooterdeluxe]

six guys; 2 days; 23 birds. had to work pretty good to get them with the wind on saturday but today was too easy. this is from today. (btw im the one that popped the baby rooster right about the time it dropped its diaper and pacifier!)

[mistermom]

Went with my Uncle today on my Dad's propperty. I got two roosters with two shots (I've never done that before) and saw a lot of hens and about 6 more roosters. My Uncle didn't get any decent chances; but he had fun!

mm

Brian and gspman when do you want to come hunt the northwoods roosters with me? Let me know!

[BLACKJACK]

Sat two of us got our four birds in the morning hunting public land. Had to work for them, had birds getting up ahead of us, my brother missed an easy, my two labs got hot at one spot, I followed one and the other one chased up a rooster up ahead! Only had one bird by the time we had made one swat along the edge, but then we got into a batch on a slough bank, I dropped one, my brother missed one and then dropped one, the highlite was when my two labs came back, each with a bird in their mouth!! Of course then I got to carry them but it was worth it. Most of the potholes were dry, glad we carried water for the dogs.

Sunday I was out by myself to a spot with lots of corn around it, no dumb roosters left in the grass, spent some time scouting out deer trails, found one nice spot for a stand, could have shot a coyote in the butt, then when we did get a rooster up by one of these tree patches that I was scouting, he got up right on the other side of a big tree!!! I didn't get a shot until he was 40 yards out!

Overall a nice opener!!

[shae1986]

Decided to go to ND for the opening weekend to shoot some birds. 3 guys 18 birds, not bad.

A. Shae

P.S. I know i cheated by going to ND.

[BDR]

Hey Joel!

Long time no talk. Glad you and Daisy got into some. I am up for it anytime we can work it out. I will try the # I have for you.

[DRH1175]

wish I was pheasant hunting. I did the early deer season which was a waste once again. Saw many pheasants flying back and forth between corn and cover. At one time saw a flock of 15 to 20 birds. So in all I wish I was chasing the wiley rooster instead!

[Farley]

8 birds. 7 came in the last hour of shooting.

[fivebucks]

Had to work most of the weekend but got out for Sunday evening. Worked public land east of Willmar. The first pass thru did not get any flushes but I heard a rooty crowing in the corn. Went back to the truck for a break and worked the same area next to the corn for the last 45 minutes. Just then the combine started on that edge picking corn so I think fewer birds walked back into the grass. My boy got on one and we followed that bird for 100 yards and I got that young rooster. We had about 15 minutes left so we went back towards the truck where there was another corn field across the road and he gets birdy. A nice rooster gets up cackling and I drill it, or so I thought. It was going down so I bring my shotgun down and then it catches itself and flies way out into the wildlife area, leg dangling and has a very awkward landing so I'm thinking he might be dying. I had about 1 minute b/f the sun sets so I decide to try and see if the dog can catch him. At sunset I unload my gun and start hoofing it across the grass and all of a sudden a big ole rooty gets up right in front of me - no shells in gun plus it's after sunset. We flushed a few more birds but never did find the rooster. My 2 1/2 year old lab had his best hunt of his young career and I almost had my limit. It was a very good end to a working weekend.

[buzzsaw]

I'm jealous!! Great job guys!!

Fishingmike, I really like that group picture, top notch!!

[sdstate]

Did pretty good. Got seven for the weekend. Tried to get my brothers on some roosters, but what can u do if they get up rite in front of you. I was hunting between the Marshal and Redwood Falls area and i wasnt impressed with the numbers. There was more corn out than last year but i seen less roosters this year. I did see a lot of hens though, which is good. We had a pretty crazy story on sat afternoon. I sent my brother down near the river to hunt a little piece that is always good for a rooster. Well i was sitting up on the bridge and sure enough a rooster gets up. Well unfortunately he couldnt get a shot off, but when the rooster was flying he was bookin pretty good and he smacked right into a highline wire. I watched the whole thing and sure enough when i got over there he was dead as a bored. That is the second time i have seen that happen. Pretty crazy i thought.

[Northland Sportsman]

We had a good weekend in East Central MN. On Sat. We hunted for about 2-3 hours and had 6 birds for 3 guys. We also flushed a woodcock and grouse but didn't get any shots on them. What a great way to start the season. Sunday was a little slower with only 3 birds for 2 guys in the afternoon. We could have had the limit if my buddies shooting was better, but thats how it goes. My dog found a downed rooster then ran abouot 200 yards and holed up in a swampy pasture. She pointed it out and you could barely see a tail feather sticking out of the hole it was in. My buddy thought it just left a feather there but went to pick it up and was still attached. Good dog work! Flushed more hens then roosters but good number of birds and a lot of fun. Can't wait to do it again!

[CodyDawg]

We did great. 5 guys 10 birds on Sat and 3 guys 6 birds on Sun. My dad did a lot of habitat work on his place and boy did it work. Tons of birds. The first pass through the food plot we put up 50 birds. In Minnesota! We hunted 1 state WMA and got 5, which was fantastic. Then 1 private with corn which wasn't real good but given the corn, it will be good later. Then 1 private piece that was the same as last year. All in all, a better year than last year.

I was a little frustrated that my 1.5 year old brittany isnt retrieving yet......??? She mouths it, picks it up, sniffs it, then leaves. She will retrieve a tennis ball all day long. Any ideas folks?