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opening day strategy?


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On past openers, I have have had good luck hunting my CRP if the weather is cold and rainy. The birds stay on rooste longer in the morning and can be flushed in range easily. I have also had good luck hunting just at dusk as the birds are coming out of the corn.

I fail to have consistant success during the midday if the weather is hot and the birds are in the corn.

What is the best way to flush these afternoon roosters? Walking corn that is over my head is difficult but if that's where the birds are someone has to go in and get them. How do you guys get them out of there.

I have large blocks of corn and would love to cut strips but it is just not in the budget to get equipment out two times during the fall. Hans

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As a absentie landowner with a renter from across the county, what are some creative options to get smaller blocks of corn, cut rows and/or leave some rows standing until after the season? What kind of outlay can I expect? Any help from NRCS to leave crops in this season or do food plots have to be approved in advance? Hans

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You can't shoot a bird in front of the tv or while sleeping. Brittman is right. There are always a few birds somewhere that are not in the corn. You may need to cover some ground to find them but they are out there.

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After tonights Vikes performance, I know Sundays I'll be hitting the corn.

I was hoping for some creative strategies on how to hunt my corn or how to manage it for better hunting. I always drive a big chunk because it is on the way back to the truck and posters if they can shoot get lucky on occasion.

I was looking for stuff like-is it better to hunt corn accross the rows or with them. Is it better to push one way for a while then leave the corn and do an end run-stuff like that.

But hey all those tv answers just means more birds out there for me. I'm just giving you guys guf for being lazy and Iam always thankful for any reply-but in all seriousness-What's your best corn drive set up( for getting birds and not shooting each other)?

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Hunted Pheasants ever since i could(this will be year 21) mainly in SD. Uncle owns thousands of acres with corn in fields off the main farm and some on the main farm- i can not tell you the last time i hunted in the corn.So much more fun and i think more effective to go after them where they roost and spend a good part of thier day and thats not a corn field. The majority of the time they will not hold for ya in the corn(run,run run) like they will in heavy cover. And that would be the day that i would sit in front of the tv when i am on a hunt. MN opens earlier so the corn would be good in the morning but the afternoon is my favorite to hit the heavy stuff. I only hunt public land here and in SD and we do very well.

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Hunting against the rows in corn is hard, and a lot of times farmers don't want you to do it. Hunting with the rows is kind of like strolling in the park, it is just that you can't see anything - except straight up. That not seeing anything includes your buddies and your dog. So it is confusing, and you end up constantly checking in with your buddies and dog by yelling at them to find out where they are. Meanwhile you are also pushing the roosters, who run, which causes your dogs to run. Which causes the whole thing to be a mess. Your right, posters may have some great shooting - but those are the guys without the dogs a lot of times - and if they cripple one, they have to wait until the corn drive is done to get a dog on the bird.

I know this method can produce birds, I just happen to not enjoy it.

If I get the chance, I normally do hunt all day, especially at the end of the year. There are times when this can't happen (kids), and in those times I choose to take 12:00 to 3:30 off.

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Hans, do you own the corn? If so, contact a dairy farmer SOON and have them cut rows for silage. Then you would have patches of cut and stands of full corn. If you don't own the corn. Then your chances are slim. But Dairy guys are always looking for more acres to cut for silage.

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Muc, we (the bank) own the farm but have renter. So the way I see it the renter controls the corn. Hence my question about the cost of leaving corn on another thread. We live three hours from the farm and the renter lives half way across the county and hits our farm in one day with three opperations when he is in our part of the county. In the past he has been reluctant to come back out to harvest strips. It's just too far.

We have a great renter otherwise. I'm just looking for creative ways to maximize the pheasant cover on the property and still have a happy renter.

If I had the renter leave corn for the hunting season and paid him a fair price for an acre(Any hints on what that would be?) do you think it is likely that I could find a cow guy to come out after the season and cut the rest for silage in order for me to help offset the cost I paid the renter-(how much an acre for silage?) I then would split the difference with my hunting buddies. Hans

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Hans, if they are going to use it for silage they would cut it in the next few weeks, while it is still green. You may get someone feeding ground corn to come in and cut it next spring. But then you may have some issues with your renter. Best would be to talk to your current renter and ask them how the scenario would best suit them and they may be willing to work a deal to leave strips for a price. That price is a shot in the dark for me. sorry.

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Murray co has a great pheasants forever chapter. They have helped me in the past with shelter belt plantings. I plan to look for cost share through the NRCS next year for a food plot, but it was my understanding that it needs to be approved before hand-so I couldn't expect any help this fall to get assisatance to leave corn that's already in the ground this year. I would love to hear I'm wrong so if anyone knows a chapter with extra cash this fall or knows the CRP rules ?

I have property adjacent to a WMA and would be glad to leave some in corn to help everyone If I could make the money work.

I got out of a potlatch lease for deer hunting a few years ago because I thought 500 hundred dollars was too much to pay to shoot a deer I used to shoot for free. Same with pheasants. I can usually get my two as it is, but just want to feel like I'm doing the best I can for the property. If it's 500 to leave an acre I think I can stomach it, but 1500 hundred really is out of the question for me already having a place to hunt. If I didn't it would seem like a bargain.

Is it possible to harvest the cobs with an old style picker or by hand and just leave the stocks high. In my experience the birds like to loaf in cover that has bare ground but overhead protection from avian predators.

Could beans be drillled into the tall stuble the next year? Or could the stalks be turned under in the spring with one of the usual operations on the rest of the farm?Hans

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Just wondering guys, but does this pheasant opener seem a week later this year? Might be a dumb question, it just seems it has opened earlier than Oct. 11th. Then again, I am new to hunting and have only been pheasant hunting for 2 years. That might have something to do with it!

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I'm with the others, hunt for a couple hours and then hunt the last hour of the day, unless you have lots of private land because the public areas by noon have already been pounded by 2-4 groups of hunters. But I'd skip the Vikings, who wants to sit inside on a nice fall day?? Clean up the yard and garden, go check deer stands, go jump some potholes for ducks, enjoy the day.

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