Crazy weather

We went to a public spot today and flushed a rooster, heard a bunch more cackling off in the thick stuff. Lots of waterfowls around. Nice evening walk. I bumped into a guy walking the same spot. He said he'd flushed a pile, but said he never shoots one there during season, too much hunting pressure.
 
This snow is brutal. Its like trying to move concrete. I shoveled my sidewalk and it was like syrup. That was enough. I'll let mother nature run its course from here on out.
 
Dual stage snow blower worked fine on this slop. If it rains this afternoon it will be a complete $#!^Show
 
BRITTMAN said:
Dual stage snow blower worked fine on this slop. If it rains this afternoon it will be a complete $#!^Show
Click to expand...
I wish mine did haha I turned mine into a gas shovel basically to do my driveway. I got about 2 inches of water below about 4 inches of snow so even my gas dual stage blower isn't cutting it.
 
Springer22 said:
Well it appears my feeling that it was going to be a wet spring, was correct.
Click to expand...

I feel like drought it inevitable though. At some point in May or June, the spigot is going to turn off and we'll plunge right back into an annual summer flash drought. Its occurred so frequently in recent years that I've just come to expect it.
 
Nest survival may be poor as ditches and low areas flood. Hens should renest.

Peak hatch is mid-June to Mid-July. Even this year with the early spring, the grass really did not get very high until mid-May.

Early hatch brood survival may be a little down as wet and fuzz ball do not mesh well together. Only so many can huddle under mamma. Hens typically do not nest once they have a brood ...

Say a hen starts dropping an egg a day around May 20th ... lays 10 eggs ... starts to lay and incubate around the last day of May. Puts them hatching today or tomorrow.
 
Springer22 said:
I’ve been thinking a lot about this. The rain just keeps on coming.
Click to expand...

I can recall June 2014 which was the all-time wettest month in recent memory here. Nearly a foot of rain that month. The following fall was easily the worst pheasant season I have experienced in 25 years here. I hunted 5 times and bagged 5 roosters total. I didn't even bother going more than that because there were so few birds.

The two previous winters were absolutely brutal though too. That may have played a role.

The pattern doesn't look like its going to change much either. We're on the northern boundary of really hot weather to the south and all the storms just keep riding that boundary.
 
If my fall pheasant success is all I have to worry about I suppose I am fortunate. This is some pretty rough situations forming for many Minnesotans - many who live above any flood plain level that would typically warrant flood insurance.

That said - DANG IT - after the easy winter and the past few dry nexting seasons - I though here we go with one of those once a decade or two banner seasons.
 
Everything is fine in my immediate area, but any low areas close to the Big or Little Sioux rivers will not have any nests or chicks left. It is a real mess. If the hatch had happened, which has started, there will be a shortage of young birds and if they hadn't hatched and the hens renest, they will be young birds this fall. Those areas close to the rivers house a lot of wildlife in Iowa and most everything is row crops here.
 
Talked to two different farmers near where we hunt, and I was shocked to hear them tell me that they have both seen some little pheasants already. I said, “What?!” And they both swore they have seen some little ones, which gives me hope!
 
MNhunter4ever said:
Talked to two different farmers near where we hunt, and I was shocked to hear them tell me that they have both seen some little pheasants already. I said, “What?!” And they both swore they have seen some little ones, which gives me hope!
Click to expand...
What part of SD or MN (how much rain did that area get out of the recent storms?). Sounds encouraging!
 
MNhunter4ever said:
Talked to two different farmers near where we hunt, and I was shocked to hear them tell me that they have both seen some little pheasants already. I said, “What?!” And they both swore they have seen some little ones, which gives me hope!
Click to expand...
Why is that so shocking? “Peak Hatch” is approximately June 10th.
Some chicks are hatched around 6/1.
Those birds are almost a month old.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top