2021 Season

Went out for the first time this A.M.(tues). A little hot so only ran the dog for 1 1/2hrs (two spots). At the first spot, the lovely Lucy moved two birds...one, she flushed the bird and I should have taken a shot, but I was too focused on her working the scent of the pheasant, for the first time this year.

The second bird was in heavy willows and trees, and it finally flushed out of the other side of the willows...three hundred yds away.

On the third bird, Lucy was way off on the far side of a wind break. I moved through the break, and ten yards out of the trees, on my strong side, a bird got up ten yards away, heading straight away...it was so close I didn't even have to put the bead on the bird...yup, missed that unmissable shot. First shot of the year...glade that's out of the way.
 
As far as temps, it looks cooler later this week but in a week its supposed to be 70+ degrees again.

MPR is reporting that its been the warmest calendar fall on record so far (Sept - Nov), which was coincidentally followed by the warmest calendar summer on record (June - August).
 
As far as temps, it looks cooler later this week but in a week its supposed to be 70+ degrees again.

MPR is reporting that its been the warmest calendar fall on record so far (Sept - Nov), which was coincidentally followed by the warmest calendar summer on record (June - August).
Yeah, but not to long ago, one of the local news/weather stations (KARE11?) mentioned that the National Weather Services' idea of "on record" is now from like 1998 or 2000, forward. They are on longer going back to "recorded history" (1880's?). Mighty fine way to promote the climate change fraud.
 
Yeah, but not to long ago, one of the local news/weather stations (KARE11?) mentioned that the National Weather Services' idea of "on record" is now from like 1998 or 2000, forward. They are on longer going back to "recorded history" (1880's?). Mighty fine way to promote the climate change fraud.
On this day in 1880 it was 44 degrees for a high and 22 for a low. It's 75 degrees at my house right now.

Entire daily temperature history is available from 1879 through today on the DNRs website (go review for yourself).

It's also not uncommon for the NWS to use more recent averages to illustrate recent trends.

If you don't think we are in a warming trend/climate change/global warming, idk what to tell ya. I'm in my 30s and I can tell a difference in the weather here compared to when I was in high school. I remember needing a jacket in October.
 
I can't comment on what Kare 11 or another local news source has relayed but MPR reported this based on NOAA's meteorlogical records, which go back over 150 years.

I live in the west metro and really haven't even had a good frost yet. Last year we received 6 inches of heavy wet snow on Oct 20 but it was 65 degrees again by deer opener in early November.
 
I wouldn't argue that the climate isn't changing...it always has, it always will. Don't take me too seriously. What i rail against is people using climate to promote their agenda which usually means fleecing the populous out of money.
 
I went out Sunday around 10:30 to a local wpa and shot two and had a contact with one more rooster. Also put up 3 hens. Not as much traffic as Saturday but still busy. On Monday I went out at lunchtime and after a long walk we worked six hens at the back side of a wpa. Do too water I had to retrace my route for most of the trip back to the truck. We got one rooster on the fence line and a little later we got another out of some willows about 150yds from the truck. And then my dog pointed a hen and a rooster in the ditch about 50 yds from the truck. So I’m am very happy with the nest success in this area as all but one was a young rooster. And still lots of standing corn in the area. Off to ND tomorrow so I’ll let you know how that goes. Good luck everyone
 
Warming? Until the next major volcanic eruption knocks back the clock years on years.

October has too many days in the 70s and 80s now. Open pheasants at 8AM or sunrise.

Opening time should definitely go to 8AM on the time change. We lose an hour of hunting time in MN when the time changes ... then add in our short days of December ...
 
I like that 8 AM start with the time change idea. At least they could coincide that with the December daily limit changing to 3 birds. Give us an extra hour or 2 to get that 3rd bird for the last month of the year.
 
What's the reason for DST now? At on time, it was so the kids didn't have to wait for the bus in the dark. Then it was to same fuel by having a later first shift start time at manufacturing companies. What's the current faulty logic?
 
Went out this afternoon. Not sure why as I was too hot and dry for good scenting. Got up 4 hens next to cattails. Suppose to rain tomorrow and then get cooler so that should help!
 
Warming? Until the next major volcanic eruption knocks back the clock years on years.

October has too many days in the 70s and 80s now. Open pheasants at 8AM or sunrise.

