Youth Upland Season/MO Forecast

chriswhite22

Active member
My fellow Missourians have been awfully quiet. We've had a pretty solid forecast this year and not a word....... I'm pretty excited, but didn't get out for youth season as my darn kid didn't want to shoot. I might avoid opening day as it could be a gong show, but will go out Thursday and Friday. Did you guys see any birds if you did make it out for the youth season? Be safe for the opener!
 
Hunted about 5 hours. 3 dogs put up 12 pheasants and 3 covies, including a very big one.
 
Wow, that's good news- What a great hunt for the kids!! And a great warm up for your dogs for the season. My Lab only has Grouse and Woodcock practice so far, but after 10 seasons I am sure it will come back quickly :)

Have to finish work, get the little one to bed then a LONG drive north from Columbia.........
 
What area were you hunting SDavis? I haven't been out yet, but hopefully this weekend. It seems that the population is fairly good in my area. Not quite like the 70's though! I have a young dog (9mo) but have shot 60 penned birds over her, so she is getting in the game.
 
Made out on Thursday and half day Friday. On public saw 20 plus pheasant and 5 nice sized coveys. I walked around 11 miles. Limited on pheasant Thursday and was hen heavy today. Managed to get the first bob of the year today though.
 
Made out on Thursday and half day Friday. On public saw 20 plus pheasant and 5 nice sized coveys. I walked around 11 miles. Limited on pheasant Thursday and was hen heavy today. Managed to get the first bob of the year today though.

I haven't gone out yet, but there are some quail around. Our farm is in the NW Mo, near Eagleville, Mo.
 
What area were you hunting SDavis? I haven't been out yet, but hopefully this weekend. It seems that the population is fairly good in my area. Not quite like the 70's though! I have a young dog (9mo) but have shot 60 penned birds over her, so she is getting in the game.

In Missouri I hunt mostly in the Northwest and a little in the North central region.
 
I haven't gone out yet, but there are some quail around. Our farm is in the NW Mo, near Eagleville, Mo.

There is a lot of corn still standing up that way so things can get better. I agree with you jstevens I haven't seen this many quail in some time. The coveys I've run into are really big.
 
Yes, there are lots of crops still in. I'm probably not going out till after deer season, let a few hard frosts hit and beat down some cover as well as get the crops out.
 
My daughter caught antler fever so we didnt shoot any birds for the youth season. I did managed to run into a covey taking her to her deerstand, and we saw another crossing the road that had big birds and smaller birds in it.
 
I made the voyage up to furthest NW part of MO in my quest to bag a rooster from my home state, but goal not avhieved. We hunted about 4 hours yesterday in 30 degree, windy weather and didnt see any pheasant. Hunted for a couple of hours today at a different spot. This is with two guys and one dog (springer). Im going to have to go back to the drawing board on where to get in the right types of cover to find them. We did bust three very large coveys though...I just need to be quicker on the draw.
 
I took my 2 cousins out for the first time ever (both bagged birds) and had a great hunt. We came home with 10 birds (3 pheasant & 7 quail) in 2 golden hour hunts and one morning hunt. They are from IL and were pretty happy with what Missouri's public lands have to offer!
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When looking for pheasant my general rule is north of 36 and west of 63. Although, I think that's even what MDC says too. I've found them other places, but few and far between. Quail can be found about anywhere. Good luck!
 
When looking for pheasant my general rule is north of 36 and west of 63. Although, I think that's even what MDC says too. I've found them other places, but few and far between. Quail can be found about anywhere. Good luck!

Yeah, I guess Im just going to have to try my luck again. How many dogs did you have on the ground?
We were in the furthest NW and flushed a lot of quail but didnt see ant pheasies.
 
Yeah, I guess Im just going to have to try my luck again. How many dogs did you have on the ground?
We were in the furthest NW and flushed a lot of quail but didnt see ant pheasies.

Just the dumb mut pictured. He's a good dog. Works a field well and finds us some birds. I hunt a lot by myself and focus on edges of corn fields and draws. When I want to punish myself head to the cattails. The hunt mentioned above was 3 people and that dog. We shot very well only had one bad miss on a pheasant. Love those Missouri pheasant!
 
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