Anyone out hunting?

Chris-84

New member
Anyone been out chasing any birds?

The dog & I did about 8 miles Saturday looking for wild birds, cut one set of tracks but never found the bird. Going to give it another go Thursday.
 
I was out west all last week but will be out somewhere this weekend. Getting to be an exercise in futility. This state just blows for wild birds.

(eta, probably get this post modified, cant use the word blow on this site)
 
Tinker and I went out three times last week. We saw four pheasants---all lifting off hundreds of yards ahead of us. They have been well-schooled by this time. The winds on one of the days were in the 30 mph gusty category, so the hunting did blow that day. I kept on because Tink may as well experience the bad as the good. One of the times, we went to a property with crop land around sort of an "island" of brush and junk trees and a few pines. Tink started tracking scent and before we left that copse of timber, had tracked and forced 5 turkeys to flush--3 singles and one pair, all far out of range.

We've had no snow to speak of down here, and the wild bird population is sparse, although occasionally we'll see a rooster near the roadside. Both dogs had some very good days, perhaps more less-than-good days, and a few when they did well and the shooter had a hard time even hitting the atmosphere. :(

Happy I am (thank you, Yoda) that Mick had one terrific day on pheasants, which ended with me holding my sides in laughter as I POINTED to the dying pheasant in the footpath as he kept on pulling on his collar to go seek out the downed bird back in the thatch at right angles to the bird. The pheasant had its head lifted to watch us as it expired, with me shouting, "NO Dummy! It's down THERE!!!" and the dog straining to go back and hunt dead bird in the cover.

I trained him myself. :)
 
We've been out every weekend, killed 3 last weekend. Flushed 21 total birds hunting pretty hard for 3 days, 5 of which were roosters. But the numbers are a bit skewed as 10 of those were in one group that flushed on a field edge out the opposite site not offering any realistic shots. So hard to find cattails once the snow flies in WI, but we've killed a couple that sat tight in small prickly-ash thickets as well.

My golden has ended up scenting birds to edges of cover and you can see where they flushed. Seems to be no in between, everything has either flushed wild/ran or sat tight enough where Lambeau almost catches them on the flush (which was the case with 3 roosters). It's still fun dog-work, I blew a gimme on Sunday afternoon but barely clipped the bird on a hail mary and he landed in a treeline. Didn't think he had a prayer of finding him, but always have to remember rule #1 haha. 30 seconds later out he came with the very much alive rooster hanging from his mouth with his tail whipping.

We're up to 24 total on the year; 13 in SD and 11 in WI. Original goal was 30 but we had our last SD trip cut short by 2 days so I think 25 is more realistic. 3 more weekends!
 
Well it looks I'm giving up on trying to find a wild bird. Went yesterday, not sure how many miles we did, but did not see anything, I guess what i thought looked like good habitat is not.

If anyone that regularly hunts wild birds would be willing to discuss locations via PM, - I'd like to know if I was even in the right area or just out for a walk. Thanks
 
If you put on miles and didn't see bird you just went for a walk.

Read the spring surveys and find an area in the one of the better counties with a lot of good habitat not just one small section. You'll find birds eventually.

Areas with a lot of waterfowl production areas,or prairie restoration,combined with better than average spring counts for this state have birds.
 
I was in one of the top five counties according to the survey & the area had some large WPA & restoration areas.
 
Depressing, isnt it? I have yet to take a wild rooster this year. I think Im going to take up unicorn hunting instead
 
Went out yesterday for a couple hours. Was the first time since I went out to SD the first week of November. Flushed 3 hens, no roosters. All the fresh tracks I saw appeared to be smaller hen tracks. I wish we would take the direction of MN and help landowners get their land enrolled in CRP or similar programs. I believe MN led the country in CRP enrollment this year. Unfortunately predators aren't the biggest problem, habitat is. When I hunted MN, SD, KS and CO there were lots of hawks, coyote, foxes, raccoons and skunks. The difference is the habitat. Most grassy/wetland areas around here are only suitible for winter cover and too low for nesting in spring. Any land that is dry enough for nesting cover is cropland. Also, we don't have enough quality large (100+ acres) wildlife areas to provide for a population of wild birds. We need private lands in grassland in order for the pheasant population to improve. Write your representative and let them know how much this means to you! Maybe we can get something started. Join PF, they are a huge voice for everyone who is worried about improving habitat. Good luck for the rest of the season. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!
 
Ended the season in the bitter cold on Sunday with some terrible shooting. Flushed 3 roosters, two I should've killed, 6 other hens flushed right at my feet, Saturday flushed 3 hens and another rooster that should also be dead. Missed 7 of 8 to end the year after a streak of 18/19 killed (or something similar). Ended with 12 killed in WI and 13 in SD for a total rooster count of 25 flushed/retrieved by my golden. Almost needed this year to be done so I can reset my brain for next year. Pup needs to get a new owner that can shoot!
 
Nice.

I tried a few more times, saw a wild bird - a hen.

Went up where I deer hunt & shot some grouse last weekend - it was a little cool.
 
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