So how did we all do?

[mwal]

I had the same problem with my Brittney. I force fetched her and my new dog Greta I will never have a hunting dog that was not force fetched again. Do a search here and you will find alot of info and books tapes etc to look at. Force fetching makes the dog retrieve anything you tell it to and it must obey no matter what. After the training the dog all around behaviour will improve and future training is easier.

Mwal

[BigWadeS]

Man, after hearing the reports, I am going to have to find some public spots to hit. I haven't hunted roosters since I moved to MN, but sounds like there are plenty to go around

[Eric Wettschreck]

I didn't go out. I went fishing instead. There is a lot of corn out still. No hurry for me.

My neighbors went out and didn't do too bad.

[Heidi]

We hunted around Morris. 6 birds for 7 guys.

Only about a 50/50 mix of hens and roosters as I recall.

Birds in the corn or hunkered deep in the slews and would not get up. A fine time. I missed the same woodcock Saturday and Sunday. The little buggers are fast. Lots of people on the roads.

[gspman]

Hey Joe,

My schedule is fairly busy now but if you, BDR and I can work something out I'd be willing to give those northern roosters a run for their money.

You can contact me at clark dot koenen at hotmail (Contact Us Please)

gspman

[deerhuntr8]

Quote:

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I didn't go out. I went fishing instead. There is a lot of corn out still. No hurry for me.

My neighbors went out and didn't do too bad.

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I agree. All the corn makes it tough. The wind didn't help on Saturday either. Seen 2 hens, and that was it.

[joe_stack20]

Went to a small public chunk just south of here on Sunday morning...was by myself and no dog...took 15 steps and busted up 2 roosters dropped one and didnt fire on the 2nd as I didnt wanna lose the pin point where the first one dropped. Walked it all over busted about anoter 10 birds all were out of range but most were roosters. Not too bad of an opener if you ask me started hunting at 9am was back home at 1020am with 1 rooster in the vest...all in all very pleased with my results and not having a dog!

[Big Roy]

I am going to go for the first time this weekend, without asking for any specific spots could someone point me in the right direction of where to hunt? I will hunt anywhere in Minnesota. You can P.M. if you would like.

[Blaze]

Roy - from Woodbury, drive straight west 2-3 hrs, pull over, and hunt any public land you can find.

Seriously, though, check the DNR HSOforum under Hunting ==> Pheasants. They have a distribution map that shows the bird population densities - very helpful.

Good luck!

[MINNKOTA]

Hunted SW North Dakota had very good luck. There was 18 in our party and we had our 54 birds(3/person) by 1:30 in the afternoon. Hunt was great except for Saturday afternoon one dog in the party keep nipping at the rest of the dog My Lab was the unlucky one he ended getting 3 stiches by his nose had to drive 45 miles to Lemon SD for a vet.While at the Vet A nephew used my gun and jammed it while taking it apart the lost a plastic cap so i could only used one shell.

Sunday we were done by 11:30 with our limit.

MINNKOTA

[riverrat56]

Saterday I had a football game so I didn't hunt, went out Sunday morning and hunted for 3 hours, kicked up one hen and a big ol' racoon that my little brit pointed, was alot of corn in on both sides of the land so I decided to go out tonight after practice even though I only had 40 mins to hunt. Ended up only getting up 3 birds, but 2 were roosters that ended up in the game bag. Both came with in 100 yds of each other and 10 mins before sunset.

A decent start if you ask me, the dog is working great and once the corn gets it it should really get good, but doing better than 2 in 40 mins is tough.....

Good luck to everyone the rest of the year

[mistermom]

Hey Brian and GSP!

Brian if the # you got is 651 451 etc. it should be the right one. You guys want to try for the last weekend in October?

Also I will be out in the Brooten area this Thursday through Sunday. If you guys are out that way possibly we could hook up out there? Later men!

mm

[gspman]

Heading to SoDak the last weekend in Oct. so that won't work. This weekend is MEA so I have kids to tend. Oh well.

[Big Roy]

Thanks for the info Blaze.

[BLACKJACK]

Quote:

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Quote:

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I didn't go out. I went fishing instead. There is a lot of corn out still. No hurry for me.

My neighbors went out and didn't do too bad.

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I agree. All the corn makes it tough. The wind didn't help on Saturday either. Seen 2 hens, and that was it.

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I love it when I hear guys staying home because of too much corn!!! Myself, I'll keep going out because I love to hunt pheasants and love to watch the dogs work and if I happen to find a bird or two - they don't stay in the corn forever - great!!!!

