Colorado Scouting Report

C

cedahm

Member
I had a day free yesterday and decided to take a drive and check out the WIA's. I made a pile of notes in my map apps and actually found quite a few birds considering I wasn't out walking around.

Some notes:

- Irrigated corn is probably not quite 50% out yet, but they were really getting after it. I would guess it would be close to 75% out by next weekend unless we get rain/snow (which is in the forecast).

- Lots of sunflowers this year. I asked a buddy in the grain industry and he said that seed oils are in high demand this year so a lot of folks have put in sunflowers. I'm not sure if sunflowers get used that much by pheasants, but it was something I hadn't seen before in this area.

- One of my favorite fields is in the sugar beet phase (apparently only can grow them 1 out of 4 years). Last year it was Milo and it was fantastic. I doubt the birds will use the beets as much as the milo.

- I looked at 49 properties (I threw a coin in my console tray every time I stopped/looked hard at one) in Sedgwick, Phillips and Logan. I think I only 'crossed off' about a dozen (either for bombed-out cover, lack of food nearby, etc).

In general - I'm pretty optimistic about this year. From my bird counts alone it's looking better than the reports we are getting from my friend @ his place in SD (where I'll be on the CO opener). I was sad to see some fields taken out of the program that looked good.

Good luck to everyone next weekend.
 
Well thank you for the tidbits of information....I wish I had the PTO and time to do that.....perhaps when I retire for a second time (as I am retired USAF, but still have to work as kids in college).....

Good luck and good luck to everyone else, it is why they call hunting and not killing ;) lol

Greg
 
Thanks for the report! I was hoping to get out sometime this weekend and look around for a bit as well. This will be my first year in CO for the season so I’m interested to see how it turns out. Glad to hear things are looking good!
 
cedahm, must be nice to be rich enough to have 49 coins to throw into your counting bucket!

Too bad about all the sunflowers. Pheasant certainly are in those fields, but it is almost impossible to get close enough to shoot, even if you are hunting alone. Not much cover within 2 feet of the ground, so they can see our legs very easily. I hunted some a few years ago, just to try (was hunting alone). Surprised one bird, which flushed far enough out that it was a low-probability shot. He won the odds. I have seen plenty of sunflower seeds in the crops of birds I have harvested, so they definitely eat sunflower seeds.

The farmers I have spoken with in the last month have said they have seen lots of birds, and had not heard of much hail. So, at least in the area I go, the bird numbers seem to be even better than last year.

Good luck, all!
 
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