I went our Saturday and Sunday.Opening day was alittle disappointing,hunting one of my favorite crp fields(60 acres) we only saw 4 roosters and no hens.I love seeing hens for they are the future of our pheasant population.Usually this field will have 15-20 birds in it so I was alittle surprised.We harvested two of those birds,went to a 50 acre crp field,saw 3 roosters there,once again no hens,and finisheded our limit.
Expected to see alot more birds than we did but noticed that the birds did have their track shoes on making it difficult for the dog to pin them down.(we only shoot pointed birds).Checked another piece of property I was planning on hunting next weekend only to find someone hunting it.I have sole rights to these lands so I walked out to meet the guy,asked who gave him permission to hunt here.He said he has been hunting this property for 20 years and Joe farmer said it was ok back then.I informed him joe farmer sold this property 10 years ago and the present owner does not allow anyone one here but me.He said he was very sorry and would stay off it for now on.Hard to get real made at him but wouldn't you check with the landowner every year to make sure it was still ok to hunt???
Sunday hit a filterstrip farm,was unable to hunt the best ditch due to the landowner tilling the field nearby so settled for one of the shorter ditches,saw 16 birds,13 roosters and 3 hens.The dog pointed 3 of the roosters,bumped one,and 12 got up within 10 feet of me aI was watching the dog out in the distance.
Both days the birds seemed to be running,maybe due to the warm weather.
I did not see the army of pheasant hunters I usually do(lots of CRP land around me),either day nor did I hear many shots fired.
Passed by a couple PHA areas on my way home each day and at noon they were still being hunted.
Hopefully this isn't a sign of the rest of the season.