?slow season???

7ex

New member
haven’t seen many posts this season, and haven’t hunted in colorado yet. is it really that slow, or is everyone too busy cleaning birds?? hopefully the latter.
 
I think many people are afraid to post with all the new people moving here and increased pressure. At least I have lol
 
In my book, it has been a slow season. But, I also lost about 30 private-access corners to the Pheasants Forever Corners program. Those get hit 4 or 5 times a day, so they are off of my radar. Have gotten a few fields to replace the lost ground, though. However, with much of the season being warm, birds stayed in the corn stubble much of the time, so they were not loafing in the cover we hunted.

Getting public access may be good for spreading hunters out around a county, but it also hammers new areas. The corners they opened last year had pretty poor cover this year, so the birds avoided many of the walk-in hunters, after the birds got hunted a few weekends. Or, the influx of hunters diminished the population in the first couple of weekends.
 
I had a good year, not great as far as the number of birds goes. The last decade just seams to be tougher overall. I hunt mostly Walk-in and really should knock on more doors, it just seems like that use to be easier. Opening was a zoo - won't do that again. This is my third year in Colorado and I found some more fields I like, and added them to my growing list. (I hate corners, too much work for the return, at least when you hunt WIA, that's just me.) I use to hunt Kansas and that isn't near what it use to be.

My point is, I have had to learn to adapt, I have had to learn and try new things to still get birds. It seems like more and more fields are subpar and it's harder to cover them well enough when you know there are less birds. The weather has been tough (some snow, please!), uncut crops and crops being cut can be the cause of boon or bust hunts. How come the number of hunters is declining and I keep seeing more and more? I often hunt alone but I am also trying to help introduce hunters to pheasant hunting. It's tough to teach the need to be quiet and use stealth to the newbies, or the need to develop instinct about following the dogs into the wind or turn them the opposite direction and head into the corner. Birds hear you coming and run ahead, left or right, don't forget to zig and zag and stop. Don't need to give the birds an easy vector to escape. What is with this heat? I need to constantly consider the dogs and the water and the heat!!. It's too dry for them!!

To answer your question, it's not as easy as it use to be and this year seems to more of the same. I have found that I have to work a lot harder and smarter but it has been just as much fun. The picture is from two weeks ago. 10.7 miles, 3 fields, I saw about 15 birds and three roosters held long enough for shots unfortunately, I only hit 2.5. Tomorrow is probably the last day of the year, maybe the last hunt for my 12 year old, Lily, so keep us in your thoughts for a good day.

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Catching up during the "stay at home" order and it's been a long time since I checked in on this forum. It was a great year for me and my two labs, Parker and Brady, from a hunting frequency standpoint. We set a new record with 25 days in the pheasant fields-6 in SoDak, 6 in NE, and 13 in Eastern CO. It was a challenging season in CO and like Hubsker noted, we had to try some different tactics. Being retired, I'm fortunate to be able to hunt primarily during the week. This season I saw more hunters during the week than I ever have. I hunt both WIA and private properties and I'm always trying to make some new landowner connections. But that takes quite a bit of time and perseverance and a thick skin to accept the "no" replies. I usually hunt with 1 or 2 buddies, but by myself, too. I always saw birds but they seem to continue to get more wary every year. I did not get a daily limit except a few of the days in SoDak. Last year in CO I got one daily limit. For me, a daily limit is far down the list of reasons why I hunt pheasants.

I did identify three properties that I will pursue during the off-season. I was able to determine the landowner contact info but was not able to connect with them either in person or by phone at the end of the season. That is something else I can follow up on during this "stay at home" period.

Stay scrubbed, masked, and safe out there.
Tom
 
In my book, it has been a slow season. But, I also lost about 30 private-access corners to the Pheasants Forever Corners program. Those get hit 4 or 5 times a day, so they are off of my radar. Have gotten a few fields to replace the lost ground, though. However, with much of the season being warm, birds stayed in the corn stubble much of the time, so they were not loafing in the cover we hunted.

Getting public access may be good for spreading hunters out around a county, but it also hammers new areas. The corners they opened last year had pretty poor cover this year, so the birds avoided many of the walk-in hunters, after the birds got hunted a few weekends. Or, the influx of hunters diminished the population in the first couple of weekends.

Sorry to hear that. Growth can be good but when it messes with hunting opportunities it's never good.
 
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