2022 Season

Has anyone thought that the cattails are considerably thicker then normal in most spots. Like there is grass growing in them. I'm assuming it has to do with the summer drought.
 
mnydir said:
Has anyone thought that the cattails are considerably thicker then normal in most spots. Like there is grass growing in them. I'm assuming it has to do with the summer drought.
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Not so much that but a hell of a lot taller in spots due to the drought and not being able to walk on ice ...
 
Snow is definitely out there with more on the way. While you cannot carry over excess birds in a tough winter ... this is a year when the season needs to shut down when it does. Winter came on too strong :( too early.

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Time to appreciate late October days and pull the ice fishing gear together.

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It was dry and windy that day. He could barely keep his eyes open on the drive home. (not that he had to drive ;) )
 
I went for a midday hunt yesterday in the fresh snow and put together this three bird limit in about 90 minutes. The birds were very bunched up, and I went to a couple spots that had standing corn nearby. Birds were holding tighter than usual too. Really long tail feathers on these birds. The second spot had the mother load of hens. Must have been at least 40 of them in there. Its starting to get to be really tough walking, and if this upcoming storm dumps another 6 or 8 inches followed by gail force winds, I might be done for this season. The previous layer of snow that melted into slush didn't re-freeze. The new snow is insulating it, so every step was through snow and then slush underneath. The lakes are going to be a mess all winter for ice anglers.
 

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gimruis said:
I went for a midday hunt yesterday in the fresh snow and put together this three bird limit in about 90 minutes. The birds were very bunched up, and I went to a couple spots that had standing corn nearby. Birds were holding tighter than usual too. Really long tail feathers on these birds. The second spot had the mother load of hens. Must have been at least 40 of them in there. Its starting to get to be really tough walking, and if this upcoming storm dumps another 6 or 8 inches followed by gail force winds, I might be done for this season. The previous layer of snow that melted into slush didn't re-freeze. The new snow is insulating it, so every step was through snow and then slush underneath. The lakes are going to be a mess all winter for ice anglers.
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I've noticed the long TFs--and spurs too--this year. I have a 28" on the Christmas tree. Seems like there must have been a tremendous carryover as these aren't birds of the year and the percentage of these elders in the bag has been crazy high this season.

If you're going to be done for the season, can I get your keys to the gate??!
 
Mostly across ND, but also MN I have seen many pheasants out scratching and feeding in fields. Back in (or around 2005 or so) I saw close to 1000 pheasants in fields in one day of driving and hunting. It was a peak year and a snowy December. Most of the pheasants are not huntable because they are on posted land or more often near active farm and ranch yards. Even with a PLAT book it was not always easy to find a landowner and quickly contact them. I was always on a day trip with a pretty short window of hunting hours ...

That said a few times in both states I have stopped to glass the birds they eventually get nervous and run and fly back into cover. If you are lucky the land in public or open to hunting. I would usually give them 10 minutes or so to settle down and then I would often try walk out past them and cut into the cover and press them back towards the road. They often would hold tight under point ... some would explode up at your feet or even behind you. Limits more than once. Other times they are really wild and fly along ways away or the nearby cover is so huge there is little chance of moving them up within gun range.

One of the longest tailed roosters I have shot was in a group out in an unposted field ... the cover was across a road (heavily posted with signs that suggested don't bother to ask). I parked at an approach and put on my goose / predator hunting whites. I walked between the birds and the road (cover on the other side behind me). When the birds started to get up, I crouched down. That big rooster flew over me at 40 yards (maybe higher) ... he folded cleanly with one shot and rolled up to the gravel road.
 
Bob Peters said:
If you see them out scratching do you hunt differently?
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I waited til about 930. Drove by a couple times with truck to get em a bit nervous and heading towards cover.... mostly just sit Ata distance and watch em with binos.all while the dog is sitting shotgun wandering what the hell is going on they are right there dad. Let's go...... but. Other then that no... just gotta wait em out a bit
 
Elksniper said:
Anyone been hunting MN at all since the storm passed? Even if not hunting but just to check the conditions?
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I wasn't hunting, but I drove to my in laws which is right past where I normally hunt in central MN. Bear in mind this area has a lot more trees than the western or SW portion of the state, which is almost completely flat. It didn't look completely "unhuntable" but some of the cattails I saw were basically completely snowed in. I have 3-4 spots with standing corn so I'm sure they are doing fine there. I might try to go one more time before the season ends with this warm up. Will report back.
 
I went by many of my favorite places to hunt during our Christmas trips. The wind definitely did drift in many areas. My favorite area has willows just over my head and just it tops were still exposed so those drifts were about 5 feet tall.
 
I'm going to give it hell over the long new years weekend. Weather looks good. I hope I get a pheasant or two. The nice thing is even if I can't find any good spots I'll go and throw the tennis ball out on the frozen lake for the dogs and have a few beers watching the Vikings pound on the packers Sunday afternoon. A lot of you guys impress me with all the pheasants you get. I'm always happy just to pull the trigger. Good luck everybody who is going.
 
I was around lake Yankton again tueaday.... shot birds but almost felt bad doing it.... it was like a ground blizzard out there from the south. Everything is drifted in on the north side and was started to pretty good on the south sides also.... evergreens and big patches of willows or protected cattails and you'll get chances at em... I think I'm gonna call it a year as far as driving west, besides the gifts for landowners trip. might try to walk the lake shore around the duck shack on saturday.
 
20super90 said:
I was around lake Yankton again tueaday.... shot birds but almost felt bad doing it.... it was like a ground blizzard out there from the south. Everything is drifted in on the north side and was started to pretty good on the south sides also.... evergreens and big patches of willows or protected cattails and you'll get chances at em... I think I'm gonna call it a year as far as driving west, besides the gifts for landowners trip. might try to walk the lake shore around the duck shack on saturday.
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Tuesday was downright nasty, especially early morning.
 
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