Disappointing hunt today

W

Weimdogman

Well-known member
So today I hunted some private property that I haven't been on this season. The past couple of seasons this property has always held many birds. We started out hunting a draw going down to the creek bottom. A rooster wild flushed from the phragmites i didn't see it quick enough and the novice hunter with me didn't shoot. Well that was the only rooster we saw. I knew going down that draw when I didn't see pheasant tracks we were in for a long day.

The creek bottom has grasses and willows but a 1/2 mile produced 1 hen. There were almost no pheasant tracks there either. A small 3 acre wedge of crp in a corner with picked cornfield on 1 side and pasture on the others produced another single hen. No tracks there either.

The only thing different from past years was ice in many places I haven't seen in the past. Our crazy winter had melting snow and rain on frozen ground so ice is everywhere. I know the landowner has friends from out of state that hunted this ground earlier in the season and made a return trip so there must have been birds.
 
Weimdogman said:
So today I hunted some private property that I haven't been on this season. The past couple of seasons this property has always held many birds. We started out hunting a draw going down to the creek bottom. A rooster wild flushed from the phragmites i didn't see it quick enough and the novice hunter with me didn't shoot. Well that was the only rooster we saw. I knew going down that draw when I didn't see pheasant tracks we were in for a long day.

The creek bottom has grasses and willows but a 1/2 mile produced 1 hen. There were almost no pheasant tracks there either. A small 3 acre wedge of crp in a corner with picked cornfield on 1 side and pasture on the others produced another single hen. No tracks there either.

The only thing different from past years was ice in many places I haven't seen in the past. Our crazy winter had melting snow and rain on frozen ground so ice is everywhere. I know the landowner has friends from out of state that hunted this ground earlier in the season and made a return trip so there must have been birds.
Click to expand...

Yep, assuming there was fresh enough snow for fresh-ish tracks, if there weren't many, then they're not using it much. I usually chalk that up to changes on the surrounding ground. The most common change that I believe causes very little habitat use is a change from corn nearby last year to beans this year. So often they use other haunts closer to corn, especially in winter.
 
5 of us got out at 2 pm 10° with a 10 mph wind. Had another great hunt. Saw lots of birds and had plenty of points. Had multiple times where a couple dogs were on point on different birds at the same time. Friend had a business associate with him but the guy has hunted before and was safe. He did get a little quick on 1 bird and literally shot it heads off as it was rising. Shot was completely safe as he was clear of all dogs and other hunters. As we were cleaning birds i asked him if he knew why we got so many more points on hens then roosters? He said no I have no idea. I replied we have shot most of the roosters that let the dogs point them.😉


We had one of the landowners with us and he sure enjoys seeing his efforts at quality habitat paying off. Tomorrow we are going to hunt more of his ground. He expects it be absolutely full of birds and is really hyped about it.
 
Hunted with the same landowner again today on a piece of his ground that hasn't been hunted and it showed. Didn't get out till about 3 30 with 3 guys and 4 dogs. About 20° with a less then 10 mph breeze. Birds were still skittish flushing wild but we got 8 and missed a half dozen.

Nice day but we found the birds in the cattail sloughs. Had a few interesting retrieves with birds down in a sea of cattails that are full of bird scent and 2 birds that soared over the hill bordering the slough and no clear idea where they went down. Probably would have only found 1 of the 8 birds without the dogs.
 
Hunted with my brother from Georgia and 1 of his friends. My deer hunting brother went with for his first pheasant hunting in 6 years.
A farmer who is my classmate and a longtime friend of the family rounded out our ragtag group. Hunted behind my 2 male dogs.

My brother from Georgia is a 61 but not in good shape and he had a tough day. He managed to fall a few times and further agitated a bum knee. His friend although older was in good shape but has very little hunting knowledge/experience. He is a fair shot and did get his first pheasant today.
It never got above 10° but the wind was manageable and the southern boys managed quite well with the aid of some HotHands in their gloves.

We got 4 birds total and once again we would have had almost no birds without the dogs.
Supposed to hit it early tmrw but might slack off till noon again.
 
Well both brothers were unable to continue today-1 physically couldn't and the other knew we were headed to the mother slough.
I got my friend to come along and run his 2 drahts and my 6'6" farmer friend who may be a poor shot but he can mark where the birds go down in the cattails better then us. Kelly from Georgia was along also and had a blast.

The slough hadn't been pheasant hunted this season and was full of birds. They were still skittish as they probably had been chased by road hunters or neighbors on their adjoining ground. Slough is 100 yards short of being a full mile long running north/south and wide enough that 4 guys and 3 dogs don't cover it all taking a side down and the other side back. The dogs once again made the hunt extra special. We started at 12 30 and came out 3 hours later with 10 birds. Missed chances and missed birds found us 2 birds short.

Now my brother , the deer hunter , has been telling me he has many game cam pics of pheasants on the farmer friend's little 100 yard slough so we went in and picked up the last 2 in 3 minutes. If we went there first we may have got 10. Was great to see the # of birds that were in there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top