[Eric Wettschreck]

Don't get me wrong dude, I love hunting em up too. Fall is a great time of year. Good fishin, good huntin, I'm in heaven. No hurry for anything.

[brittman]

Corn is coming in much faster now. This past weekend was big for corn harvesting.

Only bean fields I saw out there were those damaged by the drought.

Watched 'em cut corn adjacent to a WMA

[ChuckN]

It was the worst opener for me, never fired a shot. Good for my buddy on Saturday as he got his two right next to me with his good pheasant dog. We primarily duck hunted, but did hike a ways for pheasants Saturday and Sunday.

The air was mighty dry (horribly low humidity/dewpoint) the temps were hard on the dogs and the hunting pressure was all time records in western/SW MN, IMO.

Wait for crops to get picked and cooler temps...bring it on!

[yakfisher]

I wasn't able to get out until 2 pm on Sunday. The dog and I had 2 birds by 4:30 hunting on private land that, I found out the next day, had been heavily hunted. Monday two of us started at 9:15 and should have been done by 9:16. After all the comotion to begin with it took us until 11:20 to have our four birds. Later in the afternoon, we took the dogs out at 4:00 for my dad and he had his 2 birds by 5:15. We were hunting the same heavily pressured chunk of private land. I can't wait till the corn is out around this spot, it should be great.

[stayman79]

I joined the "red army" of hunters on public land in west/central MN on opener with my 3 year old yellow lab and did something I've never done before. By 9:15 we had flushed and killed 2 roosters on 2 shots and were headed back to the truck! Ten vehhicles around this section-sized public land, we just happened to walk into the right spot.

Only thing I felt bad about was having to head home so early and not let the dog get good and tired! The wife was happy though, happy enough that I was "allowed" to duck hunt Sunday morning making it 3 days of hunting in a row for this guy

I don't expect it to happen again anytime soon, but it sure was great!

[JigginIsLife]

Didnt even get out on sat and sun (busy, and a wedding, poor guy will never get out to hunt on pheasant opener now) went out on Mon and tuesday. to no avail on monday walked all day, also did some road hunting, but got nothing. tuesday decided to go out later about 3 and ended up hunting some CRP land and as we were on our last leg of the field, two roosters came flying in on the opposite end. so my buddy and i walked across the field again. first rooster up 2 shots, missed, buddy took 1 shot missed and his gun jammed. second bird up, 1 shot, bird down. first pheasant ever, provided a nice break from school.

[jparrucci]

Hunted private land near the Wilmar/Spicer area on opening morning. Wow was there a lot of other hunters around. Managed to get 3 roosters for 3 guys on the small private land hunting behind my brittany who did excellent. Later in the day we jumped ducks at a WPA and ended up with 5 ducks also. Never did see a rooster on the WMA's and WPA's, just a few hens. I'm guessing the early morning pressure had the birds in the corn or deep in the cattails. Duck hunted Sunday morning just south of the cities and never warmed up the barrel. Proceeded to drop the canoe off, grab the dog and head out S/SW of the cities. Public land in the New Prague/Jordan area was also getting pounded, never saw a rooster there either. I will try to get out again soon, but plan to hunt them much harder when it gets cold and the cattail slews freeze up and I can get at those pressured public land birds.

[Jackpine Rob]

2 of us hunted private land in Western Minnesota and had our 4 birds in less than 90 minutes. We unloaded the guns and let the dog continue working as we headed back to the vehicles. Probably saw 30-40 roosters and at least as many hens during our little jaunt. Corn was coming out in that area, and once its all down I'm thinking we could see some pretty interesting hunts.

[grab the net]

Got out tonight after work for an hour walk with the dog. Shooting eye wasn't quite as sharp as it was on saturday morning, missed the first three birds I saw. Just flat missed. I was hunting a small private spot that had plenty of birds and at the end of the walk, one accidently flew into my shot pattern. Took my one bird and went to a WMA and started down a fence line walking with the wind. About fifty yards down the dog does the about face and points a tuft of grass next to a fence post. I have a lab with pointing traits, he was locked up tight, walked up to the spot, big mature bird came busting out and one shot later we were done. I wonder how many times that trick worked before Duey found him. My son was out monday and tuesday down in the southern part of the state. He had one flush of 8 roosters all together. Thats southern MN, not SD or ND or Iowa. We won't ask how he went 0 for five shots. He made up for it later and collected his two. This is by far looking to be the good old days we will someday talk about with great fondness.

[CommonSense Guy]

Jumped three shot three. Puppy retieved his first bird. Very happy about that