Belle Plain

Chuckntimber

New member
Heading to the Belle Plain area 2nd week of December...has anyone hunted public ground in that area this year?....just curious on bird numbers
 
Went down there today... big fat zero. :/ Haven't had one of those in a while (I hunt all over). Saw a few but not much. Expected to see a few more birds with much of the corn out.... but that certainly wasn't the case. The kicker is there was nobody else down there other than another single and a group of five hunters I saw on the way out. I hunted for about 4-5 hours running two dogs (10 miles for me... 10 miles for my old pooch and 17 miles for my 2 yr old). I've had ok luck in the past... but boy, today was tough. I made one other trip that way last week and about the same... came home with the only bird I had a chance to shoot. Likely won't be heading back until winter settles in with tougher conditions and see the majority of the hunters hanging it up for the season. I'm starting to believe our numbers aren't what some have said... I put in enough miles on foot that we generally always come home with our 3 birds even in the toughest conditions... and I've only shot 4 in our 3 trips this season, weird. Not trying to be a Debbie Downer... lol... just speaking of my experience so far.
 
Thanks for the reply Shawk. I appreciate the honesty. We will be staying at a lodge with private ground so hopefully that will be good to us. I will post on our return.
 
I'm not a duck hunter... but everything is dryed up (at least there and around my home place)... I see 'em flying around so there certainly ducks around... just don't know where to tell you to go. I'm sure you'd find them along the river down that way. Where are you coming in from?
 
Good luck to ya! I have been that way twice for fairly short (2-3 hr) hunts so far and have bagged birds (2 & 1) both times. Certainly not loaded up but, have gotten into birds, some spots have been dry and some have held a few. Hopefully they have the rest of the corn out, most of the roosters I have seen have been pretty spooky and jumped pretty wild (hunting pointers).
 
If your hunting at Pheasants N More you should have a good time. My nephew and I took his girlfriend there for her first pheasant hunt last Sunday. We got 8 birds but had plenty of opportunities. We had one dog, a Brittany.
 
Yes, we are going to P&M...thanks for your reply, we will also have a Brittany as well as a couple GSP and a Red Pointing Lab....will post on our return
 
I hunted public land not too far from Bell Plaine on Tuesday of this week. I only had 90 minutes to hunt so not a lot of time. My GSP pointed 5 hens (all singles) and a very nice covey of partridge! Didn’t see a rooster but the hens held very tight. It was a very fun afternoon and I will definitely head back to this area later this season. Good luck!
 
Back
Top