2017 Hunting Reports

Went out on around Montevideo on Saturday, moved 2 hens and a rooster that I missed during the golden hour. Either way, nice day to be out in the field.
 
hunted west of elbow lake yesterday and it was dissapointing. flushed 1 rooster that was very wary about 50yds out, then one hen at the end of the day. dog got birdy a few times in some light cover, you could tell the birds just ran off when we walked up to the cover that was pretty light. was suprised that the water was frozen, i did not try walking on the pond side of the cattails, just the inside but the ice felt solid. overall, i think the area got hit good on saturday so maybe people were pushing birds around, i hit this area on the way home from opener and saw some birds and that was with all the corn up, now that the corn is down, i thought I would have done better, oh well. need some cold and snow to bunch them up!
 
Hunted SW on Fri and Sat, 12/1 and 12/2. Great weather to be out! This is my GSP's 13th hunting season and he was pretty worn out by the afternoon of day 2. Friday was a success, we jumped about a dozen hens and 3 roosters, killed 2 roosters. The 2nd rooster was on the edge of cattails and dropped into the cattails, thankfully Jazz found it. I possibly could have filled my 3-rooster limit cause another rooster jumped at that same spot but I paid him no attention as I was focused on where the first bird went down rather than have 2 dead with zero recovered. Saturday there were a lot more hunters around but we did jump two more roosters, missed them, both were tough shots. One jumped while I was in the middle of 8-foot sumacs that I had to try to swing through, and the other flushed wild away from the dog and he was out a ways before I got on him. With the weather being so niced we spent out time in the lighter cover near harvested corn. The dog went through some cattails for a bit but I think the birds were in the lighter cover at least until roosting time.
 
Yeah I've been wondering if they'll be froze enough by the weekend. I feel like they will be but I'm sure there will be a few bad spots.
 
My son and I hunted far western MN on Saturday. We hit my favorite spots that have always produced birds for me the first week of December whether there is snow on the ground or not. We had fun, but it was the most frustrating and poor hunting that I have ever experienced in that part of MN. It was the first time hunting out there that I (we) did not move a single bird. Not a single hen either.

First two spots ... not one bird moved

Third spot my 7 year old Britt had three points, but the birds moved off her and we could not get them in a position to feel threatened enough to fly. The area had new CRP next to it instead of an open field ... birds just ran to where we could not follow. We were a half mile from the truck ... far out where few tend to be. This dog is one of the best and covers a very wide swath and also does a create job pinning running birds.

I do NOT hunt too many weekends out there (mostly weekdays) ... but this was a Saturday. We saw plenty of hunters out ... most driving around. I could tell that we were the first to hit every spot we walked that day. Heard 3 or 4 distant volleys of shots while we were out walking.

Many sloughs were open and those with ice were not safe for even dogs. The cattails (creeks and temporary wetlands) far from open water tended to be partially flooded from heavy late summer/early fall rains. These were still somewhat frozen, but my 35 pound dog broke through ... it was impossible to walk what is normally dry cattail slough beds in temporary wetlands.

In the afternoon we were the only hunters out and about. It appeared that everyone else quit except for a few groups on private land. We watched one group on a private and posted field walk towards a WPA (across the road) in hopes of them moving birds to where we could go ... they never push a single pheasant ...

Did see a group of 5 roosters cross the road and fly out into a small wetland and another rooster by himself on the road.

Some birds are hiding in the cattails that we cannot access. I feel other birds are just loafing in tree belts, farmyards and maybe just out in the corn fields ... the weather was just too nice for birds that have been hunted for 6 weeks.

We did not make a last walk that evening we circled near some productive spots of mine ... glassing, watching, looking for birds running / flying into cover ... nothing.
 
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The next day (Sunday) we hunted an area under 90 minutes from our house and close to a major highway. Hit one public land spot at legal shooting time and after 4 roosters in possession headed back home for the Viking kick-off at noon. Rarely see more than a hen or two on this property, but a little luck never hurts.
 
Not enough day light this time of year. Sunset comes awfully early right now. Not even eight hours of legal hunting time.
 
Nice weather is always a crapshoot. They can be anywhere, and yes often in very sketchy cover that is hard to approach without them busting out.
 
Went out yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon with a friend who had never hunted before. We walked for about 90 minutes through everything. The only 2 birds that flushed was a pair of roosters that busted out of a tree claim about 50 yards in front of us and flew diagonally away so we didn't shoot. My friend was happy to see birds and we were only about an hour from the Metro, so I consider it a victory. My black lab worked hard and went nuts when we walked the area they flushed out of--fun to see her get really birdy. I was hoping for a straggler that was holding tight, but nothing. There was 2-3 inches of snow and drifts up to 12 inches along field edges. I'm sure this cold snap will help group them up!!
 
Well, I have been out a couple times in the past week. Once for a couple hour drive and another for only an hour from the homeplace. (St. Cloud area)

It is worth it to put the miles on from what I experienced. We 3 hunted public the further hunt... and saw a pretty good amt of birds (grouped up though) Shot 2. Then 7 hunters worked to put up 10 birds (yuck) and shot 1 closer to home. That was on a mix of public and private.

So I guess, I will be planning a full day long drive for my next trip whenever that will be. Probably christmas area.

Good luck all in the remaining weeks. Cattails are pretty well frozen now so get after them buggers.
 
any snow out west yet? I plan on heading out this sunday for a day trip. more than likely my last MN outing with the holidays arriving here soon
 
Flushedup said:
Well, I have been out a couple times in the past week. Once for a couple hour drive and another for only an hour from the homeplace. (St. Cloud area)

It is worth it to put the miles on from what I experienced. We 3 hunted public the further hunt... and saw a pretty good amt of birds (grouped up though) Shot 2. Then 7 hunters worked to put up 10 birds (yuck) and shot 1 closer to home. That was on a mix of public and private.

So I guess, I will be planning a full day long drive for my next trip whenever that will be. Probably christmas area.

Good luck all in the remaining weeks. Cattails are pretty well frozen now so get after them buggers.
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I would argue the opposite this year. Middle Mn has been better for me than western.
 
What little they had must be gone which is good for ice formation, albeit day time temps out there have been relatively warm this week. No shortage of wind most days.
 
Hunted around windom area today. There was so much hunting pressure that it was hard to find an unoccupied spot. The birds were in the cattails but were very spooky. Didn't even fire a shot. Ice was in good shape though. We'll maybe get out one more time this year.
 
I'm new here. I've been hunting pheasants in east-central MN this season and it has been fantastic. Everything is froze solid now, there's fresh snow, the crops are out, and I have seen no less than 200 birds the last few outings. It only took me about 2.5 hours an afternoon last week to get my 3 bird limit.
 
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