empty crop

[Bob Peters]

I got a pheasant each of the last 2 weekends. The first bird had a crop full to the brim with milo and a couple corn kernels. I got him in a small foot plot. The second bird flushed up about 9:30 in some roosting grass, and neither dog smelled him(my point is I think he hadn't moved yet that morning). His crop was empty. On average, how full is a roosters crop from what you've seen?

 

[remy3424]

Most all empty, though my hunts have been in a lot of deep cover and finish before noon. Afternoon hunts would surely produce full crops in most birds. One thing I have noticed is a lot of young birds so far....which might be normal for early season birds. I do reacall last year in late season hunting, sometimes all 3 birds would be old birds.

 

[gim]

I spend most of my time hunting around late season standing crops and virtually every bird I shoot has a crop full of corn kernels. I've only harvested two roosters this season (only been out once) and they both had full crops of corn kernels.

 

[Golden Hour]

Just shooting from the hip, I would say that the vast majority of the birds (~95%) have a crop that is "full". I would guess that most of the empty or mostly empty crops come from morning roosters. Even then, there seems to be a little bit of weed seeds and some greenery. I have shot a couple birds that weren't healthy that had empty crops, but there are other telltale signs of their sickness that I wouldn't assume a bird wasn't good just because the crop was empty.

It sounds weird, but I really am fascinated and usually look at the crop contents if I see things beyond the typical corn/soybeans. As I mentioned, I see green leafy material quite a bit, even late into the year, so I know those birds are digging around looking for it. I also think its cool when some of the Kansas boys post up their crop pics and I see grasshoppers. SD grasshoppers don't make it too late into the fall.