2022 Season

I was out last weekend on Saturday and Sunday. Didn't have the best of luck. Only bagged 2, one on each day. Seen a fair amount of birds, but I've seen better. The birds weren't in their usual spots for me. I was hunting the usual early season cover as there wasn't any snow to be found, when that didn't work, I pounded some cattails with still not much luck. They left me scratching my head on where they were but it was still good to get out.
 
Munster927 said:
I was out last weekend on Saturday and Sunday. Didn't have the best of luck. Only bagged 2, one on each day. Seen a fair amount of birds, but I've seen better. The birds weren't in their usual spots for me. I was hunting the usual early season cover as there wasn't any snow to be found, when that didn't work, I pounded some cattails with still not much luck. They left me scratching my head on where they were but it was still good to get out.
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What part of MN
 
I'll be heading out for the afternoon hunt on Saturday in an area that will not produce many birds, just my initial thought. All private land but it's not in the prime pheasant zone, very near WI border. Very curious on the results but always good to get the dog out for a glorified walk if we don't end of seeing anything. I'll report back.
 
agraham20 said:
Ok , I always thought that area was supposed to have good numbers
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I've done well there and did well enough on opener. I think the birds are in a funky pattern right now or something. Not really in their winter cover or their early season cover. One place we hunted we flushed probably 15 birds in one flush, so the numbers are there. I also hunt only public so they've wised up considerably compared to a month ago.
 
I hit a few spots south central on Thanksgiving afternoon. Tried 3 and didn't see a thing. I went to my 4th and last stop of the day. Preseason scouting I found a "secret" spot that is public but is not posted physically or electronically, I had to do a little research and make a few calls. I saw 4 roosters here and as many hens. I managed to get a shot off at one rooster and he fell on the road running full blast. Luckily the veteran dog has seen this before, and I saw her bolt after him. A short chase later and she brought me a very alive rooster with no tail feathers left! I never even found a pellet cleaning him?

P.S. I'm not spilling the beans on this spot now, but maybe after the season closes I will.
 

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The DNR often takes months to sign property after they acquire it. It can take another year or two for it to be mapped.
 
We stopped out for a quick hunt on our way home today at some local private land. Flushed 4 roosters and about 8 hens. Of course only 1 rooster flushed in gun range, the birds were rumbling like crazy today.
 

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I went yesterday afternoon for the first time since my dog cut her leg 15 days ago. Got 4 roosters at 3 spots and raised about 50, plus 3 deer. The area I hunt only got about an inch of snow so it was ideal walking and tracking. Areas near standing corn were the most productive.
 

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ynneb9 said:
I'll be heading out for the afternoon hunt on Saturday in an area that will not produce many birds, just my initial thought. All private land but it's not in the prime pheasant zone, very near WI border. Very curious on the results but always good to get the dog out for a glorified walk if we don't end of seeing anything. I'll report back.
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Ended up hunting one private parcel and put up about 8 birds, three roosters and five hens is my guess. No shots at any of the birds and they were very skittish for never being hunted on this property, this year. I had a hard time identifying two of the birds, they looked like hens but were dark, very odd. Nonetheless, it was good to get the dog some work before I head back to the traditional pheasant range this Wednesday!
 
Went out saturday afternoon, drove by my secret spot and there were two hens and a rooster out pecking up lunch. My buddy met me 10 minutes later and we started hunting. I just knew we'd get a crack at these birds. My buddy lost sight of his 6 month old pup and she ran way ahead and we got to see all the pheasants as they took wing and beat it. He doesn't really work with his dogs much so not a surprise. We went to a 2nd spot for the golden hour, and right away near some brush a rooster flushed, I only heard the cackle and swung around and shot, but he dropped into a massive cane break and I saw his head up. My recovery has been really good this year, but this one was never seen again. While all this was going on my buddy turned and saw a rooster run behind us, right in front of our trucks in the parking lot. We tracked him all down the ditch and eventually he ran across a barren field towards an old country home. Sunday morning I saw 3 roosters in a cornfield across from the slough I was gonna hunt. This spot is privately owned but open to public hunting. There were two trucks here, so I moved on to plan B, where I only saw one hen. I took off the midday to watch some of the Vikes game, then hit a spot where I saw two roosters but no shots fired. Finally I went to my Uncle's and tried it. As we were walking I saw a group of 4-5 birds flush way in the distance. Getting closer to that area the dog got REALLY hot. She was going full steam and I knew the scent was really strong. She worked and worked and finally out jumped a rooster from the edge of the slough and I got him with the second shell, he fell into a tall phragmites patch. Every time a pheasant drops I think, "I hope we find him!" For me one of the most important things is if the dog visually marks the fall. After the flush I was only looking at the bird so don't know where Skye went, and I began plowing into the cane to look for the bird and figured she would follow me. Turns out she had already found him and was way ahead of me. I saw some birds this weekend but getting one in the bag wasn't easy, so it felt good to have it all come together.
 

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I went yesterday afternoon for a couple hours. It was an absolutely stunning afternoon to hunt. 20 degrees, partly cloudy, no wind at all. I got 2 roosters but I couldn't get that third one. Two things happened to me yesterday that haven't happened in years. One, I lost a cripple. Its the first one in at least 3 years. I dumped it on an open field from some waist-high grass I was standing in. I got to the edge to survey the field within 10 seconds, expecting it to be laying there dead, and it was literally GONE. I have no idea where it went either. The dog and I looked for 30 minutes and we could not find that thing. It vanished into thin air.
At the last spot right after that, a big long-tailed dumb rooster got up right in front of me and I missed a layup shot three freaking times. Walked out of that spot swearing.
The good news is that I saw about 65-70 pheasants at 5 different spots.
 
Weather forecast is calling for freezing rain through southern part of the state. Hopefully the thick cattails hold up and provide decent shelter.
 
Got out yesterday for a fun afternoon hunt. Saw a ton of birds. Some held really tight. Finished up with 7 for 3 guys. Could have had out limit if we would have shot a bit better. No cripples lost. Some areas had a good amount of snow to trudge through. I can feel it in my legs today. Between myself and the other guy we had a 7 month old dog and a 10 month old dog. Not a bad showing for the pups. My Braque had a point where she was maybe 80-90 yards in front of me and held it until I was able to get up to her. I was super impressed she didn't break point. The season is winding down and I hope the weather cooperates to help the birds over winter. It has been a good year so far.
 
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