Opening time should definitely go to 8AM on the time change. We lose an hour of hunting time in MN when the time changes ... then add in our short days of December ...
I think the 8am idea is a great one!
 
I think the 8am idea is a great one!
I don't have any opinion on the 8am start. I'd be fine allowing it, but I haven't hunted before about noon in about a decade. Virtually all of my hunting is the last couple hours of the day during the roosting time. But I am definitely on board with a later start in October and/or a continued season into January, as I've stated many times. Its just way too hot to be hunting in October nowadays.

Beneficial rain on the way today.
 
I got out early this morning and attempted to save a spot for myself by being the first one in the lot. Didn’t work, had a group pull in at shooting time so we tried to agree on a plan… but that got messed up by another group who parked on the side road and cut us off. So I called it a morning after 45 minutes of hunting. Saw two hens. After lunch I went back to the same spot and shot 2 baby roosters, barely any colors….. and put one more on the way back to the truck. Over all a good start a bonus is the combines were running hard this afternoon
I can one up this for my opener...

Got to a public spot early. Guy shows up at 7am, puts on his vest, grabs a gun, unloads the dog, and starts walking. I thought this is odd and illegal, but maybe he's just letting the dog burn a bit of energy for a few minutes then he'll wait a couple hours and hunt. Well as time went on and on I realized he's not coming back to the parking lot and he is hunting. I went back and forth on deciding if I should call the TIP line.... I hate to be the tattle tale person, but it really started to irritate me watching somebody hunt a public spot illegally while I am sitting there for a couple hours. Between him hunting half of it and the DNR driving through half of it to get to him, it pretty much ruined the spot. Given it was opening day, I also didn't want to be that guy that went to a new spot and showed up right at shooting time and ruined somebody else's hunt. I hunted it with low expectations and saw nothing.
 
I wonder what the deal was with that guy Jackrabbit. Did the guy knowingly just go out 2 hours early or was he totally unaware? Either way good on you for calling IMO. I've seen guys walk out 5 minutes early, which is kinda whatever to me. But 2 hours is nuts.

I can't one up that story, but my opening morning was a little irritating as well. I got to the WIA I wanted to hunt at 7 AM. Sat in the truck for 2 hours. About 15 minutes before go time I get out, start gearing up to go. About 5 minutes before 9, I see three trucks pull into the private land way on the other side of the WIA (which is probably a mile long). Orange blobs hop out of the truck and start lining up to push the public I'm going to walk. This WIA is a big swath of CRP but the prime stuff that I get birds on is way down where those guys are at. It's a chunk of cattails that runs along a drainage ditch.

Naturally, I'm still going to hunt it because it's 5 to 9 and I've been there 2 hours. So my group lines up and start hunting. The guys raced us to the prime stuff of course, but ended up being only like 60 yards in front of us by the time we got down there. 5 guys and 1 dog. They ran through that field so fast, they never got up a bird. We did kick up a couple hens but no roosters.

I've started my season at that WIA every year the past 4 years and never had that happen at that spot. Hoping it doesn't happen next year because it kinda sucked.
 
I wonder what the deal was with that guy Jackrabbit. Did the guy knowingly just go out 2 hours early or was he totally unaware? Either way good on you for calling IMO. I've seen guys walk out 5 minutes early, which is kinda whatever to me. But 2 hours is nuts.
I have no clue. My guess is he thought that sunrise was the start time, but I really don't know.
 
I have no clue. My guess is he thought that sunrise was the start time, but I really don't know.
I know more than one person who seriously thought the opener was on Oct 9. They made travel plans and hunting plans weeks in advance only to find out the day before they left it was not until Oct 16.

We've all heard that one lone shot like an hour before deer season opens in the complete darkness. I always wondered if someone just shot themselves climbing into their stand.
 
Last year kinda later in the season I was pulling up to a new spot for the first time 30 minutes before 9am. There was a truck parked on the road and I saw two guys in orange who were already 200 yards+ into the field. I never did figure out what they were up to. Might have been deer hunting? That being said this spot was more upland than whitetail habitat.
 
Possible deer drive for someone hunting? I did see that one year when I went out late season. Pulled up to a spot, saw orange in the field at 8 AM and thought "I'm calling the warden". Before I did, I grabbed my binos and watched them for a bit. No dogs and no guns. So I assumed they were doing a deer drive for someone bow hunting either on the public or private next door. I left and went to a different spot that didn't have guys walking around in it anyway.
 
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