I’m not real familiar with public land in the Watertown or Aberdeen areas, and I don’t know the exact snow/ice conditions up there (I’m in Sioux Falls). But I’d want to get a good handle on those things if these 2 items are important: safety & seeing pheasants approximately in shotgun range. Here’s what I’m running into south of, say, Highway 14. I’m GUESSING that conditions in the Aberdeen/Watertown areas are similar.
Pheasants can be in the cattail sloughs. By & large, people and dogs can’t. The ice/slush is terrible & now there’s so much snow on top of it, that I’m guessing even in early January, in many places, you STILL won’t be able to hunt cattails. This isn’t terribly uncommon, but this year, if you go through, you could be up to your neck.
We’ve had enough snow & crappy weather that birds, especially roosters, are hanging out in trees/thickets near food much of the day (if they don’t have the safety of an unpicked corn or sorghum/milo field). Public land roosters, in most cases, are wise enough by now that the trees/thickets they choose AREN’T on public land. Then from 2:00-4:00 (in general) they’re out feeding & you can’t get to them. So for much of the day, most birds roosting on public ground…..aren’t on public ground. Again, not uncommon, but really frustrating since you can’t hunt the cattails toward sunset.
If I was coming to hunt public land for a few days, I’d want to try to find a place that somehow managed to have decent ice. I’d also want to be in an area that had trees/thickets I could hunt (if not food plots), as well as have enough guys that I could effectively hunt them. As we know, trees & thickets present different challenges than a rooster in the cattails or grass.
Long-winded, yet terribly insightful, right?
